The United States today introduced a resolution to the General Assembly’s Special Political Committee requesting the Palestine Conciliation Commission to continue its efforts to resolve the Arab refugee question pursuant to a 1948 resolution which calls for repatriation of the Arab refugees into Israel or their compensation.
The United States in its draft also noted “with deep regret” that no progress has been made as yet toward the repatriation or compensation of the refugees.
The American resolution was in most essential parts almost identical with a pro-Arab resolution presented to the Committee by three Moslem states–Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia. The only additional point of importance in the Moslem resolution was a call upon the PCC “to make further efforts to protect” Arab property allegedly remaining in Israel.
The U.S. resolution was presented after the Moslem draft had been read to the Committee by the representative of Afghanistan. A violent dispute erupted in the Committee as to which of the two drafts would be voted upon first. Mihail Haseganu, of Rumania, chairman of the Committee, ruled that the Moslem resolution would take precedence. The United States appealed the chair’s ruling and lost on a roll call vote by a ballot of 38-18 with 37 abstentions.
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