General Assembly Resolution of December 11

Meanwhile the First Committee of the General Assembly undertook its renewed consideration of the future government of Palestine. A British motion which would in effect have adopted the Bernadotte Plan did not meet with the acceptance of the Committee. The United Kingdom thereupon proposed an alternative resolution embodying amendments offered by the United States, which placed principal emphasis on pacific settlement by agreement between the parties and on the establishment of a Conciliation Commission to assist the parties in reaching agreement. At last, on December 11, the day before the close of the Assembly's meeting in Paris, a plenary session adopted a resolution on Palestine which established a Conciliation Commission (consisting of France, Turkey, and the United States) to assume the functions given to the Mediator by the Assembly's resolution of May 14 and to undertake, upon the request of the Security Council, any of the functions assigned to the Mediator or the Truce Commission by resolutions of that Council. The Conciliation Commission was instructed to take steps to assist the governments and authorities concerned to achieve a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them. The resolution provided for special protection of the Holy Places and stated that the Jerusalem area should be accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and should be placed under effective United Nations control, the Conciliation Commission being instructed to present to the Fourth Regular Session of the Assembly specific details for a permanent international regime for the Jerusalem area. The Conciliation Commission was likewise instructed to seek arrangements to facilitate the economic development of Palestine and the repatriation, resettlement, and rehabilitation of refugees.

In December the Government of France appointed Claude Breart de Boissanger as its member of the Conciliation Commission. The President appointed Joseph B. Keenan as the American member,3 while the Government of Turkey appointed Huseyin Cahit Yakin as its representative on the Commission.

Thus the year 1948 was one of vicissitudes and grave conflict in Palestine. The solution of this problem which has baffled statecraft for a generation is yet to be found, but certain definite landmarks on the way to that solution were established in 1948. The most outstanding of these landmarks is the existence of the state of Israel. The Jewish population of Palestine, with the assistance of their coreligionists throughout the world, proclaimed and protected the new state of

'Mr. Keenan resigned on Jan. 14, 1949, and was replaced by Mark Ethridge. 825285° 49

Israel. The state of Israel, as Count Bernadotte noted, exists, and as 1948 drew to a close it was obvious that the armed forces of Israel were capable of defending it.

The boundaries of the state of Israel remain subject to final determination. Other areas in Palestine awarded to the Arab population by the resolution of November 29, 1947, are presently under Israeli military occupation. These areas include the predominantly Arab city of Jaffa, the predominantly Arab region of western Galilee, and the major portion of Jerusalem with the land corridor to that Holy City, which the Assembly's resolution of 1947 had not allocated to the Jewish state. The United States Government took the position, as officially expressed by its Delegate to the General Assembly in a speech on November 20, that "reductions in such territory should be agreed by Israel. If Israel desires additions, it would be necessary for Israel to offer an appropriate exchange through negotiations."

Events of the tumultous year in Palestine, involving withdrawal from its mandate by the United Kingdom, the establishment of Israel, and sharp warfare between the Arab and Israeli armies, did not result in a decisive display of United Nations strength confronting a problem for which only the more measured pace of history would provide the answer. Nevertheless, the United Nations, although it did not resort to force to put down this incipient war in the Middle East, was in large measure successful in putting bounds and metes to the conflict. It gave effect to the principle that a threat to international peace and security anywhere is the concern of the international community everywhere, and although, according to the Charter interpretation sustained by the American Government, the General Assembly had no power to enforce its political recommendations through Security Council action, the Council itself had ample opportunity in dealing with Palestine to exercise its responsibilities for the maintenance of peace and security.

ASSISTANCE TO PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

As a result of the hostilities in Palestine preceding and following the termination of the British mandate on May 15, 1948, almost the whole of the Arab population fled from the area under Jewish occupation. The plight of these refugees became very acute by the middle of the summer of 1948. At the end of July the League of Arab States addressed an appeal to Count Bernadotte stating that the situation of misery and distress of the refugees merited the attention of the United Nations organization concerned with the assistance and welfare of refugees and requesting the Mediator to initiate such action as required to relieve the gravity of the situation. On August 16 the Mediator sent telegrams to 24 nations which had had important trade connec

tions with Palestine and the surrounding Arab countries, requesting certain specific items of supplies from them. He also sent telegrams to 29 other states with the request that they provide any available general food requirements or funds. While some states supplied the specified commodities in full, the response in general was inadequate. The Government of the United States had no funds available for direct governmental contribution, but under the initiative and coordinating guidance of the Department of State supplies to the value of nearly one and one-half million dollars were furnished through private contributions by the middle of November. In addition, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, which had already contributed $411,000 for a two months' emergency program, authorized a longer-range program calling for the expenditure of $6,000,000 in this area.

