Gromyko Asks for “concrete Steps” by U.N. to Check a Threat to Peace in Palestine

Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko today termed tentative Big Four agreement on the Palestine issue as only a “half step” in the it direction. He called for “concrete steps” by the Security Council to deal with threat to peace involved in the Palestine situation.

The agreement to which the Soviet delegate referred was reached late last night ?g the representatives of the Big Four. It was indicated this decision is not nearly final. The agreement provided, that the United States; the USSR, France and ##a should Jointly recommend to the Security Council that the following two steps taken in connection with the Palestine question:

1. The Security Council should, clearly declare that it will not permit the ex##ence of a threat to peace to develop in Palestine.

2. The Security Council should take every step in its power immediately to bring but an end to the violence and disorder in Palestine.

The agreement involved a compromise on the part of all the four Big Powers and ?kened an earlier recommendation by the United States, Soviet Union and France that Security Council should recognize that a threat to peace exists in Palestine due to infiltration of armed Arabs from neighboring countries. Later, France reneged this recommendation.

Gromyko made his statement to the press today following developments which in##ated the impossibility of a truce being reached between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine Efforts by the Big Four to secure such a truce came to a dead end last ##ht when the Jewish Agency replied that any truce in Palestine must be within the homework of the partition decision of the General Assembly. The Arab, countries, on other hand, told the President of the Security Council that they would be willing cooperate in efforts for a truce, providing that the partition decision is not im?mented.

Other conditions for a truce set by the Jewish Agency in its reply to the Big our call for an armistice stipulated that Arab forces which infiltrated from neighboring countries must be withdrawn from Palestine; that no further infiltration of much forces is to take place; that Arab mobilization against Jews must be stopped during the armistice. Thus far, the Palestine Arab Higher Committee has given no really to the call for a truce.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet tomorrow to hear final recommendations from the Big Four on the Palestine issue. Although they agreed on a two-point program for submission to the Council, the Big Four did not succeed in reaching agreement on the text of the preamble to this program. Consultations will continue tonight in the hope that a compromise can also be reached on he wordings of the preamble.