501.BB Palestine/10–1848
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: In his final report on Palestine the UN Mediator, the late Count Bernadotte, recommended that:
“The City of Jerusalem, which should be understood as covering the area defined in the resolution of the General Assembly of 29th November, should be treated separately and should be placed under effective United Nations control with maximum feasible local autonomy for its Arab and Jewish communities, with full safeguards for the protection of the Holy Places and sites and free access to them, and for religious freedom.”
As you will recall, on September 21, 1948 the Secretary of State publicly declared that the United States considered that the conclusions contained in the final report of Count Bernadotte offered a generally fair basis for settlement of the Palestine question.
If the territory of Jerusalem is to be placed under effective United Nations control it will be necessary for the United Nations to establish an adequate police force in that area. Under present circumstances such a force can scarcely be recruited from the local inhabitants, Arab and Jew, who are divided by fierce animosity. Colonel Begley, Chief Security Officer of the United Nations Secretariat, who has had personal experience of actual conditions in Jerusalem, has indicated his firm opinion that the minimum number for an international police force in Jerusalem would be 6,000 men. Independent estimates by American military observers suggest that the absolute minimum force could not be less than 4,000 men. The recently returned American Consul General in Jerusalem, however, concurs with Colonel Begley’s estimate of 6,000 men.
Two methods of supplying an international police force are open to the United Nations. One would be for interested governments to supply contingents of troops or police personnel to make up the Jerusalem security force. The other would be for the Secretary General of the United Nations to recruit a quasi-military organization from nationals of states members of the United Nations. Should the first alternative be adopted it might be possible, through proper selection of the governments concerned, to exclude Soviet or Soviet nationals but if this force were recruited by the Secretary General on the same basis as he has employed members of the Secretariat there would no doubt be a certain number of such nationals in the UN Jerusalem police force.
In light of this Government’s pledged support of the Bernadotte Plan, an integral part of which is his specific recommendation for effective United Nations control of Jerusalem, and in light of the necessity in the national security interests of the United States that [Page 1489] conditions of peace be reestablished in Palestine at the earliest moment, the Department of State believes that this Government must in one form or another support a proposal to establish a United Nations police force in Jerusalem.
The Department of State requests your advice as to which type of international police for Jerusalem this government should support: a force made up of contingents supplied by certain governments, or a body recruited by the UN Secretary General. It is likewise requested that you indicate the opinion of the National Defense Establishment as to the employment of American citizens in the Jerusalem international police, either as private individuals recruited by the Secretary General or as members of the United States armed services detailed for this particular duty.
The conclusions of the Bernadotte report will be debated before the General Assembly of the United Nations commencing October 15. Accordingly, it would be appreciated if an answer to this request could be forthcoming within the next week.
Sincerely yours,