A report on the present situation in Palestine and a proposal for a permanent U.N. solution of the Palestine problem were today presented by acting mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche at a private session of the U.N. Security Council. The discussion on Palestine will be resumed again tomorrow when members of the Council as well as Bunche and his chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. William Riley, will participate.
Dr. Bunche submitted a draft resolution aimed at bringing peace to Palestine by means of an armistice which both Jews and Arabs would be asked to accept. The resolution says that such a step should involve: firstly, separation of Jewish and Arab armed forces by creation of broad demilitarized zones which would be under supervision of U.N. observers; and secondly, ultimate withdrawal and reduction of Jewish and Arab armed forces as will ensure the restoration of Palestine peacetime conditions. Dr. Bunche’s suggestions would ask the mediator, the Arab Governments and Israel to submit to the Security Council “frequent reports on the implementation of this resolution.”
Israeli observers commented that the only positive aspect of Dr. Bunche’s original proposition to the Council–direct negotiations between the parties — has been eliminated from the latest plan and has been replaced by demilitarization and withdrawal. Those activities, they pointed out, would take place on Israeli soil, thus further reducing Israeli territory to the advantage of the Arab invaders. This they said, is clearly in the spirit and framework of the Bernadotte plan.
The first meeting of the special sub-committee sot up by the Angle-Chinese-American sanctions resolution which is charged with advising the mediator of his responsibilities and duties under the resolution will meet tomorrow afternoon. The member nations of the body are the Big Five plus Colombia and Belgium.
U.N. MEDIATOR DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF ALLEGED RUSSIAN AID TO ISRAEL
Neither acting mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche nor his chief of staff, Brig. Gon. William Riley, have any information concerning alleged Russian aid to Israel or the existence of an air shuttle for arms to Israel, the two U.N. officials declared today at a joint press conference.
Riley said that there were some airfields in Israel which were not under U.N. observation. This situation developed, he pointed out, after the Arabs refused to accept observers at some of their fields. Subsequently Israel decided to deny access to certain installations to the U.N.
The General said that he had given the Arab delegates with whom he met Saturday a military appraisal of the situation in Palestine, but had made no political observations or recommendations. He declared that the nature of the appraisal was secret, adding that a similar review of the situation would be made to the Israeli representatives. He denied having said that the November 4 Security Council resolution ordering the Jews to withdraw from their new Negev positions was unrealizable.
Dr. Bunche reiterated that he favored direct negotiations between the belligerents, but did not agree that this was the only means for achieving peace. The acting mediator indicated clearly that he was ready to proceed with a “got tough” policy, including sanctions, to achieve his own plan. Both men denied having received official notice from Israel that it would not withdraw from the Negev.
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