Strong Opposition to U.S. Trusteeship Plan Voiced During U.N. Debate on Palestine

Strong opposition to the U.S. trusteeship ?an for Palestine was voiced here today at the opening session of the U.N. Political committee by delegates of the USSR, New Zealand and Australia while representatives other countries said that their governments will condition support of the American ?an on the effective implementation it can muster.

The attack on the U.S. plan followed presentation of the proposal by Warren ? Austin, head of the American delegation, who said that further action on the ?ce resolution adopted by the Security Council might prove necessary. “A United Nations truce commission in Palestine, with a limited number of police to help ?pervise the truce and reinforce the local police in controlling irresponsible ?ements might be needed,” he declared.

Defending the U.S. trusteeship plan, Austin said that it was not being suggested as a substitute for partition or for any other solution of the Palestine problem that might be agreed upon by the Arabs and Jews. The truce and trusteeship together would be a military and political standstill, entirely without prejudice ? the eventual political settlement, he emphasized.

Austin revealed that negotiations with other governments concerning sharing responsibility for peace and order in Palestine had thus far produced “no tangible results.” Warning that the U.S. would not accept responsibility alone for Palestine security, he asked the Assembly to designate other states which would share in providing an international force.

Speaking of need for the economic development of Palestine, Austin suggested development of a Trans Jordan hydro-electric plan. If funds over and above Palestine’s revenues were needed to build up the country, he suggested, the U.N. might make them available either as subsidies or as recoverable loans.

GROMYKO CHARGES U.S. AND BRITAIN PLANNED SABOTAGE OF PARTITION PLAN

Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko bitterly attacked the United States, charging that it and Britain were carrying out a preconceived plan to wreck the U.N. partition decision. He accused the U.S. of “some kind of a new game” by which Palestine would become the “quasi colony of the United States and a military base” for its strategic interests in the Middle East. He added that the U.S. Government was subordinating he interests of the Palestine people to those of American oil.

The Russian refuted the American premise that partition could not be implemented peacefully, asserting that no attempt at peaceful implementation had yet been made. Further, he stated, the U.S. attitude at the Big Powers conferences on Palestine disclosed that it was not even slightly interested in partition.

He concluded his remarks with the statement that the Soviet Union would in no way cooperate with nor support any negotiations arising out of the American trusteeship plan. “The Soviet delegation still considers that the decision on the partition of Palestine is the right decision and that the United Nations should undertake effective measures for its implementation,” he declared.

SMALL NATIONS FAVOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PARTITION; CHINA SUPPORTS TRUSTEESHIP

New Zealand fired the first salvo in a small nations counteroffensive to save partition, after the U.S. proposal had been laid before the Political Committee, Sir Carl Berendsen, New Zealand’s delegate and chairman of the Assembly’s Trusteeship Committee, said that the violence in Palestine was the result of a “gamble” by the Big Powers who “irresponsibly” decided on partition without providing a method of implementation. New Zealand believes now as it did at the last Assembly session that partition is the best solution, he added.

John D. L. Hood of Australia announced that he will put forward a formal resolution reaffirming the partition decision. Decrying the U.N. retreat before Arab violence, he insisted that any transition period such as envisaged in the American proposal would only intensify violence before a final solution could be achieved. Gunnar Haggloff of Sweden said that he would introduce a resolution for the immediate establishment of a committee to deal with the emergency situation confronting Jerusalem.

China was the only power to comment favorably today on the new U.S. proposal. Dr. Tingfu T. Tsiang, chairman of the Political Committee, stepped down from the rostrum to make his statement as head of the Chinese delegation. The American proposal, he said, contains elements of statesmanship, adding that he was particularly impressed by the economic proposals which, he said, were designed to benefit both committees. He made a distinction between the use of force to restore peace–which he admitted might be necessary in connection with the trusteeship plan–and the use of force to impose partition.