501.BB Palestine/10–1948
Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to President Truman
Subject: General Assembly Resolution on Palestine.
Pursuant to your directive last night I have telegraphed the Secretary of State that no action on the Palestine question now before the General Assembly shall be taken without clearance from the White House.
As indicated in the two attached telegrams from our Delegation in Paris, Nos. 351 and 367 of October 16,1 our Delegation has devised a draft resolution which in general terms seeks to give effect to conclusions [Page 1495] of the Mediator’s Report on Palestine, dated September 16, 1948. This draft resolution has been discussed with the British Delegation and with the Acting Mediator for Palestine, Dr. Ralph Bunche. It is a working paper and a final decision has not been reached as to whether it should be submitted by the United States Delegation, the United Kingdom Delegation, or jointly by both Delegations. UK–US agreement on the Palestine problem is regarded in Paris as the most hopeful element in the Palestine problem at this session of the Assembly.
As will be seen from the two telegrams and in light of the Acting Mediator’s statement before the First Committee on October 15,2 the draft resolution does not “freeze” Count Bernadotte’s conclusions. It purposely leaves the way open for negotiation with a view to such adjustments as may promote agreement between the Arabs and Jews for a pacific settlement of their differences.
The proposed resolution as indicated in Paragraph 2 of Telegram 367 is still open to drafting changes, provided they do not alter the general sense of the document.
This matter is likely to come up Wednesday, October 20.
- Latter not printed.↩
- See Department of State Bulletin, October 24, 1948, p. 517. Mr. Rusk, in a telegram of October 16 to Mr. Lovett, gave his opinion that Mr. Bunche’s statement on Count Bernadotte’s report “should relieve tension of those who have been afraid of rigidity in precise detail.… Bunche’s statement as a whole gives full credit Jewish side and should steady the nerves of those who are being bombarded by partisan propaganda.” (No. Delga 362, 501.BB Palestine/10–1648)↩