Alarmed at the fact that the special session of the United Nations General Assembly has become a platform for unhindered and unchallenged Arab propaganda, the Jewish Agency was tonight considering the posability of supporting a compromise proposal which would satisfy the Arab demand for a full debate by the General Assembly, but bar a decision on the Palestine issue at the present session.
The compromise was suggested by Dr. Jan Papanek, the Czechoslovakian delegate. It was felt in Jewish Agency circles that a decision to hold a full-dress debate would be likely to result in the seating of a non-voting Agency representation, since most delegations would consider it unfair to grant a full hearing to the Arabs, while, at the same time, barring the Jews, even though influential delegations — including that of the U.S. — at present oppose the admission of a Zionist delegation.
In offering the compromise proposal, the Czech delegate implied that he would support the plea of the Jewish Agency on the grounds that all sides in the Palestine dispute must be heard. The French delegate, Alexander Parodi, in opposing the inclusion on the agenda of the Arab item calling for termination of the Mandate and for Palestine independence, told the General Committee that if a full debate on fundamental Palestine issues develops at the Assembly session, the Jews must be called in.
POLE REPORTED TO HAVE SUBMITTED FORMAL REQUEST FOR JEWISH REPRESENTATION
The Polish representative, Josef Winiewicz, who was the only delegate to insist yesterday on the admission of Jewish representatives, was reported to have today submitted a formal request to this effect to Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, the chairman of the General Committee. With Poland definitely favoring Jewish admission, and with Czechoslovakia ready to support the demand if a full-fledged debate develops, it was predicted that Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko may also endorse Jewish representation, since he has come out for a full debate, provided that no final decision is to be taken by the Assembly.
The seating of Jews was also demanded by the Ecuadorean delegate, Dr. Neftali Ponce. The delegate of India, Asaf Ali, although stressing that the Palestine issue is a matter with which the Jews of Palestine–and no other Jews–should be concerned, also said that after hearing all the speeches of the Arab and other delegates, he feels that the U.N. “is playing Hamlet without a Hamlet, since the Jews are absent from the discussions.”
The session of the General Committee today was just what the Arab delegates wanted, even though the majority of the committee members voiced their opposition to admission of the Arab item to the agenda. The Arab delegations never expected that their proposal would be accepted in the form in which they offered it, but made the quest as a maneuver which would offer them an opportunity to utilize the U.N. as a (##)bune before which to propagate their views.
They achieved this aim yesterday and today when each of the five Arab dele(##)tes, only one of whom is a member of the General Committee, were given an opportunity to speak twice. The Committee is composed of 14 members, some of whom, like (##)dia, are completely pro-Arab. Since the Brazilian delegate is chairman, and there(##)re makes no addresses, the score tonight was nine Arab speeches and two pro-Arab Indian addresses against 11 speeches by European and American delegates.
Observers of Jewish groups attending the session were frankly alarmed at the (##)ood of anti-Zionist propaganda and the distorted facts presented today by the delegates of the Arab countries. The Jewish Agency issued a statement emphasizing that at today’s session the spokesmen of the Arab states continued to present a distorted persion of the Palestine question, and once again there was no Jewish spokesman to (##)allenge them.”
JOHNSON SAYS FULL DEBATE WILL INCREASE PALESTINE OUTBREAKS
United States alternate delegate Herschel V. Johnson, speaking after the re{SPAN}(##){/SPAN} from Washington this afternoon of chief U.S. representative Warren Austin, who {SPAN}(##){/SPAN}sulted with Secretary of State Marshall, reiterated American opposition to inclusion in the agenda of the Arab proposal. He said Palestine now suffers a regime of {SPAN}(##){/SPAN}rrorism, violence and lawlesseness which the U.S. does not wish to increase by permitting unlimited exposition of the Arab view without hearing “all other views.” Johnson declared that debate could continue until July 1, but that the committee will require much time for its study, and also freedom from pressure. He stressed that his appeal against inclusion of the Arab item was “in the interests of the people of Palestine.”
The terms of reference of the projected fact-finding committee came up for discussion, although the question is not within the province of the General Committee. It was brought up by the Arab delegates who are anxious to have the inquiry committee instructed to study the abolition of the Mandate and the proclamation of Palestine’s independence.
