Something resembling a crisis has arisen today within the ranks of the United States delegation to the United Nations here following the sommersault last week by its members on the issue of diplomatic and economic sanctions against the warring parties in Palestine.
Although the U.N. General Assembly and its committees were not in official sessions today, because of the national observance of All Saints Day, there were lively recriminations and debate within the ranks of the Americans.
Three leading members of the United States delegation, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, John Foster Dulles, who is adviser to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey on Foreign Affairs, and Benjamin V. Cohen, former Counselor of the State Department, were reported to have joined in a protest that the delegation members were not even consulted whether Senator Warren R. Austin, chief United States delegate to the U.N. Security Council, should support the sanctions move against Israel initiated last week by the British.
Inquiries made thus far among the Americans hare brought the information that this decision was taken on the advice of the State Department, conveyed by John Ross to Senator Austin on the evening before the British, Joined by the Chinese, submitted their resolution to the Security Council. Now that this has been brought to light, Mrs. Roosevelt and Dulles are demanding a thorough airing of the whole affair.
The dilemma of the United States delegation has not been resolved by the week-end visit of Secretary of State Geroge C. Marshall to London, purportedly to discuss the Palestine issue with Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. There are continuing reports in Paris that as a result of those discussions, the Palestine problem will be dropped from the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly at this session. Government circles in London yesterday were mystified at these reports. A Foreign Office spokesman said that Britain was opposed to any further delay in U.N. action on Palestine.
It seams, however, that the British have agreed to the United States’ proposal for a delay, but only if Washington agrees to put teeth into whatever resonation the Security Council adopts and Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, acting mediator on Palestine, takes the necessary action to create the much talked of neutral zone in the Negev, which at this time is the chief British concern in the Palestine question.
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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.
