U.N. Inquiry Body Defers Public Meeting Until Monday; Discusses Zionist Liaison Officer

The United Nations Palestine Committee will hold its next plenary session on Monday afternoon at Lake Success, it was made known here today at the conclusion of a closed meeting of the six-man body. Five delegations are still absent. The session tentatively scheduled for tomorrow has been called off.

During today’s meeting, which was held at the U.N. offices in the Empire State building, the question of according representation to liaison officers of the Jewish agency and the Palestine Arab Higher Committee was discussed, but no decision taken. The committee tried to determine the precise nature of the liaison representative requested by the Jewish Agency– whether such a representative would always be present with the committee, or merely stand by until called upon.

The committee also discussed the problem of according a hearing to the 15 organizations which have filed requests. The main issue is the question of time, since There is some doubt as to whether all those who wish to appear can be heard before the committee leaves for Palestine the second week in Juene.

The committee, which decided to hold no further meetings until Monday morning, when it will convene at Lake Success for preliminary talks prior to the public session in the afternoon, has not merely been marking time, it was stressed. The six members present have been studying over 1,000 pages of documents and records of previous investigations, including that of the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry.

At a press conference at Lake Success this morning, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie said for the record that the Egyptian Moslem and Canadian Jew dropped from the secretariat which is to accompany the commission to Palestine were removed in the normal course of cutting the secretariat by seven persons. He added that he wished to protect the secretariat from any criticism or charges of partiality.