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

501.BB Palestine/7–2948: Telegram

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

confidential
us urgent

New York, July 29, 1948—5:35 p. m.

968. From Ross. Following is text of letter from Eban concerning attitude of PGI re its legal status in Jerusalem:

“As you know, the obscure legal position in Jerusalem gives rise to many difficulties, not least of which is the difficulty of the Provisional Government of Israel in asserting its authority over dissident elements.

[“]I have now ascertained from Mr. Shertok that the view of the Provisional Government of Israel is that the parts of Jerusalem occupied by Jewish forces are, in the legal sense, occupied territory whose political future is still undecided. The Provisional Government of Israel proposes to make a statement very shortly declaring the status of that area to be that of occupied territory, without prejudice to its future political status.

[“]In his cable to me, Mr. Shertok points out that this proclamation will ensure the legality of measures taken by the Jewish military command and also enable it to tighten its control over dissidents.”

• [Ross]
• Jessup