501.BB Palestine/2–2648
Memorandum to the Files by Mr. Robert M. McClintoch
Pursuant to Mr. Rusk’s request by telephone this morning I spoke to Mr. Lovett at 12:25 p. m. and said that Mr. Rusk had some doubts as to the treatment which the US resolution on Palestine, introduced yesterday before the Security Council, would receive at the hands of [Page 660] the Council. Particularly, Mr. Rusk wondered what course of action should be taken if the Council decided to consider this resolution paragraph by paragraph and in so doing to delete paragraph 2(a), which charges the Big Five Committee to “inform the Security Council regarding the situation with respect to Palestine and to make recommendations to it regarding the guidance and instructions which, the Council might usefully give to the Palestine Commission.”
Mr. Lovett said it was difficult to answer a tactical question of that sort in absence of knowledge of the parliamentary situation attending the debate. He was clear in his mind, however, that the basic question confronting the Council was whether or not to accept the responsibilities which the Assembly sought to impose on it by the resolution of November 29, 1947. Now that we had introduced the resolution we should, of course, stick to it but should not be unduly concerned if our language was not adopted. Should the Council not accept our draft it was not incumbent, in Mr. Lovett’s opinion, on the US Delegation to continue to “carry the ball.”
The essential thing was for the Council to decide what it would do under the Assembly’s resolution. If it decided not to accept the responsibilities imposed upon it by the Assembly, then clearly there was justification to call a special session to consider what to do next. If the Council did accept all or part of the Assembly’s requests it could then examine to what degree it could carry them out and, after the results of this inquiry, would be in a position to decide whether the plan were workable or whether a special session should be convened.