Soviet Foreign Secretary Vyacheslav Molotov thrust the explosive Palestine issue before the United Nations General Assembly tonight when he charged Britain with unwillingness to relinquish the Palestine mandate and with merely confining herself to “insignificant declarations” with regard to the mandated territories.
“Someone,” he said, addressing the General Assembly, “is deliberately hindering the establishment of the U.N. Trusteeship Council.” He stressed the necessity of bettering the living conditions in the mandated territories and of helping the inhabitants along the path to self-government and independence.
“But,” he continued, “not a single step has been taken along this path by the countries which would not let go their firm hold on the mandates of Palestine, Tanganyika, Togo, New Guinea, etc., confining themselves for the time being to the writing of unsatisfactory drafts and insignificant declarations.”
Meanwhile, it was learned that the Arab states do not plan to bring the Palestine issue before the General Assembly, in view of the fact that the problem is still to be discussed at the London conference called by the British Government. This was confirmed by Syrian delegate Faris el Khoury in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.
In reply to a question as to whether his government will refuse to support the proposed International Refugee Organization if Jews are not barred from Palestine, Khoury said: “I believe that the question of the IRO, being exclusively humanitarian, should not include any matter having such important political aspects as Palestine.”
He reiterated the Arab states’ opposition to further Jewish immigration into Palestine “before the establishment of a government of Palestine representative of the wishes and aspirations of its people.”
COMPROMISE REACHED ON HUMAN RIGHTS PROPOSAL
A compromise proposal under which the section of a proposed U.N. Declaration of Fundamental Human Rights covering the rights and duties of states will be shifted from the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee to the Political and Security Committee was reached last night at a session of the General Committee.
The compromise followed a demand by Soviet delegate Andrei Vishinsky that the entire declaration–submitted by Panama–be transferred from the Social Committee to the Political Committee. It provides that all sections of the declaration will be discussed jointly by the two committees, with the exception of the clauses on the duties of states. The sections to be dealt with jointly are the part of the proposal dealing with fundamental human rights.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