Replying to Arab arguments that the fact-finding committee could not be properly instructed without discussion of the Arab item, Johnson insisted that its exclusion from the agenda does not preclude consideration of the claims of Arabs and Jews as well as of the Christians of Palestine. The terms of reference of the committee, he said, will be inclusive and not exclusive.
“It does not necessarily follow because we do not agree with the Arab desire to have full discussion of the substance, that we are disinterested in the final solution,” Johnson said. “Immediate independence,” he argued, is not necessarily the best solution.
Johnson further contended that only the Arab delegates came fully briefed and staffed for full discussion, while the vast majority of U.N. members were uninformed as to the issues and unprepared to enter upon a full-fledged debate. “Whatever is essential in the Arab item for the (##)ms of reference,” he said, “is bound to come out in the Political Committee which will work out the terms of reference for the inquiry committee.”
In their speeches today the Arab delegates concentrated chiefly upon attacking Jewish “illegal” immigration to Palestine. The Syrian and Iraq delegates were aggressive in their demands that the U.N. take measures to bar Jewish settlers. They said that the Arabs will be willing to wait for a final solution of the Palestine problem only if Jewish immigration–legal and “illegal”–to Palestine is completely discontinued.
All the Arab delegates tried to create the impression that Jews are well treated in all Arab countries and that the real enemy of the Jews is Zionism, which allegedly is destroying the friendly relations between Jews and Arabs in Arab countries. The Iraqi delegate spoke at such length that Dr. Aranha was forced to interrupt him and to ask him to be briefer.
The delegate from India, while paying lip service to the Jews as the people who gave the Bible to the world and contributed to the cultural development of other actions, insisted that the Palestine issue must be dealt with by Palestine Jews only. We tried to fortify his argument by telling the General Committee that in his country and in Afghanistan there are no less than 20,000,000 persons who also consider themselves “Sons of Israel.”
TEXT OF AGENCY STATEMENT DECRYING BARRING OF ZIONIST SPOKESMEN
The Jewish Agency statement deploring the absence of a Zionist spokesman and serring the alleged distortions by the Arab delegates reads as follows:
“At today’s session of the General Committee, the spokesmen of the Arab states continued to present a distorted version of the Palestine question – and once again there was no Jewish spokesman to challenge them. The most shocking misrepresentations are made to mislead the United Nations into believing that the Arabs are scrupulous in their observance of the rights of minorities and that the Jews of Palestine would be secure were Palestine to become an Arab state.
“Arab spokesmen have sought to convey the impression that Jews live in Utopia in Arab lands. Recent history emphatically refutes these pretensions. In Iraq, between four and five hundred Jews were murdered in a Bagdad pogrom on June 1, 1941. Jews are virtual prisoners in Iraq. They may neither enter the country nor leave it. Hebrew is a forbidden language. There were pogroms in Egypt and in Tripeli as late as November, 1945. It is estimated that 170 Jews were massacred.
“Jews in Arab lands are subjected to constant intimidation. In Syria on March 24, 1947, the Syrian Government threatened the Jews of Syria with the death penalty unless they renounced Zionism. Syrian Jews are now reported to be in flight. We have been informed that last night, various Cairo newspapers carried editorials openly inciting the Egyptians to progroms against the Jews. Other minorities in other Arab lands have been exposed to similar intimidation, persecution and attack.
“The facts are well-known and they cannot be denied. In the face of this recend, Arab spokesmen are freely writing falsehoods into the journal of the U.N. and the Jews must sit in silence. It is a sad situation which tragically underlines the justice of the Jewish Agency for Palestine’s plea to participate fully in the proceedings.”
The delegates from Sweden, Honduras and China joined Great Britain, France, Canada, the U.S., and Ecuador in announcing their opposition to inclusion of the Arab request on the agenda. This guaranteed a majority of the votes necessary for the defeat of the Arab proposal unless amended to satisfy some of the countries which would vote for a full debate at the Assembly, with the provise of no final solution by the session. British delegate Sir Alexander Cadogan reiterated today his opposition to inclusion of the Arab item.
(AS THE BULLETIN WENT TO PRESS, THE GENERAL COMMITTEE HAD RESUMED MEETING FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION AND A VOTE ON THE ARAB DEMAND FOR INCLUSION OF THEIR ITEM ON THE AGENDA AND THE JEWISH AGENCY REQUEST FOR REPRESENTATION).
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
