The General Assembly tonight turned down the Arab request for inclusion on its agenda of an item calling for termination of the Palestine Mandate and proclamation of the country’s independence.
Despite an all-day fight by the Arab delegates, 24 members of the Assembly voted against the Arab demand, while 15 were for and 10 abstained. The item needed 37 votes to be placed on the agenda.
Among those who voted for the proposal were all the Arab countries, the Soviet bloc, with the exception of Poland which abstained, and Argentina. Many Latin American countries abstained from voting.
The General Committee will meet tomorrow morning to decide the fate of the Jewish request for participation in the Assembly without a vote. The General Assembly is scheduled to resume meeting in the afternoon.
Today’s session of the Assembly was dominated by the Arab delegates and the representatives of the Latin American countries, some of whom supported the Arab plea, while others favored wide terms of reference for the fact-finding committee to include termination of the Mandate. Argentina supported the Arabs without qualifications, while modified support came from Peru, Columbia, Heiti and El Salvador. All favored full debate at the Political Committee with Jewish and Arab representatives from Palestine to be invited tomake statements.
AUSTIN SAYS ASSEMBLY NEED ONLY NAME PROBE GROUP AND SET TERMS OF REFERENCE
United States delegate Austin emphatically stated that the only business of the Assembly was the simple question of whether to accept the General Committee’s negative recommendation on the Arab proposal, leaving as the only matter before the Assembly the British proposal for appointment of an inquiry committee, and the formulation of its terms of reference by the Political Committee.
He predicted there would be “unanimous agreement” in the Political Committee that the inquiry committee’s terms of reference include “the question of self-government or independence of Palestine as one of the solutions be considered.” Austin said that the General Assembly “could not set up the independence of Palestine or make any final conclusion, but can make recommendations with great moral power.”
He emphasized that if any substantial evidence was brought forward favoring the idea of self-government or independence “at some time either immediately or upon conditions according to the developing situation and according to the wishes of the people of Palestine,” that would be a possibility for a solution of the (See Earlier Story On Following Pages.)
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