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Britain Will Submit “top Secret” Plan on Palestine to U.N. Commission Today

January 14, 1948
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Sir Alexander Cadogan, chief of the British delegation at the United Nations, tomorrow afternoon will present to the U.N. Implementation Commission a statement from his government containing a plan for the termination of the Mandate. At the request of the British, the Commission agreed to consider this plan “top secret” in view of the present delicate situation in Palestine.

The Commission, at a closed session, today, decided to hear Moshe Shertok on behalf of the Jewish Agency later in the week. In the meantime, it drew up a list of about 100 questions to be presented to the British Government in order to clarify the British attitude on various aspects of the Palestine issue.

It was revealed here today that one of the members of the five-nation implementation Commission has prepared a resolution asking the Commission to request the Security Council to send an international armed force to Palestine. The identity of the member was not disclosed, and it was not held likely that speedy action: will be taken on his resolution, since other members of the Commission are known to feel that no request should be submitted to the Security Council before the Commission reaches Palestine and investigates the situation on the spot.

BRITAIN DESIGNATES REPRESENTATIVES TO APPEAR BEFORE COMMISSION

Meanwhile, it was officially announced today by the U.K. Secretariat that the British Government has formally accepted the invitation of the Implementation Commission to send a representative and designated Sir Alexander Cadogan, who will be assisted by Trafford Smith of the Colonial Office in London and J. Fletcher Cooke, of the High Commissioner’s office in Jerusalem.

The Jewish Agency officially accredited Moshe Shertok as its representative to the Commission. He will be assisted by Aubrey Eban, David Horowitz and Arthur Lourie. Shertok met with Commission Chairmen Karel Lisicky today.

The New York Times in an editorial today advocated the sending of an international force to Palestine. Declaring that the Jewish Agency “is incorrect in implying that the U.N. partition plan provided for the immediate creation of a Jewish militia and gave at least a moral sanction to the export of arms from this country to supply such a militia,” the article says:

“But mistakes made in this country with literal explosives cannot in any way change the fact that there is a politically explosive situation in Palestine today. Unless sufficient central force to pacify the country is brought in from outside, Palestine is in for a destructive civil war. The United Nations, which produced and plane to impose the partition plan, is under a oral obligation to produce the necessary neutral force, also. This can be done by action of the Security Council. We do not know how such a force could be made up, but we believe it should ? formed at the earliest possible moment; we believe its very presence would have quieting effect; and we believe that Palestine, concerning which the permanent members of the Security Council will be in agreement, is a critical test case for the United Nations.”

The New York Times today reported from London that British diplomatic sources had confirmed that Britain was supplying arms to Egypt, Iraq and Transjordan, but asserted that it was doing so in fulfillment of “contractual obligations made since the end of World war II. The report added that British official sources declined comment on Zionist allegations that the value of the equipment exceeded $25,000,000.

U.S. IS ASKED TO ASSURE ARMS TO JEWS IN PALESTINE

The American Christian Palestine Committee today called upon the U.S.

“By moving decisively to defend the lives of its people, the Jewish Agency has (transgressed no law, but on the other hand, has acted wholly within the spirit of the resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations with respect to Palestine,” the statement said.

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