The Foreign Office today confirmed that the French delegation to the United Nations had asked for membership on the sub-committee studying the partition iseue.
A spokesman added that the French delegation had at first been interested in serving on a sub-committee which would attempt to conciliate the Jews and Arabs. Hewever, when the Ad Hoc Committee decided to hand the matter over to its praesidiu rather than set up a new body, the French switched their request to the partition group.
Officials at the Quai d’Orsay are extremely reluctant to answer any questions concerning Palestine. It is believed that the department is divided and the Foreign Minister Georges Bidault favors the Arab view, but that the delegation at Lake Success is pro-Jewish despite its instructions to the contrary.
Jewish circles are of the opinion that the French are playing a waiting game until the results of Sunday’s secondary municipal elections are in. They hope that this may yet create a situation where the government will feel free to support the Jewish cause.
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