501.BB Palestine/5–1248
Memorandum by the Legal Adviser (Gross) to the Under Secretary of State (Lovett)
I believe that the draft General Assembly resolution transmitted to the Department today by the Mission in New York is susceptible of alternative interpretations on the question of what authority or authorities may legally govern Palestine from May 15, 1948. The alternatives, both of which appear possible under the draft resolution, are: (1) Upon the termination of the mandate local and community authorities in Palestine will exercise governmental functions in their respective areas and will be legally entitled to proclaim states and organize governments; and (2) Upon the termination of the mandate there will be no legally constituted authority exercising governmental functions in Palestine, and no states may be proclaimed or legal governments organized until after the United Nations Commissioner has gone to Palestine and sought to carry out the mediatorial functions assigned to him in the draft resolution.
If, in view of the improbability that the special session of the General Assembly will provide a legal authority to succeed the mandatory in Palestine (as, for example, by a trusteeship), it is desired to avoid a situation in which no legally constituted authority is available to govern Palestine after May 14, the draft resolution should be amended to remove any doubt on this point. To this end it is suggested that two changes be made:
- (1)
- A paragraph should be inserted between I and II reading:
“Recognizes that after May 14, 1948 local and community authorities will exercise the powers of government in Palestine [, except in the city of Jerusalem].1”
- (2)
- Subparagraph II (1) (a) (3) of the
draft resolution should be amended to read:
“Promote agreement on the political settlement in Palestine.”
The effect of these changes would be to make clear that the General Assembly resolution did not postpone the organization of a legal government or governments and the legal proclamation of a new state [Page 981] or states beyond the date of the mandate’s termination to a time after the United Nations Commissioner had exercised his mediatorial function under the Assembly resolution. The changes would also make clear that the General Assembly in paragraph I of the draft resolution was not affirming support for paragraph 1(d) of the Security Council resolution of April 17, 1948 (calling for a standstill on political activity) and was not urging the Security Council to press political truce efforts.
- Brackets appear in the source text.↩