Dr. Alberto Gonzalez Fernandez of the Colombian delegation to the United Nations has been appointed the U.N. representative in Jerusalem by the Palestine Conciliation Commission, it was announced here today.
Dr. Fernandez was appointed upon the nomination of U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie, with authority to assume his duties in Jerusalem and call on the local officials to set up an interim U.N. administration in the area. Under the General Assembly resolution adopted in Paris last year this would be a preliminary step in the complete internationalization of the city.
The appointment was seen in U.N. circles here as evidence of a new “get tough” policy with Israel. The interpretation stems from the fact that Dr. Fernandez was the only non-Arab to serve on a subcommittee of the Assembly which was empowered to work out an alternative scheme to partition at the 1947 session of the Assembly. This session finally voted partition as a solution for Palestine’s problem.
At the same time, a report from the Commission at Lausanne stated that Gordon R. Clapp, chief of the newly created economic mission for the Middle East, had expressed the hope that his group would produce a report in time for submission to the General Assembly this year. Dr. Clapp arrived at Beirut, his group’s Middle East head quarters, yesterday.
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