The British reaction to the Palestine implementation plan approved last night by the partition sub-committee is expected to be announced tomorrow by Sir Alexander Cadogan, when the Ad Hoc Committee resumes its meeting to discuss the plan as well as a 60-page report which will be submitted by the sub-committee which coordinated the Arab proposals.
The partition sub-committee was again urged today by Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, president of the Assembly, to complete its deliberations and present its report to the Ad Hoc Committee no later than tomorrow, to enable the Assembly to reach a final decision on partition before its expected adjournment about Nov. 25.
The question of whether the General Assembly has the right to establish a commission which would asseume administrative powers in Palestine is expected to be the major issue which the Arab delegations will raise when the Ad Hoc Committee takes up the implementation report. The American and Canadian delegations indicated today the necessity to prepare legal material on this subject.
The Jewish Agency today defended at the partition sub-committee the proposal made late last night by Emanuel Neumann, who urged that the implementation plan, before being submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee, be amended to make it clear that “if the two Provisional Councils cannot be established simultaneously, the fact that one of them is not ready to be formed shall not prevent or impede the establishment of the Council which is prepared to assume its functions.”
The Jewish Agency also insisted on the inclusion of a second amendment suggested by Neumann, providing that “the monthly rate of 6,250 Jewish immigrants permenth recommended by the UNSCOP majority shall enter into force in the area of the Jewish state immediately upon the assumption by the commission of its duties in Palestine. Similarly, the land regulations of 1940 shall at that stage be discontinued in the Jewish state area.”
RUSSIA OPPOSES U.S. REQUEST FOR TRANSFER OF AQABA AREA TO ARAB STATE
The demand of the American delegation that the Aqaba area of the Negev be transferred from the projected Jewish State to the Arab State provoked a lively de{SPAN}##te{/SPAN} last night at the partition sub-committee, in which the Russian, Polish and {SPAN}##choslovak delegates supported the opposition of the Jewish Agency to the American Stand.{/SPAN}U.S. delegate Herschel Johnson, explaining the motives underlying the American request, said that this area, although recommended by the UNSCOP for inclusion in the Jewish State, must be ceded to the Arab State “because it forms a wedge in the Arab {SPAN}##eague.” He also argued that the area, which is on the Red Sea, is more vital to the Arabs for the development of their state than for the Jews. He contended that the Aqaba district is completely worthless.{/SPAN}Shertok, taking issue with Johnson, revealed that Agency explorers have established mineral potentialities in the area, which is also important to the Jewish State because it offers an outlet to the Red Sea for commercial purposes and for the development of export.
(At the time the Bulletin goes to press the discussion on Aqaba is continuing. Dr. Neumann at a late hour withdrew his amendment for the admission of 6,250 Jewish immigrants, and proposed instead that the British evacuate a section in the projected Jewish State, somewhere in the coastal area, no later than Jan. 1, 1948, and the Provisional Governing Council in the Jewish State be authorized to admit immigrants to this area at its own judgment.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
