The British Government has sent a communication to United Nations Secretary -General Trygve Lie regarding the possibility of expediting consideration of the Palestine issue, a Foreign Office spokesman said today.
Although he would not disclose the contents of the note, it is believed to urge Lie to explore all possible means of bringing up the issue before September when the General Assembly is scheduled to meet. The communication follows the receipt of reports from Sir Alexander Cadogan, chief of the British delegation to the United Nations, concerning his talks last week with Lie and other U.N. officials.
Jewish Agency circles here are puzzled by the apparent contradiction between Colonial Minister Arthur Creech-Jones’ statement in Commons yesterday that continuing study was being given to the question of increasing Jewish immigration into Palestine and the disclosure to correspondents by a source close to Prime Minister Attlee that since the issue has been referred to the U.N., no change in the government’s immigration policy is contemplated.
Although the Agency has officially indicated that it is taking Creech-Jones’ remark at face Value, it is known that officials have privately informed it that there is little hope for increased immigration. The Agency is still awaiting an answer to its appeal for a larger immigration quota, but it is not expected before Foreign Minister Bevin returns from the Moscow Conference next month.
The council of the Anglo-Jewish Association today adopted a resolution expressing the hope that submission of the Palestine question to the U.N. will lead to a final settlement, but urging the government immediately to increase immigration substantially “in view of the unavoidable delay” before a settlement can be achieved. However, Leonard Stein, president of the Association, addressing a meeting of the council urged Jews to present constructive proposals before “Palestine is swept to the whirlpool of lake Success.” He added that “if the White Paper was a disastrous blunder, so was the launching of the Biltmore program.”
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