Secretary of State George C. Marshall today reaffirmed that de jure recognition for Israel is being given very careful attention and that recognition is now a matter of timing. He made it clear to his weekly new conference, however, that he did not mean a matter of time.
The timing of any forthcoming recognition of Israel depends on the coming elections, Marshall said, Asked if he was referring to the American elections or those Israel will hold presently, Marshall said he meant the Israeli elections. The Secretary refused to comment on a question of whether the United States would grant de jure recognition to Israel before these elections.
Marshall likewise waived response to the question whether his comment that recognition is a matter of timing means that ho categorically has decided to recognize Israel. He said he hoped the United States would find it proper to recognize the new state in a de jure manner. The White House will make this final decision, Marshall averred. His own department will figure in it, of course, he stated, but it will be particularly the White House, where the final decision naturally rests with the President.
ISRAELI ELECTIONS, SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER, WILL BE HOLD IN NOVEMBER
The Israeli elections, originally scheduled for October, will now be held in the middle of November, a spokesman for the Israeli mission here announced late today. He said a telegram to the mission from Tel Aviv blamed technical difficulties for the postponement.
The spokesman called these difficulties the strife-caused shortage of manpower to conduct an election, the drafting of Israel’s now constitution, and the scarcity of paper and printing equipment for ballots. It was Israel’s original intention to hold the elections on October 1, the date set by the United Nations.
By November, the spokesman stated, the Israelis will have convoked a constituent assembly to ratify the draft constitution, and machinery for the elections will have been set up. All Israelis from 18 years of age and up, including Arab citizens of Israel, will receive identification cards from their local municipal councils, and on election day will present these cards to poll officials. The cards will be honored as evidence of registration for voting.
The spokesman said the people of Israel feel that by the November elections, Israel will thus have a regularly established government deserving of de jure recognition by the United States. He added that Secretary of State Marshall’s comment earlier today that the elections would be held before November was based on United Nations data, which is in no way being contested, contradicted or discredited, because the news of the postponement only reached Washington after the Secretary’s press conference this noon.
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