The United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine tonight made public the five-point peace proposals prepared by the commission and submitted to Israel and the four Arab States with which Israel now has armistice agreements. The proposals call for revision or amendment of the existing armistice agreements on a number of points. The preamble to the proposals asks the governments to pledge themselves to refrain “from any use of force or acts of hostility” and thus promote peace in Palestine. The following are the points of the proposals:
1. Agreement on war damages, including mutual cancellation of claims by Israel and by the Arab States.
2. Israel to agree to repatriate a specified number of Arab refugees who can be Integrated in the Israel economy and wish to return.
3. Israel to agree to compensate the Arab refugees who do not return for their abandoned property by payment of a global sum based on the commission’s estimates. An easy payment plan would be arranged.
4. The Arab States and Israel would mutually release all blocked accounts and make them payable in pounds sterling.
5. The Arab States and Israel to agree to revise or amend the armistice agreements.
PROPOSALS CALL FOR “TERRITORIAL ADJUSTMENTS”
A broad range of questions is envisaged under the fifth point. They include “territorial adjustments, including the demilitarized zones,” and creation of an international water authority to deal with the problem of use of the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, their tributaries and the water of Lake Tiberias. It would also cover disposition of the Gaza strip, now occupied by Egypt, creation of a free port at Haifa, and border relations between Israel and here neighbors with special attention to free access to the Holy Places in the Jerusalem area, including Bethlehem.
The fifth point also suggests agreements on health, narcotics and contraband controls along the demarcation lines and arrangements to facilitate the economic development of the areas as well as resumption of communications and economic realtions between Israel and here neighbors.
A commission spokesman said tonight that no party had committed itself to acceptance of the proposals but that both Israelis and Arabs had agreed to cooperate with the U.N. body. He asserted that the preamble closely parallels the Israeli plea for a non-aggression pact, although it does not specifically envisage a treaty. He said the plan does not have to be accepted in its entirety although it is an overall plan. “Any proposals outside the commission’s own plan certainly will not be ruled out of order,” he declared.
An Israeli delegation spokesman declined to comment on the proposals tonight. The text of the plan was cabled to Tel Aviv last night. The commission will meet with the Arab delegations tomorrow and probably with the Israelis later in the week.
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.
