U.N. Political Committee Debates Soviet Proposal to Remove Foreign Troops from Palestine

The U.N. Political Committee today resumed debate on Palestine as its 56 members discussed a Soviet resolution calling for withdrawal of all foreign troops from both the territory of Israel and that area of the country set aside by the U.N. partition decision for an independent Arab state. The Committee also spent some time on a Polish resolution calling for a settlement of the Palestine situation on the basis of the partition decision alone.

Dean Rusk, of the United States, opposed the Soviet and Polish proposals, Rusk expressed the view that the Security Council had already taken action for a Palestine armistice, and under its resolution of Nov. 16 a withdrawal of armed forces was contemplated in keeping with the armistice proposal. Rusk said the General Assembly should concentrate on broader questions of political settlement and leave to the Security Council the question of strict withdrawal.

The discussion was opened by Russia with a demand that all foreign troops be withdrawn from Palestine soil for the sake of establishing security and stability. Egypt protested against Russia’s reference to the armies of the Arab states as “foreign” troops. The Egyptian representative asserted that no case of unwarranted intervention had been established by the Security Council against the Arab states. “We want to Palestine as welcome guests,” the Egyptian added.

ISRAELI REPRESENTATIVE SUPPORTS SOVIET, POLISH RESOLUTIONS

Aubrey S. Eban, Israeli representative, declared that the presence of foreign troops in Palestine constituted a threat to world peace. He added that Israel supports the Polish and Russian resolutions.

Harold Beeley, Middle East expert of the British Foreign Office, said, on behalf of Britain, that it was impossible to determine who was the foreigner in Palestine. He asserted that there were no Arab troops on the territory proposed for the Jews in the report of the leas Count Folks Bernadotte.

Byelorussia’s delegate said that he had not seen documents inviting the Arab armies to Palestine. Each Arab state, he said, was grabbing a piece of the country, and under such circumstances there would never be peace. Tran, Jordan, he added, was encouraged to invade Palestine and its army was led by a British commander with British officers serving under him.

One of the highlights of the debate was afforded by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Peter Fraser, who, although opposing the Polish proposal as “hopeless,” declared that agreement could be reached only if the U.N. provided the conflicting parties with the needed lead and guidance. The partition resolution of last Nov. 29 should be the basis of everything to be decided from now on, and the Bernadette plan, as well as other resolutions seeking to modify the original territorial settlement, should be regarded only as auxiliary factors, he asserted.

Eban followed by asserting that “my delegation believes the Nov. 29 resolution is still a valid instrument of international law.” He also pointed out that neither the late mediator nor acting mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche considered the Bernadette recommendations a final solution of the Palestine problem. A vote on the Soviet and Polish proposals was postponed until a later date. The debate will be resumed again tomorrow.