The first phase of the work of the U.N. Economic Survey mission set up by the Palestine Conciliation Commission will come to an end this week when the mission visits Bagdad. It is expected to report and make recommendations to the United Nations about Nov. 1, it was stated here today.
According to advices reaching U.N. headquarters, Gordon R. Clapp, head of the mission, told a press conference in Beirut yesterday that the conversations of the mission with the Arab and Israel governments had dealt primarily with “the urgent problem of the plight of Arab refugees.” He said that with this in mind the mission’s engineering and agricultural experts had begun technical examination of local public works programs in Transjordan, Arab Palestine, the Gaza area and Israel, where the need was for both Arab and Jewish refugees. Mr. Clapp emphasized, however, that temporary work relief was not meant to prejudice any rights Arab refugees may have for repatriation and compensation under the General Assembly resolution of Dec. 11, 1948.
After completion of its present report, Mr. Clapp added, longer-range economic development projects would be examined with the governments concerned and a later report “will give consideration to the need of establishing an international agency through which technical counsel and financial assistance may be made available to interested countries.”
At Lake Success today Israel spoke out strongly against the continuation of the General Assembly’s interim “watchdog” committee and suggested that an association of the permanent representatives of the United Nations with an expanded social and cultural program would be greatly more desirable. Speaking before the Ad Hoc Political Committee, which is considering the proposal to prolong the life of the “Little Assembly” indefinitely, Dr. Jacob Robinson, legal expert of the Israel Consul General in New York and member of the Israel delegation, called it the “problem child of the U.N. from its very inception,” and was “certain to widen the chasm between the great powers and thus jeopardize chances of international cooperation,” while failing to register any substantial advantages for the work of the U.N. period.
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