6

their views at the Special Assembly. He considered that a refusal to include the Arab item might be construed incorrectly and unfavourably to the United Nations. When it became clear during the debate that the majority of the General Committee were opposed to the inclusion of their item, the Arab representatives pressed for some indication that the whole question of Palestine would nevertheless be discussed at the Special Assembly in order that any Committee of Inquiry set up should be fully instructed. The Indian delegate strongly supported the arguments of the Arab delegation during the whole of this debate, as indeed he did throughout the proceedings in the General Assembly. On the third day the Committee met all day and far into the night before a vote could be taken. Eventually the Committee, by a vote of one affirmative (Egypt) —the other Arab States not having seats on this Committee —eight against, and five abstentions (including the U.S.S.R. and Poland) decided against recommending the. inclusion of the Arab item in the agenda. On the following day, 1 May, the report of the General Committee was conveyed to the plenary session of the Assembly, and the Arab States recommenced their battle for the inclusion of their item, claiming also the right to discuss the whole question of Palestine, and therefore the termination of the mandate, in the debate on the first item —that proposed by the United Kingdom. Throughout this debate the President ruled that speakers must keep to the procedural matter in question, and must not deal with the substance of the problem of Palestine. Eventually he suggested a form of resolution approving the inclusion of the United Kingdom item on the agenda in the following terms : "The General Committee, " Having considered the item on the provisional agenda entitled ' Constituting and instructing a Special Committee to prepare for the consideration of the question of Palestine at the Second Regular Session/ " Recommends that the item be placed on the agenda of the General Assembly, and that it be referred to the First Committee." The Canadian representative, who was elected Chairman of the First Committee, questioned the value of referring the item to his Committee, and was supported by the Egyptian delegate. The President, however, pointed out that under Rule 109 all items on the agenda must be referred to a Committee unless the General Assembly itself decided otherwise. Unfortunately, this point was not pressed, and what looked like an opportunity to save considerable time was lost. All the arguments adduced in the General Committee were repeated in the following plenary sessions, again in the First Committee, and once more in the final plenary sessions.