A detailed plan designed to facilitate discussion by the United Nations of a temporary trusteeship for Palestine was presented today by the U.S. delegation to the Political Committee of the special General Assembly session. However, the plan does not specify how a trusteeship decision would be implemented.
In presenting, the plan, Warren R. Austin, chief U.S. delegate to the U.N., pointed out that its provisions are “tentative suggestions.” The document, he said, should not be regarded as a formal American proposal, but rather as a basis for discussion. Basically, the plan provides:
1. The terms of trusteeship for Palestine should be approved “without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned, or to the character of the eventual political settlement.”
2. The United Nation, acting through the Trusteeship Council, will be the administrative authority for Palestine. It will assure the territorial integrity of Palestine against any threat of aggression, and will appoint a Governor-General in them will be vested wide powers and who will be responsible for the maintenance of internal law and order.
3. The Governor-General will organize a volunteer force to provide for local defense. Until such time as the force shall be able to function effectively, or if subsequent to such time a situation arises with respect to which the force requires assistance, the Governor-General may call upon certain governments to assist in the defense of Palestine or in the maintenance of law and order in the country. The countries upon whom the Governor-General may call for military aid are not specified in the American plan, but it is assumed that they will be the United States, Britain and France.
PROVISIONS FOR IMMIGRATION AND LAND ACQUISITION OUTLINED
4. Immigration into Palestine shall be permitted, without distinction between individuals as to religion or blood, in accordance with the absorptive capacity of Palestine as determined by the Governor-General. It shall be subject to the requirements of public order and security and of public morale and public health.
5. As a temporary measure, the immigration of a fixed number of displaced Jews on a monthly basis, for a period not to exceed two years, shall be permitted into Palestine. The number of such immigrants is to be agreed upon later. The selection and administration of the immigration of displaced Jews shall be conducted by the Governor-General in consultation with the International Refugee Organization and representatives of the communities of Palestine.
6. The Governor-General shall establish and maintain a land system appropriate to the needs of Palestine, in which there shall be no limitation on the sale, purchase, lease or use of land which discriminates on grounds of race, nationality, community or creed. However, under the authority of the Governor-General, adequate ?asures shall be taken to assure protection for the interests of email owners or ?ants in cases of transfer of arable or grazing lands.
7. The Governor-General shall appoint a commission of impartial experts, who shall be neither Arab nor Jew, to recommend the criteria upon which the land system scribed above shall be based.
TRUSTEESHIP TO TERMINATE AFTER THREE YEARS; PLEBISCITE PLANNED
With regard to the length of the trusteeship period, the U.S. plan provides at the U.N. trusteeship shall terminate either as soon as the General Assembly has proved a plan of government agreed to by Arabs and Jews, or after the expiration of three years, if the Trusteeship Council agrees upon a plan of government which is approved by a majority of both the Arab and Jewish communities of Palestine. The approval of the inhabitants of Palestine would be signified in a plebiscite conducted the Governor-General.
During the trusteeship period, the Government of Palestine shall be composed the Governor-General, a cabinet responsible to a bi-cameral legislature, the legislature, and a judiciary. Pending formation of a cabinet and legislature, the Governor-General shall be assisted by an advisory council, which shall function until ?ch time as, in the opinion of the Governor-General, the citizens of Palestine demonstrate their willingness to cooperate in a cabinet and legislature, or in any ?her form of government on which both the Jewish and Arab communities have agreed.
The advisory council shall be composed of the permanent chiefs of the administrative departments of the government and of representative Palestinian citizens appointed by the Governor-General from each community. The Governor-General would be responsible to the Trusteeship Council and his term of office would be three years and could be renewed.
The cabinet shall be composed of ministers selected by a prime minister, all whom shall be appointed by the Governor-General. Under each minister shall be a permanent administrative staff appointed by the Governor-General. The cabinet shall be individually and collectively responsible to both chambers of the legislature.
The legislature shall consist of a House of Representatives, composed of Palestinian citizens 25 years of age or older, elected from single-member districts ##ch of which shall be a geographical unit, and a Senate composed of thirty Palestinian citizens elected in equal numbers by the registered members of the Arab and Jewish communities. The terms of both chambers shall be three years.
GOVERNOR-GENERA; GIVEN WIDEST POWERS; CAN DISSOLVE LEGISLATURE
The Governor-General may at any time dissolve the legislature. He may disapprove a bill introduced in the legislature. He may issue his own orders which shall become law when the legislature is suspended. He, or a person designated by ?im, shall preside over the Senate and shall cast a deciding vote in the event of a ?ie. He would also have the power of pardon and reprieve.
If, in the opinion of the Governor-General, the administration of Palestine is being seriously obstructed by non-cooperation or interference on the part of persons or groups in Palestine, the Governor-General during the period of such an urgency can take such measures and enact by order such legislation as he may deem necessary to cope vita the situation. Such criers will supersede all legislation to ? contrary.
As the representative of the U.N. in Palestine, the Governor-General is authorized to conduct the external affairs of the country and may sign treaties behalf of Palestine. He is else responsible for the organization of local governments in Palestine with a view toward encouraging maximum cooperation between Jews Arabs. Local autonomous units are to enjoy wide powers of government and administration in accordance with Palestine laws.
INDIVIDUALS GRANTED SIGHT TO PETITION TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL
The American plan provides that all persons in Palestine are to enjoy freedom religion, worship, language, education, speech and press, assembly and association, and petition, including petition to the Trusteeship Council. It stipulates it there shall be maintained in Palestine an adequate system of primary and secondary education on an equitable basis for the Arab and Jewish, communities in their respective languages.
Under the plan, the following categories of persons would be regarded as citizens of Palestine: 1. Persons resident in Palestine on July 1, 1947, who were ? on that date nationals of any stats outside of Palestine; 2. Residents who filed declaration of citizenship at any time before November 1, 1948 and who renounce ##eir former nationality; 3. Persons who have resided in Palestine for three months ##d take an oath of allegiance to the Government of Palestine simultaneously re?uncing their former nationality.
The U.S. plan also deals with the protection of Holy Places, with the Judi-nary system, equal treatment to members of the United Nations in matters relating granting concessions for the development of natural resources in Palestine, with freedom of transit and navigation, protection of movable and immovable property of ?l nationals of members of the United Nations, and with the reports which the Governor-General is to submit to the Trusteeship Council.
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