"No One Ready To Speak"

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1948, Page 6

"No One Ready To Speak"

When Palestine was raised as an “urgent” issue on Friday before the Political Committee of the United Nations Assembly, not a single nation was found ready to plunge into a full debate. The chairman, M. Paul Spaak (Belgium) said: “This is hardly possible. Everyone insisted that Palestine should be taken up as a matter of urgency. Now no one is ready to speak.” The committee was to begin discussion of Count Bernadotte’s Palestine report, which Britain and the United States support, but both the Arabs and the Jews oppose. Representatives of Transjordan and Israel, which are not members of the United Nations, were allowed to take part in the debate without the right to vote. The Swedish Foreign Minister (Mr Csten Unden), supporting Count Bernadotte’s report, said that the United Nations should define now, and in a permanent manner, the international status of Jerusalem. Count Bernadotte’s main recommendations were:—

(1) That Israel be granted recognition.

(2) That the Negeb district of Palestine should be given to the Arabs (the original partition plan gave it to the Jews).

(3) That the rich lands of Western Galilee, given originally to the Arabs, should fie transferred to the Jews. (4) That Jerusalem be put under international control.

Acting Mediator's Report The acting mediator (Dr Ralph Eunche) said that since the termination of the Palestine mandate there had been three signal developments: (1) the proclamation of the State of Israel; (2) the Arabs’ resort to force; (3) Security Council’s intervention.

Israel had been a going concern from the date of its birth, and it had a vibrant reality ,said Dr Bunche. It could not be destroyed by any means ether than force of sufficient strength to crush completely the Jews in Palestine.

The existing truce must clearly be superseded by something more durable and more secure, either an armistice or a peace settlement, he said. The threat to peace to the Middle East and perhaps even to the world that a resumption of hostilities in Palestine would cause would be far too great. Both the Arabs and the Jews maintained their lines ready for battle. The strain was great and the situation could not be maintained for long. The time was ripe for a settlement. He believed that both sides would accept a reasonable United Nations proposal to bring peace to Palestine. Dr Bunche asked the Assembly to take a firm stand on the political aspects of terrorism. Count Bernadotte had not expected his suggestions to be welcomed by either side, but he believed that both sides would acquiesce in a settlement backed by the United Nations.

Points for Settlement

The General Assembly should set forth its position on: (1) permanent peace; (2) the establishment of a Jewish State; (3) the boundaries of this State; (4) an international guarantee of its boundaries; (5) the status of Jerusalem—-a problem; (6) the disposition of the Arabcontrolled area; (7) the guarantees of the rights of the peoples living in both areas; (8) the repatriation of Arabs; (9) the nature of the machinery for continuing United Nations intervention in Palestine; which should continue until all major aspects of the problem were dealt with.

Dr Bunche said that Count Bernadotte was forced to the conclusion that

it was not possible for an intermediary to bring the parties together and achieve agreement. Count Bernadotte did not conclude, however, that the problem could not be solved by peaceful means, or that a basis of agreement could never be found. The Syrian delegate (Faris el Khoury), after alleging that the Jews had violated the truce, said that the Arabs, by their intervention, were tryi ing to re-establish peace and order, i “The Jews are not a persecuted i people. They are the persecutors,” he said. “They are inflicting horror on i the rightful Arab owners of the land.” i He alleged that the Jews had com- ; mitted crimes more horrible than those ' committed against them by the Nazis. 1 Arabs had been burned alive with oil ' poured over them. Altogether, 300,000 ; Arabs had been put to flight, many 1 leaving their homes in only their night ; clothes to wander helpless in the hills ■ and desert. This had happened during the mandate and the British did not prevent it. The Arab States had intervened as soon as the mandate ended, .these atrocities had made it inevitable Dr Guillerme Belt (Cuba) said that Count Bernadotte’s assassination should be cleared up before the com- : mittee discussed the political future of • Palestine.