Sen. Warren R. Austin, head of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, formally announced this afternoon at the Security Council the American proposal for establishment of an international trusteeship for Palestine which he had revealed earlier at a meeting of the Big Powers. (See earlier story on pages 1-4.)
Declaring that there seems to be “general agreement” that the partition ?lan cannot be implemented now by peaceful means, and that “it is clear that the Security Council is not prepared to go ahead with efforts to implement the plan in the existing situation,” Austin made the following statement:
“My Government “believes that a temporary trusteeship for Palestine should be established under the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations to maintain the peace and to afford the Jews and Arabs of Palestine further opportunity to reach an agreement regarding the future government of that country. Such a United Nations trusteeship would, of course, “be without prejudice to the character of the eventual political settlement, which we hope can be achieved without long delay. In our opinion, the Security Council should recommend the establishment of such a trusteeship to the General Assembly and to the Mandatory Power. This would require an immediate special session of the General Assembly, which the Security Council might call under the terms of the Charter.
“Pending the meeting of the special session of the General Assembly, we believe that the Security Council should instruct the Palestine Commission to suspend its efforts to implement the proposed partition plan. Draft resolutions which would give effect to the above suggestions will be circulated shortly for the consideration of the Security Council.
The American delegate also commented that “the plan proposed by the General Assembly is an integral plan which cannot succeed unless each of its parts can be carried out.” He added that the Security Council has “an inescapable responsibility” to bring about a cease-fire in Palestine and a halt to incursions into that country.
Austin earlier had expressed the view of the U.S. Government that under the terms of the League of National Mandate, and the General Assembly resolution on partition of Palestine, and the transfer on League of Nationals functions to the United Nations, “the limited functions which the General Assembly offered to undertake in connection with its Palestine recommendation stand or fall with that resolution.” If it proved impossible to give effect to that resolution, continued Austin, the would not have any administrative and governmental responsibilities regarding Palestine after the end of the Mandate on May 15, unless the Assembly took further ?tions.
SILVER REJECTS TRUSTEESHIP; SAYS IT WILL LEAD TO MOXE VIOLENCE
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver served notice on the Council that “the shocking rehearsal of its position” by the United States will not deter the Jewish community of Palestine from going ahead with the establishment of a Jewish State.
“The decision of the General Assembly remains valid for the Jewish people,” said. “If the United Nations Commission is unable to carry out the mandates which are assigned to it by the General Assembly, the Jewish people of Palestine will move Harvard in the spirit of that resolution and will do everything which will be dictated by considerations of national survival, as well as the considerations of Justice and historic rights.”
The plan for an interim U.N. trusteeship is likely, he said, to lead “to increased violence in Palestine and will incalculably hurt the prestige of the United Nations for whose effectiveness the President of the United States pleaded again so recently as last Wednesday night.”
“It should be clear to everyone,” Dr. Silver added, “that the establishment of a trusteeship by the United Nations in Palestine will not automatically insure Peace in that country.” He warned that force will have to be used, just as it would have been required to carry out partition.
Dr. Silver said an attempt was clearly being made to force upon the Jewish community of Palestine a settlement that would “diminish its sovereignty, territory and immigration as was provided for in the partition plan. Otherwise no new proposals would now be made by the United States delegation looking toward a new solution.
“The Jewish Agency has repeatedly been under the necessity of stating that the partition plan represented maximum sacrifice oh the part of the Jewish people beyond which it cannot go. Any proposals calling for further sacrifices will have to be imposed upon the Jewish community of Palestine by force.”
He added that he hoped to be able to comment at a later opportunity upon the legal implications of Austin’s statement. He told the Council that the Mandatory Power had never been able to confirm the arrival in Palestine of armed immigrants by sea.
GROMYKO CHARGES U.S. PRESSING PLAN THROUGHOUT BIG FOUR TALKS
Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko, in a preliminary comment on the U.S. proposal,
He said it had nothing in common with the question of implementing the Palestine issue. He further labelled “misleading” the U.S. report that there was agreement among the Big Four that peaceful implementation was impossible. That, he said, is the view of China and the U.S. but not of other governments. Neither do the two general principles agreed upon by the Big Four lead to the United States conclusion, Gromyko charged. Instead, he said, they were formulated as a basis of implementation.
Before Grosyko spoke, Dr. T.F.Tsiang of China defined the function of the Council as one of preserving the peace. Therefore, he argued, the Council could not furnish or authorize the use of force and so favored in principle the U.S. reversal. The Council then adjourned until Wednesday morning.
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.
