U.N. Conciliation Commission Gets New U.S. Members Important Israeli Proposals Expected

Reymond Hare, deputy director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs of the State Department, has been appointed United States representative on the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission to replace Mark Ethridge, who has resigned, it was announced here today.

Mr. Hare, who arrived in Lausanne ten days ago and has been informally participating in all meetings of the commission, will take over from Mr. Ethridge at the end of this week.

The appointment of a senior State Department official in place of an independent who is a personal friend of President Truman is given considerable significance by all the delegations here, particularly in view of the recent unmistakable pressure from Washington to induce Israel to make further concessions.

The Conciliation Commission and the four Arab delegations were sure today that Dr. Walter Eytan, director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and head of its spokesmen here, who is expected back tomorrow, will return from Tel Aviv with new and important proposals from the Israeli Government which will help to break the present deadlock. Dr. Eytan left Israel today by air.

So convinced are the Arabs and the Commission that for four days the delegations of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Transjordan have been meeting almost continually among themselves and with members of the Commission to decide upon their attitude toward Israeli proposals.

ARAB DELEGATES DIVIDED ON QUESTION OF ACCEPTING ISRAEL’S NEW PROPOSALS

A clear-cut division of the four Arab states into two parties emerged for the first time at these meetings. The Egyptian and Syrian delegations, on the one hand, and the Transjordanians and Lebanese, on the other, each met privately before these sessions and agreed on their separate policies.

The Transjordanian-Lebanese view is that if the Israeli Government should make the expected new proposals, the Arabs should accept them and agree also to the present frontiers of Israel as a basis for further discussions. This proposition was opposed by the Egyptians and Syrians. They wanted any Israeli concession to be met by the demand that Israel withdraw to the partition frontiers. The Lebanese objected to this as a proposal which could be achieved only by the resumption of war and “none of us is in a position to resume the war.”

No agreement has been reached, and it was decided to await Dr. Eytan’s arrival and his proposals before laying down Arab policy. If Dr. Eytan returns now without new proposals, the Israeli delegation will find itself under great pressure. The threatening division of the four Arab delegations will immediately be healed. Washington’s new policy, backing the Arabs, will make itself felt all the more energetically. United States policy here vis-a-vis Israel continues to harden perceptibly.

Meanwhile, the “Gaza Plan” for turning over the Egyptian-held coastal strip to Israel with its Arab population and refugees has been allowed to fade into the background for lack of adequate presentation.