The United States today presented the members of the U.N. Security Council with a 15-point trusteeship plan for Palestine to the administered under the United Nations Trusteeship Council for an indefinite period, until both the Arab and Jewish communities by a majority vote agree on a future government. (See Jewish Agency reaction on page 3.)
Only nine out of the 11 members of the Security Council attended the informal meeting today which took place at the headquarters of the U.S. delegation. The representatives of the Soviet Union and of the Ukraine boycotted the meeting.
Under the American plan, the General Assembly will designate the states which will become the trustees. They will have to supply military forces for Palestine at their own expense.
The plan contains specific provisions for Jewish immigration and land purchase in Palestine, but stipulates that they are to be negotiated in consultation with the representatives of the Jewish and Arab communities in Palestine.
A United Nations Governor General will, it is proposed, have the power to recruit local police and volunteer forces in Palestine for the maintenance of law and order. In an emergency, the governor will have the power to call upon the trustee states to supply their armed forces for the defense of the country or the maintenance of internal peace.
The administrative, legislative and judicial powers will be vested in a Palestine Government composed of a cabinet and a democratically-elected legislature–preferably a bi-cameral one. However, the governor will have the power to govern should the legislature be unable to exercise its powers.
The United Nations is expected to assume considerable financial responsibility for the trusteeship, although if the security problem improves Palestine is expected to be a financially self-sufficient community. However, the Palestine government may secure credit from a special U.H. fund to be raised by contributions from all the member states.
Major governmental officials, such as the Chief Justice and the Governor General, would be on the pay of the United Nations to assure their loyalty to the world organization, according to the plan. Human rights guarantees and measures for the protection of Holy Places are modeled after similar sections of the statute prepared for the international city of Jerusalem by the Trusteeship Council.
A spokesman for the U.S. delegation would not state positively whether the United States will be one of the trustees for Palestine. However, he called attention to a statement made by Sen. Warren Austin before the Security Council that the American Government is ready to assume its share along with other states in a trusteeship arrangement. The spokesman said it was the purpose of the current negotiations to set up a government in Palestine before the termination of the Mandate.
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