U.N. Partitionists Recommend Entry of 150,000 Jews to Palestine Within Two Years

Entry of 150,000 Jews into Palestine over a two-year period ending Sept. 1, 1949 at the rate of 6,250 a month, including 30,000 women, children and other “humanitarian” cases, is proposed in the “working paper” presented to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine by the partitionist majority in the committee today.

The majority paper is incomplete because the advocates of partition have so far been unable to agree on the fundamental question of the boundaries of the proposed new states to be carved out of Palestine.

At the same time, the minority group, composed of the delegations of India, Iraq and Yugoslavia, presented their federation report complete with maps and boundaries to UNSCOP. This federation report contemplates the establishment of two autonomous – not independent – Jewish and Arab states under a federal government. There would be a three year interim period during which the question of Jewish immigration would be decided by a board of Jews, Arabs and United Nations representatives who would base their decisions on economic absorptive rather than political grounds.

The minority federation scheme would give the Jews the eastern part of Galilee; the western coastal plain, including Haifa and Tel Aviv, and the northeastern part of the Negev, the southern desert. Exclusion of the remainder of the Negev from the Jewish zone was motivated by the reason that that would mean that the Palestine frontier with Egypt would be a completely Jewish area.

U.N. SUPERVISION DURING INTERIM PERIOD IS ENVISAGED

The majority partition plan envisages Great Britain alone, or possibly with the aid of another United Nations power, in charge of carrying out the partition recommendations during an interim period under United Nations supervision.

The conditions to be imposed would be the establishment of a “free city” or state of Jerusalem; and economic union between the Arab and Jewish states, governing customs, communications, railways, etc. Immigration into the Jewish area would be in Jewish hands and immigration into the Arab areas would be under Arab control.

The partitionists are now arguing over three major points: first, boundaries, (some would give the Jews the entire Negev, not simply the northeastern part); second, the size of the proposed city or state of Jerusalem, and thirdly, the disposition of Galilee.

On the question of legislative machinery, the supporters of federation propose the establishment of two Houses of Parliament – one based on population representation and the other on representation of nationalities. The plan submitted by the partitionist majority calls for general elections, the establishment of General Assemblies and provides that during the interim period no Jews should be settled in Arab areas and vice versa.