867N.01/3–1947
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Villard)
During the course of his call at the Department today, Dr. Zurayk1 observed that the Arab States were strongly opposed to present plans for appointing a committee of the United Nations to study the Palestine case prior to its consideration by the General Assembly next September. He said that he feared the appointment of such a committee, whether it was composed of members of the United Nations or of Secretariat personnel, would result in heavy pressure being applied in such a way as to prejudice the findings of the committee before its report was submitted to the General Assembly.
I said that our own thinking had not been crystallized on this subject, but that we were inclined to feel that some work should be done in the United Nations on the Palestine problem before it was formally aired in the General Assembly. I said that we furthermore were not sure [Page 1065] whether the British were going to present the problem to the General Assembly, the Security Council, or the Trusteeship Council. If nobody in the United Nations devoted any thought or study to the problem before it was considered publicly, the pressures which might be built up could be even heavier.
Dr. Zurayk said that in his opinion, and in the opinion of the other Arab representatives in the United Nations, any committee appointed should be by direction of the General Assembly, either in plenary session or in a special session called for the purpose of considering the Palestine problem. If the committee received its terms of reference direct from the General Assembly and reported back to it, the Arab States would probably be satisfied.
- Costi K. Zurayk, the Syrian Minister.↩