The Jewish Agency is unlikely to secure representation at the United Nations General Assembly on Palestine, which opened here today, it was indicated by various delegations, following the election of Oswalde, Aranha, chief Brazilian delegate, as president of the Assembly. Dr. Aranha received 45 of the 50 votes cast.
He announced that the Steering Committee, which was elected today, and which will act on the Agency request for participation and the Arab demand that the agenda be enlarged to include an item on termination of the Mandate, will meet tomorrow and report back to the Assembly on Wednesday. Dr. Aranha said that the requests of the Jewish Agency and the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation for representation had been referred to the committee.
The decision to postpone the plenary session of the Assembly until Wednesday came after the Syrian delegate, Faris el Khouri, who is the chief Arab spokesman, protested an original ruling by the president that the Steering Committee would have one hour tomorrow to come to some decision and would then report to the plenary session.
The Steering Committee is composed of the seven vice-presidents of the Assembly and the chairmen of the six principal committees all elected today by the Assembly. The vice-presidents are the representatives of the Big Five: Alexander Parodi of France, Warren R. Austin of the U.S., Sir Alexander Cadogan of the United Kingdom, Dr. Kuo Tai-chi of China and Andrei A. Gremyko of the USSR, plus Asaf Ali of the Indian delegation and Dr. Neftali Ponce, Ecuadorian delegate.
The six committee chairmen are Lester B. Pearson of Canada, for the Political and Security Committee; Dr. Jan Papanek of Czechoslovakia for the Social Committee; M## Pasha of Egypt for the Economic Committee; Herman G. Eriksseen of Sweden, for the Trusteeship Committee; Josef Winiswicz of Poland, for the Budgetary Committee; and Dr. Tibureio Carias of Honduras for the Legal Committee.
BOTH AGENCY DEMAND, ARAB REQUEST FOR AGENDA ENLARGEMENT SEEN DOOMED
The feeling here that the Agency’s chances of getting a non-voting seat are slight are predicated chiefly on the fact that the U.S. delegation is reportedly very cool to the Zionist request. The Arab demand for additions to the agenda is also believed to be doomed. The majority of the delegates seem determined to prevent anything which might lead to a full-dress debate on the basic aspects of the Palestine issue, and went a fact-finding commission appointed with as little discussion as possible.
Last minute efforts were made by the Agency to secure U.S. support. However, the State Department takes the attitude that there is no legal basis for the Agency to be given rerpesentation. The question was thoroughly studied by Department ex## of whom came to the conclusion that from a purely legalistic viewpoint any Agency presentation should be made through the British Government, as the Mandatory, which was the procedure followed at the League of Hations.
AGENCY BOYCOTTS SESSION PENDING DECISION ON ITS PICA FOR SEAT
Meanwhile, the Agency announced that pending a decision on its demand for a non-voting seat, none of its representatives would attend the Assembly sessions. {SPAN}##,{/SPAN} Joseph M. Proskauer, president of the American Jewish Committee, conferred with Warren Austin, chief U.S. delegate, and voiced support of the Zionist plea.
Following the election of Dr. Aranha, the Agency submitted to him a formal memorandum reiterating its request for participation. It asked for the right to take part in all discussions, receive all Assembly documents and have its own memcranda and communications circulated by the secretariat. “This will afford at least a partial remedy for an otherwise grossly inequitable situation,” the memorandum stated.
In his inaugural address, Dr. Aranha declared that the problem which had brought the Assembly together had most decisively challenged, through the ages, the minds and sentiments of individuals and peoples, Now, he said, “time has brought forth an hour of decision for our consciences.” Declaring that the existence of an organization such as the United Nations “with the capacity… of endeavoring to solve the gravest human problems” was evidence of the wisdom of those who preceded us in the task of ensuring world peace, the president reminded delegates that they would be called upon to decide questions which were not theirs individually but were the burden of all.
“It is within our choice to make the U.N. the balance of justice, security and peace,” he said, “or to allow it, through our lack of wisdom, to be transformed into one more sword to be blindly wielded by force and instinct.” He told the Assembly that it had no warrant to postpone or to allow confusion to cloud the issues of the task entrusted to it by the peoples of the world.
JEWISH CIRCLES FEAR LATIN-AMERICAN DELEGATIONS WILL LINE UP WITH ARABS
The 20 countries of the Latin American bloc were highly pleased with the election of Dr. Aranha. They hope to play a decisive role at the session. “The Palestine case,” one of the Latin American delegates said, “provides the Latin American nations with an excellent opportunity to make a vital contribution to world peace by sitting in impartial judgment on a crucial case. None of us has a serious Jewish problem, and we are far enough removed from the whole situation to take an objective view of it.”
Jewish circles were not too hopeful today with regard to some of the Latin American countries, since it is known that the Latin American bloc is inclined to vote with the Arab bloc on certain issues. On the other hand, they expressed the hope that French delegation might support the Jewish request in view of the growing friction in North Africa between France and Arab dependencies.
The postponement of the plenary session until Wednesday will give the Agency a breathing spell during which it can attempt to contact the various influential delegations and urge them to support its demand for representation. The Arabs will also, undoubtedly, use the period to strengthen their forces. They are determined to put up a bitter fight on the Assembly floor if the Steering Committee turns down the petition for inclusion of their item on the agenda.
The U.N. secretariat distributed the texts of the Palestine Mandate and the Balfour Declaration, while the British delegation distributed copies of a memorandum the British Government submitted to the League of Nations before the Mandate was confirmed by the League, in which it said that it did not aim at making Palestine “as Jewish as England is English.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
