501.BB Palestine/3–849
The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: You will recall that last summer the Secretary of State requested, in his letters of June 7 and 17, and July 9 and 28,1 that the National Military Establishment make available military observers to assist Count Bernadotte, the United Nations Mediator for Palestine, in supervising the observance of the Security Council’s resolution of May 29, 1948.2 Since that time the National Military Establishment on a rotation basis has supplied a very considerable number of officers and enlisted men for the staff of the Palestine Mediator. Similarly, the Governments of France and Belgium have furnished personnel from the armed forces for this task.
Under the provisions of the General Assembly’s resolution of December 11, 1948 a Palestine Conciliation Commission was established to assume, so far as it considers necessary in existing circumstances, the functions given to the United Nations Mediator. On the request of the Security Council this Commission is authorized to undertake any of the functions now assigned to the Mediator on Palestine or to the United Nations Truce Commission by resolutions of the Security Council. To date, however, the Security Council has not relieved the [Page 801] Acting Palestine Mediator of his duties, although it is anticipated that in the relatively near future, when the Acting Mediator has succeeded in arranging armistice agreements between Israel and Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the Security Council will terminate the Office of the Mediator and confer his functions on the Conciliation Commission. The Conciliation Commission is at the moment, therefore, in a transition stage between the assumption in full of the Mediator’s functions and its present task, under the Assembly’s resolution of December 11, of taking steps to assist the Governments and Authorities concerned to achieve a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them.
The American Member of the Palestine Conciliation Commission, which is composed of Representatives of France, Turkey, and the United States, has already called upon the Acting Palestine Mediator for assistance with respect to air transportation and possibly also with regard to the use of certain of the military observer staff. It is anticipated that Mr. Ethridge will have increasing need for services of the military observers, although probably in much less degree than was the case with the Palestine Mediator because, as armistices are concluded, they will provide their own machinery for enforcement although there will still be a considerable measure of United Nations observation and control.
In light of this situation, the Department of State requests that the National Military Establishment furnish, in so far as compatible with the needs of the Armed Services, such personnel and assistance to the Palestine Conciliation Commission as the American Member thereof may request through channels either of the Department of State or by direct application to Commanding Officers in the Near East.
In view of the very great responsibility held by this Government as a Member of the Palestine Conciliation Commission, and in light of the President’s public statement of February 24, 1948, emphasizing his hope for the success of the Commission’s efforts in establishing peace in Palestine, I desire to stress the belief that the national interests of the United States are involved in this question and will be well-served by the continuing and valued cooperation of the National Military Establishment in supplying personnel and other aid to the United Nations effort for the reestablishment of peace in Palestine.3
Sincerely yours,
- None printed, but for summary of letter of July 9, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. v, Part 2, footnote 3, p. 1196.↩
- For documentation on this subject, see ibid., pp. 533 ff.↩
- In reply, on March 15, Secretary Forrestal stated that he had instructed the Secretary of the Navy to comply with the Department’s request (501.BB Palestine/3–1549). The reply is printed in airgram A–31, March 24, p. 864.↩