The United Nations Trusteeship Council which is currently considering a draft of an international statute for Jerusalem today laid down the principle that the interests of the people of Jerusalem must be subordinated to those of worldwide religions.
The 12-nation body gave a second reading to a French proposal which would set up a legislature for the city consisting of eight Jews, eight Moslems, eight Christians and one representative for some 130 residents of the city in 1947 who were not affiliated with any of the three religions. At the same time, the Council approved an additional proposal to give the “heads of principal religious communities” the right to nominate an equal number of members of the legislature to represent them.
One attempt was made to limit the number of religious nominees to four for each of the three faiths. However, the Belgian delegate, citing difficulties encountered by Britain when it attempted to set up a similar system during the Mandatory regime, suggested that no limit be set on the number of church nominees, and thus give the U.N. regime the ability to expend the number of church representatives if a greater number of sects or communities of one religion demand representatives.
U.S. DELEGATE OPPOSES IDENTIFICATION OF CHURCH WITH STATE IN JERUSALEM
The American representative expressed concern over the proposal on the grounds that it would indentify the church with the secular government of Jerusalem. He also noted that such a plan would weight the legislative body heavily in favor of the Arabs since they would be represented both as Moslems and as Christians. When only the New Zealand delegate supported him, the American dropped the issue.
The Council left the matter of enfranchisement of women to each community and proceeded to a preliminary discussion of the powers of the proposed U.N. governor. Iraq, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines argued against an article of the draft statute permitting the governor to suspend the legislature in time of crisis. They were opposed by the three major colonial powers on the body: Britain, France and Belgium.
The Council also heard a new plea from a representative of the Greek Orthodor Patriarch of Jerusalem that the religious buildings in the city receive special protection. An official map distributed to all Council members showed that all but three of the Holy Places designated as such under the Mandatory regime are located in Arab-held territory.
The U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine will meet with Arab delegations next week, it was learned today. The members of the three-nation commission will attempt to sketch out plans for continuation of its work. It is not yet decided whether the body will continue its activities here for the remainder of the month or, if the opportunity presents itself, try to press its conciliation efforts in Cairo, Damascus or Jerusalem.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
