President Truman Appoints Paul Porter U.S. Member of Palestine Conciliation Commission

The appointment of Paul A. Porter, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and former chief of the Office of Price Administration, to serve as United States member of the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine was announced during the week-end by President Truman. Mr. Porter’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation, a State Department source said. He was named to succeed Mark Ethridge, who resigned to return to his post as publisher of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal.

The State Department announced that it has sent Steward Rockwell, one of its Middle East experts, to Lausanne to participate in the Arab-Israeli peace talks which are scheduled to resume tomorrow, pending confirmation of Mr. Porter’s appointment and his arrival on the scene. In a statement issued to the press, commenting on Mr. Porter’s appointment, the Department said:

“This government welcomes the resumption of the Lausanne meetings, which represent a further advance in the direction of peace between Israel and the Arab states. The recent discussions at Lausanne were of material benefit in clarifying the respective positions of the two parties. In the opinion of the United States as a participating member of the Commission, the ground-work has now been laid for constructive negotiations, in which both parties must cooperate to the full if the area of disagreement is to be progressively narrowed and a final settlement obtained.”