A Foreign Office spokesman said today that the French delegation at Lake Success will vote for partition, although reluctantly. The spokesman said that France feels itself bound to vote for the recommendations of a committee in the establishment of which it participated.
Earlier, questioned concerning partition at a press conference, Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, who recently returned from the General Assembly meeting, said that while it was reasonable that the Jews, who have been subjected to barbarous sufferings should be offered a refuge in the land where they wish to resettle, it is understandable that the Arabs,”who have been our partners for the last 100 years,” Would not like it. He expressed the hope that U.N. would find a solution to the urgent problem.
The French delegation has conspicuously refrained from active participation in the work of the U.N. Palestine Committee. Informed diplomatic observers attributed the French attitude to pressure from North African Arabs. With crucial municipal alections coming up this week-end, the government is especially anxious not to do nothing which might antagonize the Algerian Arabs, who are voters, since Algeria is a department of metropolitan France.
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