501.BB Palestine/10–2947: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Acting Secretary of State
urgent
1110. Following decisions taken at Delegation meeting this morning:
1. Territorial changes in UNSCOP majority plan suggested by Jewish Agency.
It was agreed that in Subcommittee 1 of the Ad Hoc Palestine Committee, Ambassador Johnson would attempt to secure agreement on the principle that the UNSCOP report should be examined with a view to reducing the size of the Arab minority and bringing into greater harmony the size of the two states relative to their populations. In accordance with this principle, it was decided to oppose the Zionist demand for all or part of Western Galilee, first, because it would remove from the Arab state virtually the only area suitable for future development and second, because it would weight the partition plan so heavily in favor of the Zionists that a two-thirds majority in the GA could not be obtained for the plan. The Delegation agreed that rectifications might be made in the eastern boundary of the coastal area of the Jewish state, on the basis that there would be no net gain of territory for that state. It was also agreed that the US should not support a Zionist demand for territory in southeastern Judea.
[Here follows discussion of matters other than Palestine.]