The first decisive stage of the peace conference on Palestine was reached here today when the U.N. Conciliation Commission met all the Arab delegations together, and no longer separately. The step followed a long private conversation yesterday between Mark Ethridge, of the United States, chairman of the Commission, and the heads of the Arab delegations, including representatives of the Palestinian Arab Refugee Congress.
The point has now been reached where in a matter of days either the Jews or the Arabs oust make the first conciliatory move if the conference is to make progress. A joint meeting of the Arab delegations has decided to insist that the Israelis must accept the U.N. General Assembly resolution, adopted Dec. 11, 1948, at Paris, before the Arabs are willing to proceed with other negotiations. (The Dec. 11 resolution states that Israel should accept for resettlement those Arab refugees who wish to return and live in peace with their neighbors.)
On the other hand, Dr. Walter Eytan, head of the Israeli delegation, for almost three hours yesterday answered questions put to him by the Commission members covering all aspects of Israeli policy. He gave them to understand that the official Israeli view is that the refugee question can be settled only after a frontier adjustment and as part of a general peace agreement.
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