The first meeting of the U.N. inquiry commission on Palestine will be opened Monday afternoon by Trygve Lie, Secretary-General of the United Nations, it was announced here today. It will be open to the press.
The committee will have to decide on whether to hold hearings at Lake Success prior to its departure for Palestine; also, whether the entire eleven-member group should visit the camps for displaced Jews in Europe, or should send a sub-committee.
En route to Palestine, the commission will pass through Geneva on June 6, to pick up some members of its staff, it was learned. It is possible that it may also choose Geneva as the place in which to draft its report following its return from Palestine.
(A cable from Jerusalem reports that Sir Henry L. Gurney, Chief Secretary of the Palestine Government, and Lt, Gen, Gordon H.A. MacMillan, British military commander there, will be the principal witnesses to testify before the U.N. inquiry commission, at a secret session.
(The government is making arrangements to accommodate the fact-finder either at the YMCA or the Victoria Augusta Hospice, on Mt. Scopus, which is presently serving as the 16th Military Hospital. The authorities will make a fleet of 24 large and three small cars available to the commission.)
Seven of the 11 members of the inquiry group have already communicated the names of their representatives on the committee and alternates to the Secretary-General. They are: Australia, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Netherlands and Peru, The names of the representatives from Sweden, Canada, Uruguay and Yugoslavia are expected to reach the secretariat during the week-end.
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