No direct approach to the other nations of the Big Five regarding proposals for a special General Assembly session is being made by either the Foreign Office or the British delegation at Lake Success, a Foreign Office spokesman said today, adding that the authorization to present the Palestine issue to the U. N., which was given Sir Alerander Cadogan, chief British representative at Lake Success, during the week-end, still stands.
He stressed that Britain was awaiting the outcome of the consultations initiated by the U. N. secretariat with the interested powers, and said that thus far it had received no information as to their reaction to the proposal, aside from the State Department’s announcement of last Friday approving the idea.
Asserting that the Arab League memorandum to Britain, which was released in Cairo today, has not yet been received by the government, the spokeman refused to comment on it. However, authoritative sources said that the government’s attitude towards the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem – whose return to Palestine was demanded by the Arabs – remains the same.
The Colonial Office, it was learned today, is engaged in drafting measures to deal with the huge stream of visaless refugees who are expected to begin arriving off Palestine with the coming of Spring. While a Colonial Office spokesman would not confirm that this was the main subject discussed with High Commissioner Cunningham and Maj. Gen. Gordon H. A. MacMillan last week, he indicated that this problem as well as measures to preserve law and order in Palestine are constantly under consideration. He said that ways and means of reimposing martial law in case of new outbreaks were receiving particular study.
Official quarters refused to reveal whether the intended steps to halt immigration would be primarily military, that is, intercepting the ships when they reach Palestine waters, or primarily diplomatic, by seeking agreements with other nations to halt the ships at their points of departure.
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