840.50 Recovery/3–548
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Truman and to the Cabinet1
[Here follow six numbered paragraphs on matters other than the Palestine question.]
VII. Palestine
Following Ambassador Austin’s statement to the Security Council on Palestine on February 24, the United States introduced a resolution the first paragraph of which would accept, subject to the authority of the Security Council under the Charter, the requests made to the Council by the Assembly in its resolution of November 29, 1947 calling for implementation of the partition of Palestine. The second paragraph of the United States resolution would establish a committee of the Council to inform the Council regarding the situation in Palestine, to consider whether there was a threat to international peace and security in that situation, and to consult with the Palestine Commission, the United Kingdom and representatives of the principal communities of Palestine on how to carry out the General Assembly recommendation of November 29, 1947.
On February 27 the Belgian Delegation introduced an amendment to the United States resolution which retained the idea of a subcommittee but would delete the first paragraph of the United States resolution which calls on the Council in effect to agree to carry out so far as the Charter permits the partition of Palestine. Ambassador [Page 679] Austin, on March 2, made it clear to the Council that a vote on paragraph one would be a vote for or against partition by peaceful means.
It seems apparent that in the vote which is expected this afternoon the Belgian resolution deleting our first paragraph may carry by the necessary seven votes. It is almost absolutely certain that there are not seven votes in favor of the United States resolution with its first paragraph. The result will be that the Council will set up a subcommittee on Palestine and will ask the committee to use every effort of conciliation to see if there is some measure of agreement between the Arabs, Jews and the Mandatory Power to effect the partition of Palestine by means short of the use of force.
It seems certain that such efforts at conciliation will prove fruitless” and at this time the Council must reach a decision in light of the facts whether or not still to attempt to carry out the partition. Without endeavoring to prophesy, the future trend seems to be that the Council will find itself unable to proceed with partition and that it will refer the Palestine problem to an immediate special session of the General Assembly for fresh consideration.
- Drafted by William J. McWilliams, Assistant Director of the Executive Secretariat. A marginal notation states that the memorandum was “taken by hand by the Secretary to Cabinet meeting.”↩