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Durham E-Theses The United Nations and the problems of Palestine 1947-1949 Manners, James How to cite: Manners, James (1973) The United Nations and the problems of Palestine 1947-1949, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10003/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE PROBLEM OF PALESTINE 1947-1949 by James I'fenners Submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts to the University of Durham after research in the School of Oriental Studies September 1973 CONTENTS Summary of Thesis iv Note on References v CHAPTER ONE THE FIRST SPECIAL SESSION. APRIL 28-MY 15. 19^7 i) The Acceptance of the British Proposal to Establish a United Nations Special Committee on Palestine 1 ii) The Establishment of IMscop's Terms of Reference 8 iii) Reactions to the Establishment of Iftiscop 1? CHAPTER TWO THE UI^SCOP INVESTIGATION. MY 16-SEPTEMBER 1. 194? i) Uhscop at Lake Success 21 ii) Uhscop»s Early Work in Palestine, June 14* June 17, 1947 25 iii) Uiscop's Tour of Palestine 30 iv) The Question of the Death Sentences 33 v) Unscop and Underground Movements 36 vi) The Evidence of the Jewish Agency 38 vii) The Evidence of the Hebrew Communists, Ihud, and the League for Jewish Arab Rapprochement and Co-operation 45 viii) The Evidence of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Ashkenasic Jewish Community, and the Father Custos of the Holy Land 48 ix) The Evidence of the Government of Palestine 49 x) Hearing the Arab States 50 xi) liiscop's Visit to the Displaced Persons' Camps 53 xii) The Preparation of the Oiscop Report 57 CHAPTER THREE REACTIONS TO THE UNSCOP REPORT AMD THE SECOND REGULAR SESSION i) Reactions to the Uhscop Report 69 ii) Establishing the Ad Hoc Committee 75 iii) General Debate and Hearing Witnesses in the Ad Hoc Committee 77 iv) The Acceptance of Partition by the Ad Hoc Committee 83 v) The Passage of the November 29, 1947, Resolution for Partition 90 vi) The Forces which Produced a Majority for Partition 93 " CHAPTER FOUR UNITED NATIONS ACTIVITIES BETWEEN THE SECOND REGULAR SESSIffl^ AND THE SECOND SPECIAL SESSION i) Russian, American, and British policies 100 ii) The Work of the Palestine Commission 107 iii) The Work of the Trusteeship Council 109 iv) The Work of the Security Council 110 CHAPTER FIVE THE SECOND SPECIAL SESSION i) American, British, Jewish, and Arab Policies 114 ii) The Work of the Second Special Session "CHAPTER SIX THE UNITED NATIONS AND PALESTINE FROM THE DECLARATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL TO THE AD^GSSION OF ISRAEL TO THE UNITED NATIONS i) British and American Policies and the Russian Attitude 124 ii) The United Nations and Palestine from the Declaration of the State of Israel, >fey 14, 19^, to the First Truce, June 11, 19^ 126 iii) The First Truce, June 11 to July 7, 1948 130 iv) The Ten Days Campaign, July 8 to 18, 19^ 133 v) The Second Truce and the Third Regular Session 134 vi) The Admission of Israel to the Iftiited Nations 142 CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSIONS 143 APPENDICES I.The Terms of Reference of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine 153 IIoThe Unscop Plan for Partition with Economic Union as Amended in the Second Regular Session 154 IIIoPopulations of the Individual Sectors of the Dhscop Partition Plan as Amended in Subcommittee 1 of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestinian Question, but without Later 155 Amendments Transfering Jaffa and Beersheba to the Arab state LIST OF TABLES The Struggle for Partition 92 Policies and Votes of U.N, Members 94 NOTE ON SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 156 . , . SUMMARY OF THESIS This thesis examines the effect of the existence of the Iftiited Nations upon the Palestine Question, from its reference to the U.N. by Britain on April- 2, 1947, to the admission of Israel to the U.N. on May 11, 1949. It examines how the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine was established in the First Special Session of the U.N., and traces in detail the Committee's activities in Palestine, the Arab States, and Germany. The preparation of the Committee's report and the reactions of the different parties involved in the Palestine Question are then described. In the Second Regular Session, a full description is given of the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestinian Question, its activities, and the events in the General Assembly x^hich led to partition being recommended for Palestine in the form it was. The forces throughout the World behind these events are explored as fully as possible. Russian, American, and British policies after the Second Regular Session and the work on Palestine of the Palestine Commission, the Trusteeship Council, and the Security Council are described. The reasons for the calling of the Second Special Session, its events and results are examined. British, American, and Russian attitudes to Israel after its declaration as a state are described covering the period to the First Truce in the Arab Israeli War of 1948, the Truce itself, the Ten Days Campaign, the Second Truce, and the Second Regular Session. The thesis concluded with the events surrounding the admission of Israel to the United Nations. There are appendices on the Iftiited Nations Special Committee on Palestine, the boundaries of its partition plan, and population statistics of the plans proposed divisions. (iv) NOTE ON REFERENCES United Nations documents are refered to by the classification used in the U.N. e.g. A/C«l/l49 would be the I49th document submitted to the First Committee and A/705 the 705th submitted to"the General Assembly, In a few oases, which have been noted, the same document appears twice with different classifications, generally due to appearing first in a committee then being re-issued for use by the General Assembly, Books are refered to by the surnames of author or editor only, except where additional detail is necessary to avoid confusion. Full details of author, title, publisher, and date and place of publication are given in the bibliography. (v) CHAPTER ONE THE FIRST SPECIAL SESSION. APRIL ZS-MI 15. 1947 i)The Acceptance of the British Proposal to Establish a United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. The Palestine Question was first grought to the attention of the U.N. on April 2, 1947, when Sir Alexander Cadogan transmitted the following message from the British Government, to the Secretary-General;- "His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom request the Secretary-General of the Iftiited Nations to place the Question of Palestine on the Agenda of the General Assembly at its next regular annual session. They will submit to the Assembly an account of their administration of the League of Nations Mandate and will ask the Assembly to make recommendations under Article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future government of Palestine." Sir Alexander added that, "In making this request. His tiajesty's Government draw the attention of the Secretary-General to the desirability of an early settlement in Palestine, and to the possibility that the General Assembly might not be able to decide upon its recommendation at the next regular annual session unless some preliminary study of the question had been made under the auspices of the Iftiited Nations. Theij therefore request the Secretary-General to summon, as soon as possible, a special session of the General Assembly for the purpose of constituting and instructing a special committee to prepare for the consideration, at the regular session of the Assembly, of the question refered to in the preceding paragraph."(1) With 11 days, 28 countries had replied to the Secretary- General in favour of holding a special session on the British proposal. This provided the majority, required under the U.N. Charter, authorising a special session. 1.A/286 (1) The Arab states then decided to enter a rival proposal, "The termination of the mandate over Palestine and the declaration of its independence."(1) The first two meetings were spent on procedural matters,(2) Oswaldo Aranha (Brazil) was elected President of the General Assembly, His suggestion that the normal rules of procedure should apply to the Special Session was adopted. The General Committee then held 4 meetings to decide which items it should recommend the General Assembly to place on its agenda, (3) logeidentical proposals were submitted by Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, on April 21, 1947 (A/287 to A/291) 2. Meeting No.68, Monday 28 April, 1947, dealt with, 1. The opening of the session by the Chairman of the Belgian delegation. 2. The election of the Credentials Committee. 3. The election of the President. 4. The admission of Siam. 5,Organisation (i.e. the acceptance of normal rules of procedure), 6.The election of the Vice-Presidents, Meeting No.69, later on Monday, 28 April, dealt with, 1.