Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

501.BB Palestine/3–1748: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin)

top secret   us urgent
niact

Washington, March 18, 1948—3 p. m.

144. Dept approves text of draft working paper submitted in your 309, March 17.¹

In view of possibility that UK may be inclined to support these general conclusions and that there is even stronger possibility that French and Chinese representatives will associate themselves therewith, proposed statement authorized in Dept’s 108, March 5, may be considerably truncated in order that emphasis shall be on main problems confronting SC and not on legal theory as to what happens after termination of Palestine mandate by UK. This legal argument might more appropriately be reserved for use when effort is made to persuade UK to retain its responsibility for Palestine until Special Session of GA has succeeded in setting up UN trusteeship.

While Dept approves your draft paragraph 9(a) and (b)² you should not permit this important aspect of the problem to be concentrated on to exclusion of equally important decision confronting UN to call special session and get on with problem of administering Palestine as a trusteeship. In all probability Soviet Representative with active support of Jewish Agency will seek to confuse issue by stressing need to enforce peace to exclusion of need to establish a framework within which peaceful solution of Palestine problem can be found.

This Govt is not prepared to join in enforcement measures in Palestine for maintenance of international peace and security until UN trusteeship is established and then only to maintain the integrity of the trusteeship as a bulwark of international peace and security.³

Foregoing for your info only but should govern your course of action in forthcoming SC debate.⁴

Thorp

1. Not printed; but see footnote 1, p. 739.
2. The same as paragraph II, 1, (a) and (b) in telegram 953, supra, except that the words after “bring about” in paragraph 9(b) of telegram 309 read “an effective truce in that country at the earliest practicable moment.”
3. Mr. Bohlen, in a marginal notation, stated that this paragraph had been cleared by phone with Secretary of Defense Forrestal.
4. A meeting in Mr. Bohlen’s office, attended by Messrs. Bohlen, Armour, and Henderson and representatives of the Offices of United Nations Affairs and of European Affairs, during the afternoon of March 18, considered and approved telegram 144.