Apprehensive Jewish Agency officials said tonight that the joint resolution on the terms of reference of the inquiry committee proposed today by an 11-man sub-committee of the Political Committee, and the amendments offered by Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko, represented a “critical turn” in the U.N. deliberations as far as the Zionists were concerned.
A Jewish Agency spokesman said that the terms of reference as drafted prejudged the entire issue, especially the point referring to the independence of Palestine. “To speak of Palestine independence without referring to previously guaranteed Jewish rights means ignoring these rights,” he emphasized.
The Jewish Agency delegation was also concerned about the paragraph in the terms of reference relating to the “interests of all inhabitants of Palestine” without making any reference to the Jews outside of Palestine who must emigrate from refugee camps.
The Jewish Agency spokesman drew attention to that part of today’s statement by Moshe Shertok before the Political Committee which read: “We should not like to find ourselves in a position where the danger of our fundamental rights being prejudiced in advance by the terms of reference should militate against our full and effective cooperation with the inquiry commission.” (See earlier story on following pages)
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