BRITAIN NOT USING TROOPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22571, 26 February 1948, Page 5

BRITAIN NOT USING TROOPS

PALESTINE PLAN PARTITION TASK AMERICA WAVERING (N.Z.P.A. —Copyright.) (10 a m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 25. Eriiain would withdraw her troops from Palestine by August 1 at the latest and would “acquiesce no longer in the use of British forces and the squandering of British lives to impose a policy which one or other of the parties is determined to resist.” the British Colonial Secretary, Mr. Arthur Creech Jones, told the Security Council yesterday.

The council was considering the Palestine Commission’s report and_ its recommendation that the United Nations should provide troops when the British mandate ended. Not Partition by Force

Mr Creech Jones continued: “While the council must determine the nature of any support to be given to a Palestine Commission, my Government, because of its Dast relations with Palestine and because of its'position, which has long been clear to all, must stand on its many declarations and refuse, either individually or in association with others, to impose the United Nations’ nartition plan by force. The logic of our course is to abstain from voting on this issue.

“Mr Creech Jones said the British withdrawal was already well under way and should be completed by August 1.

The Palestine Administration was taking all practical steps to terminate its control by May 15.

Speaking before Mr Creech Jones, the United States delegate. Mr Warren Austin said that if the council decided it would be necessary to use force in maintaining' peace in Palestine, the United States would be ready to consult other Powers in accordance with ’he United Nations Charter, with a view to taking action. Such consultation would be necessary because no agreement had vet been reached by United Nations members regarding how armed forces should be made available. American Proposals Mr Austin recommended the following steps which the council could take immediately: 1 Establish a committee comprising the Big Five members of the Security Council to investigate possible threats to international peace arising from the Palestine situation and to consult the Palestine Commission. Britain, the mandatory Power and the principal communities of Palestine concerning the General Assembly’s recommenda-

tions for partition. 2. To call on all Governments and neoDle particularly in and around Palestine, to take all possible action to prevent or reduce disorders. .Tust be/ore Mr Austin spoke, the "haii-man of the Palestine Commission, Dr. Karel Lisicky, (Czechoslovakia), told the council that Jerusalem would be doomed unless the United Nations guarded ’be Holy Citv effectively after the British trosp irhwdfoooHTHTHTT the British troops withdrew. Faris cl Khoury. Syria, • challenged the legality of the General Assembly’s decision on partition and said the Assembly was not a world Government and was not legally entitled to appoint commissions and delegate to them powers which it did not possess under the United Nations’ Charter. The Assembly had no right to ask the Security Council to implement an

illegal resolution which violated the basic principle of Palestine s integrity. Colombia’s Request Colombia tabled a resolution asking the Securiiy Courcil lo act as follows: 1. Request ihe Big Five to consult on any joint action necessary to prevent a threat to the peace arising from the , enforcement of partition j 2. Security Council, meanwhile, to appoint a committee to ascertain the ! possibility of obtaining agreement i between the Jews and Arabs and whether it would be necessary to call a special session of the General Assembly to reconsider the partition resolution

The council adiourned until today Before the council met yesterday Senor Vicente Francisco. -Phillippines. announced his resignation from the Palestine Commission. Senor Francisco unofficially made the first suggestion for the creation of an international force for Palestine He said he had resigned because the Commission’s progress had been much slower than he excepted when he accepted the post. Pressing private business in Manila made it impossible for him to remain away any longer Senor Francisco is a Government lender in the Philippines Senate and a leading criminal barrister. Way Open for Any Course.

Commenting on Mr Austin's statement, the United Press correspondent at. Lake Success says: “His cautious approach left the way open for the United States eventually to take almost any course it chooses without a contradiction of policy..’ President Truman, in a statement, said the Palestine problem had been and is 'be deep concern of the United States Government. The United States position had been developed through a long and exhaustive study and many consultations. This position has been accurately presented bv Mr Austin. The New York Times correspondent, James Reston, says the United Nations’ delegates and officials tonight drew the following conclusions from Mr Austin's statement:

1. The United States still supports partition on principle i but proposes to travel toward partition over such a circuitous route that there is doubt about whether the partition policy will really be enforced.

2. The statement has raised the whole question of whether anybody has the right to enforce partition under the charter.

3. President Truman has rejected the counsel of his political advisers and left the decision to the State Department which is now emphasising the legal limitations of the charter.

Tlie New York Herald Tribune, in a leader says the Truman Administration has made a mighty attempt to straddle an issue which is too dangerous for straddling. If the United Slates is not to stand by which Palestine slides into chaos, carrying the United Nations with ■t. the United States must say as forthrightly as has Britain what it will do.