Representatives Fail to Involve U.N. Security Council in Debate on Palestine

Efforts on the part of Egypt and Lebanon to ##ipitate a discussion on the legal merits of the Palestine question at the U.N. ##rity Council failed today after the president of the Council, John D.L. Hood of ##ralia, ruled that the session was obliged to limit itself to taking note of the ##ral Assembly’s decision to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states and ## not embark on any discussion.After placing the Palestine case on its agenda, the Council deferred discussion ## the issue indefinitely. Hood communicated to the Council the Egyptian and Leban##requests for participation in the Council’s discussion on Palestine and proposed that the requests be also hold over until a later date.The Syrian member of the Security Council, Faris El Khouri, then urged that the Council call a special meeting for a “free discussion” on the Palestine question. ##mphasized that implementation of the partition decision was now in the hands of ##bly “take note of such an important matter.”U.S. delegate Herschel Johnson said he did not believe it would be helpful to ## a date now for a discussion on Palestine. This, he declared, would not have a ##ifying effect.” He pointed out to the representative of Syria that the Palestine question could be brought before the Council at any time if good reasons so required, without any date having been fixed in advance.Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko siad it might not be enough that the Council ##ly “take note” of the Assembly’s decision. It would be better to say that the ##curity Council “accepts” the decision and thus becomes “seized” of the matter, ##suggested. Johnson stressed that the Security Council was not charged with the ##plementation of the whole Palestine resolution, but only of specific parts of it, ## therefore proposed that “this matter be postponed indefinitely.”Dr. Alfonso Lopez of Colombia proposed that the Security Council take note of ##e Assembly resolution and at the same time invite the representatives of Egypt and ##banon to participate in the meetings of the Council at which the Palestine question ##all be discussed. After the meeting a number of delegates explained that the council had no jurisdiction over disorders in Palestine proper until the U.N. Im##ementation Commission was constituted.Wide powers to deal with disturbances and to protect the U.N. statute for the ##ee city of Jerusalem were today proposed to a Trusteeship Council sub-committee by Czechoslovak representative Karel Lisicky.