U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie today told newsmen that he “hoped” for an extension of the truce in Jerusalem after July 9, the date it is scheduled to expire. Affirming that he had a copy of the peace proposals made by U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte to the Arabs and Israel, but refusing to make them public, Lie explained that only the Security Council had the authority to order an extension of the cease-fire. He added that the Council would, in fact, act only on a recommendation to this effect from Bernadotte.
Lie also revealed that Belgium has sent an additional ten observers to Palestine, bringing the total of U.S., French and Belgian military observers and U.N. Secretariat personnel assigned to observation teams to 93. Lie stated that the U.N. was negotiating with the U.S. France and Belgium to decide what expense of the military observers would be paid by those nations and what will be the financial responsibility of the U.N.
In answer to specific questions, Lie declared that he was not certain that he would go to Europe as he originally planned. Among the reasons for his remaining, he said, was the Palestine situation. Observers interpreted this statement to mean that he expected a truce extension to be negotiated next week. Lie also said that a representative of his had visited Bernadotte’s negotiations headquarters at Rhodes this week and had reported that everything was progressing smoothly.
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.
