Council of Foreign Ministers Withdraws Equality Clause from Bulgarian Peace Treaty

The Council of Foreign Ministers, now meeting here, today withdrew from the Bulgarian peace treaty the clause providing for equality before the law which was aimed at the protection of national minorities in Bulgaria, The decision to withdraw the clause was taken on the ground that it failed to achieve a two-thirds majority at the Peace Conference in Paris.

A spokesman for the leading Jewish organizations which had submitted a joint memorandum to the Peace Conference asking guarantees for Jewish communities in the ex-satellite countries, today said that this clause had not been requested by the Jewish organizations at Paris in the case of Bulgaria, or by the Jews of Bulgaria, and that its withdrawal is therefore in accord with the position taken by Jewish bodies.

The Jewish organizations have formed a Joint Working Committee in New York which is seeking adoption by the Council of Foreign Ministers of three clauses in the Rumanian and Hungarian treaties. The three clauses, although they do not refer to Jews as such, provide for equality before the law of all persons, irrespective of race or religion, the restitution of property to victims of racial or religious persecution or compensation therefore and the use of owner less property of the victims of racial and religious persecution for the rehabilitation of the survivors.

The organizations which are represented in the Joint Working Committee include the World Jewish Congress, the Agudas Israel World Organization, the American Jewish Conference, the American Jewish Committee, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Anglo-Jewish Association, CRIF, the Alliance Israelite Universelle and the South African Board of Jewish Deputies.