U.S. Proposal May Jeopardize Partition, Shertok Tells U.S. Security Council

“The partition plan adopted by the General ##embly is to us the last and final compromise and the irreducible minimum of acceptability,” Moshe Shertok, speaking in behalf of the Jewish Agency, told the U.N. purity Council today.

“No reduction of Jewish rights under the Assembly’s plans, either in territory in sovereignty, can be accepted by the Jewish people,” he declared. “The United ##ions, through its various organs, has worked hard in grappling with the Palestine Problem. The partition resolution represents the collective wisdom of the international community on this burning issue.”

Outlining the attitude of the Jewish Agency toward the American proposal that Security Council should appoint a Big Five committee to deal with the Palestine problem and to consult with the Palestine Commission, the British, the Arabs and the ###ws concerning the implementation of the partition decision, Shertok said:

“The purpose of the consultation is not clear and the proposal leaves us greatly bewildered. We fear that it may lead to new delays and complications which by jeopardize the implementation of the whole plan and further exacerbate the situation in Palestine.” He pointed out that attempts at an agreed settlement of the Palestine problem in the past have been numerous and fruitless.

ASKS TRANSLATION OF PARTITION PLAN TO REALITY; URGES END OF ARMS EMBARGOES

Appealing to the Security Council and to all its members to translate the partition plan into a reality, the Jewish Agency leader said that preparations had to begin at once, including “the revision of indiscriminate embargoes” on arms. He {SPAN}##ged{/SPAN} that the Security Council consider issuing a call to member states asking them {SPAN}###{/SPAN} adopt a policy of supplying arms to those ready to assume defense responsibilities {SPAN}##{/SPAN} carrying out the partition decision of the General Assembly and of denying arms to those engaged in resisting these decisions.

Shertok took issue with the Arab contention that the Assembly resolution on partition was a mere recommendation. Wham the British Government brought the Palestine problem to Assembly, he said, it was fully aware of the powers of the Assembly and of its own responsibilities with regard to this trust territory. The partition recommendation of the General Assembly, Shertok argued, had been accepted by Britain as the Assembly’s “decision.”

“It is high time “Shertok declared, “for the representatives of the Arab government to realize that the Jewish people in Palestine will never submit to the status of a minority on sufferance, which is the lot of the oriental Jewish communities; that the urge for independence will never be eradicated from Jewish hearts)that as long as Arab states continua to resist by force the attainment of the Jew national goal, there can be no peace or stability in the Middle East, and that the ##ng-term interests of all concerned can only be served by mutual adjustment based on ##nality of status rather than by attempts at suppression and obliteration.”The Arab governments, Shertok, charged, are seeking to reduce the Jews to a ate of political subjection, “if not actually to confront them with the menace of mystical annihilation.” He cited a number of instances of open defiance of the assembly’s partition resolution by the Arab governments who are members of the United Nations. Yet this resolution, he said, was itself a compromise, granting only ##e minimum demands of the Jews.

CHARGES BRITAIN WITH “NON-COOPERATION BORDERING ON OBSTRUCTION”

The Agency leader also charged the British Government with “non-cooperation bordering on obstruction.” Citing a number of instances of such non-cooperation, Shertok said that the British Mandate must be terminated as soon as possible and certainly not later than the fixed date of May 15. As long as the Mandatory Power continues to pursue its present political course, even the slightest revival of a mutual confidence seems unthinkable, he stated.

Pointing out that even a clear recommendation of the United Nations for the opening of a port in the Jewish area of Palestine “had proved of no avail,” Shertok also touched on British opposition to preparatory steps for the establishment of Jewish militia. The British Government, he said, has so far impeded Jewish defense activities in Palestine.

The Jews, Shertok continued, never set the formation of an international force as an indispensable condition for carrying out the partition plan. They considered such a force in the event of outside aggression. But if it were not established, they would still be ready to discharge their responsibility although their need for said would be correspondingly greater.

BELGIUM SUPPORTS U.S. PROPOSAL; SYRIAN DELEGATE OPPOSES IT

Belgian delegate Joseph Nisot told the Security Council that he would support the U.S. resolution and called on the Council to avoid a debate on its right to implement the Assembly decision on partition until an early report had been received from the proposed Big Five committee. He then offered an amendment which makes the U.S. proposal even less acceptable to the Jewish Agency. The amendment omits entirely the part of the U.S. resolution which urges the Council to “accept the requests addressed to it by the General Assembly.”

Syrian delegate Paris El Khouri, outlining his attitude towards the U.S. proposal, said that any action against the threat to peace was the same as implementing partition and, therefore, would not pacify Arab violence in Palestine. Only “suspension” of implementation could bring peace, he stated. He likewise spurned the U.S. provisions for consultations as useless.