The leading newspapers of New York were today unanimous in demanding that immediate action be taken to make the U.N. partition decision effective, and that the United States must take a leading role in this action.
The Herald Tribune, in an editorial, says that the position of the United States with regard to Palestine “is one of peculiar responsibility.” Urging that the Jews of Palestine be armed, the article states: “Officially and unofficially the United States took the lead in urging a change in the conditions of the British mandate, and later in promoting partition. If Palestine collapses into anarchy upon the withdrawal of the British it will be a terrible reflection upon American policy no less then upon the prestige and authority of the United Nations. It is necessary, therefore, that this country take the initiative in securing U.N. action to implement partition. The most obvious procedure would be to give the Jews of Palestine the legal right and the means to defend themselves.”
Pointing out that the United Nations is looking to the United Sates “for some light and leading” on the enforcement of the partition decision, the Herald tribune emphasizes that America “cannot afford to withhold it.” The keynote of American policy,” the article says, “must be collective action; it should not involve unilateral measures that would impose the entire burden on the United States. But the present state of collective paralysis on the Palestine issue is too dangerous to en dare–too dangerous for Palestine, for the U.N. and for the United States.”
The N.Y. Times, terming the Palestine question “a test case for the United Nations” says “It would be unworthy of the great nations to stand aside, shrugging off the responsibility of their own decision, while these smaller countries continued to wrestle with the problem. The United Nations, which produced the partition plan, is under a moral obligation to provide the necessary means to make that plan effective. It is to the Security Council that we must look for action. We believe that this action should be taken without further hazardous delay; that the very presence of an international force would have a quieting effect, and that Palestine is inescapably a test case for the United Nations.
The New York Post and the newspaper PM have been publishing articles during the Past few days commenting on the situation in a similar vein. The articles in the two papers take issue with the latest British allegation that Communist agents are “infiltrating” refugee ships carrying Jews from Europe to Palestine. They term this allegation “a smear” against the Jews.
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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.