When the General Assembly met in Paris on September 21, it had become apparent that the situation of the refugees was one of emergency bordering on disaster. The Mediator devoted part III of his progress report of September 18 to the subject of assistance to refugees. He gave the figure of 360,000 as the number of refugees requiring assistance and indicated that the number was constantly increasing. He emphasized the desperate urgency of the problem and stated that the choice was between saving the lives of many thousands of people "now" or permitting them to die.

On October 18 the Acting Mediator issued a supplementary report which showed that the situation was continuing to deteriorate. This report contained the detailed estimate of the Director of Disaster Relief, who had been appointed by the Mediator, of the cost of the program of relief for a period of nine months beginning December 1. It fixed the maximum number of refugees requiring assistance at 500,000 and the estimated cost at $29,500,000.

It became apparent from these reports that the problem for the General Assembly was to determine what funds and supplies were required, how the needed funds should be obtained, and how they were to be distributed to the refugees.

The United States Delegation proceeded upon the premise that action by the United Nations to meet this emergency situation would make an important contribution to the settlement of the general Palestine problem. While recognizing the humanitarian aspects of the problem, the Delegation insisted from the beginning that the program should not be undertaken solely on a humanitarian basis. With this in view, the following paragraph, based on the Mediator's progress report, was included in the preamble to the resolution jointly sponsored by Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States:

"WHEREAS the alleviation of conditions of starvation and distress among the Palestine refugees is one of the minimum conditions for the success of the efforts of the United Nations to bring peace to that land.

At the same time the Delegation was careful to make it clear that the program should not be launched in such a way as to indicate any legal obligation or responsibility on the part of the United Nations for undertaking the care of the Palestinian refugees.

The Delegation concluded that it was essential for the General Assembly to fix the total amount required to meet the emergency, the estimated number of refugees, and the period for which the program should be launched. The problem of how the needed funds and supplies should be obtained was more difficult. After a thorough study of the alternatives, it was concluded that in view of the size of the problem the funds would have to come from Member governments rather than from private contributions. It was also decided that in view of the size of the amount required, in relation to the United Nations budget, and the undesirability of creating a precedent, the funds for the program should not be included in the regular United Nations budget. The difficult question of whether there should be any indication of the size of the contributions expected from governments was resolved in favor of a purely voluntary contribution with a strong recommendation to Members that they make contributions in kind or in funds sufficient to insure that the amount of supplies and funds required would be obtained. In order to make funds immediately available, it was decided that provision should be made for an advance from the Working Capital Fund of the United Nations.

Perhaps the most difficult question of all was that of the organization to be set up for carrying out the program. Although at first glance the logical answer would seem to be to utilize the resources of the International Refugee Organization, it was concluded that this was impracticable. The small membership of the IRO would unduly restrict the potential contributors to the program, and the burden put upon the Refugee Organization by this program would imperil the successful accomplishment of the main task for which it was established the repatriation and resettlement of refugees in Europe. Agreement was finally reached in consultation with other delegations, the Acting Mediator, and the Secretariat, upon the creation of a small directing and coordinating organization responsible to the SecretaryGeneral and acting under a Director of Relief. Upon the initiative of the United States, it was agreed that the actual operations and distribution in the field should be carried out by nongovernmental organizations in agreement with the Secretary-General and the Direc

tor of Relief. The resolution as finally adopted makes special mention in this connection of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies. This scheme of organization would relieve the Secretary-General of the necessity for undertaking directly the extensive operational duties involved in the proposed program.

A program embodying these principles was set out in the joint resoiution introduced by Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States on October 29. Committee 3 of the Assembly heard a report from the Acting Mediator and the Director of Relief on October 20 and after a short general debate referred the matter to a subcommittee on October 30. The resolution, recommended unamimously by the subcommittee, was adopted by the full Committee on November 13 by a vote of 52 to 0, with 4 abstentions. The budgetary aspects of the question were reviewed by the Fifth Committee, particularly the question of the utilization and safeguarding of the Working Capital Fund and the fixing of the amount required for administrative and local operational expenses. The resolution as finally adopted by the Assembly on November 19—

1. Fixes the amount required to provide relief for 500,000 refugees from December 1, 1948, to August 31, 1949, at $29,500,000 and the amount required for administrative expenses at $2,500,000;

2. Authorizes an advance from the Working Capital Fund of $5,000,000, to be repaid before the end of the period from the voluntary governmental contributions;

3. Urges all Member states to make voluntary contributions in kind or in funds to insure that the amount of funds and supplies required is obtained and provides for the acceptance of contributions from nonmembers;

4. Authorizes the Secretary-General to establish a special fund and, in consultation with the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, to establish regulations for the administration and supervision of the fund;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to take all necessary steps to extend aid to the Palestinian refugees and to establish the required administrative organization, including the utilization of appropriate agencies of Member governments, the specialized agencies of the United Nations, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Red Cross Societies, and other voluntary agencies;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to appoint a United Nations Director of Relief for Palestine Refugees "to whom he may delegate