Progress report of the UN Mediator – First Committee Working Group – Tabulation of draft resolutions and amendments

Third session

FIRST COMMITTEE

PROGRESS REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS MEDIATOR ON PALESTINE

Consolidated tabulation of resolutions and amendments prepared

by the Working Group of the First Committee

1. The First Committee, at its 214th meeting on 26 November, entrusted the task of preparing a consolidated tabulation of the various draft resolutions and amendments to a Working Group, composed of the authors of these various resolutions and amendments, under the Chairmanship of the Rapporteur of the First Committee, Mr. Selim Sarper.

2. The draft resolutions and amendments which had been submitted to the First Committee were as follows:

United Kingdom revised draft resolution:   A/C.1/394/Rev.1

United States amendments to the revised

draft resolution: A/C.1/397/Rev.1

Guatemalan amendments to the United States

amendments: A/C.1/398/Rev.1

Australian draft resolution: A/C.1/396 and /Add.1

Colombian draft resolution: A/C.1/399

Polish draft resolution: A/C.1/400 and /Corr.1

USSR draft resolution: A/C.1/401

Syrian draft resolution: A/C.1/402

3. At its first meeting the Working Group adopted a classification whereby the subject matter contained in the draft resolutions and amendments was divided into 14 categories or headings, under which the relevant parts of the various texts would be set beside one another for purposes of easy comparison.

4. At its second meeting the Working Group approved the presentation of the consolidated tabulation as set forth below, for the consideration of the First Committee:

I. Preamble

United Kingdom and Colombia

HAVING ADOPTED on 29 November 1947 a resolution (A/516) regarding the future government of Palestine and providing a plan of partition with economic union;

Australia

HAVING IN MIND the resolution of the General Assembly on the future government of Palestine on 29 November 1947;

Poland

HAVING ADOPTED on 29 November 1947 a resolution on the future government of Palestine providing a plan for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab State in Palestine, for the economic union of these two States and for the status of the City of Jerusalem;

United Kingdom and Colombia

HAVING ADOPTED on 14 May 1948 resolution 186 (S-II) empowering a United Nations Mediator in Palestine to exercise certain functions including the use of his good offices to promote a peaceful adjustment of the future situation of Palestine;

Australia

TAKING NOTE also of resolution 186 (S-II) of 14 May 1948 providing for the appointment of the United Nations Mediator in Palestine and of the resolution of the Security Council of 16 November 1948 calling for the negotiation of an armistice in Palestine;

Poland

TAKING NOTE of the resolution of the Security Council of 16 November 1948 calling for negotiations of an armistice in Palestine;

United Kingdom and Colombia

HAVING TAKEN NOTE of the resolutions of the Security Council concerning the truce in Palestine and of the resolution of 16 November 1948 concerning the establishment of an armistice by means of negotiations conducted either directly or through the Acting Mediator on Palestine;

United Kingdom and Colombia

HAVING RECEIVED AND EXAMINED the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine (A/648) submitted by the late Counte Folke Bernadotte;

Australia

HAVING CONSIDERED the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator of 16 September 1948 (A/648, Part I);

Poland

HAVING CONSIDERED the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator of 16 September 1948;

Syria

NOTING that the resolution of the General Assembly of 29 November 1947 was not accepted by the Arabs of Palestine and the neighboring Arab States and gave birth to the disastrous situation in the Holy Land;

NOTING that the recommendations proposed by the Mediator in his Part I of the Progress Report are based on partitioning Palestine between Arabs and Jews – proposal which has been flatly rejected by the Arabs and proved detrimental to the interests of both Arabs and Jews;

NOTING that the General Assembly is not empowered by the Charter to make imperative and compulsory recommendations for splitting countries;

NOTING that the Jewish Community now found in Palestine is composed essentially of foreign immigrants and refugees who have no legitimate rights to appropriate a part of the country and establish their sovereignty on it against the wishes of the lawful majority of the people of Palestine;

II. Withdrawal of Troops

Poland

RECOMMENDS that all foreign troops and military personnel be withdrawn from the territory of Palestine;

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

CONSIDERING that the presence of foreign troops in Palestine prevents the establishment of peaceful relations between the Arab and Jewish populations in Palestine, as well as the normal development of the State of Israel and the creation of an Arab State in Palestine;

RECOMMENDS the immediate removal from the territories of the Jewish and Arab States in Palestine, the creation of which was provided for by the General Assembly Resolution of 29 November 1947, of all foreign troops and foreign military personnel; and

REQUESTS the Security Council to adopt appropriate measures for debarring a renewal of military activity in Palestine.

III. General Principles

United Kingdom

2. NOTES with satisfaction Part I of the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator and ENDORSES the specific conclusions contained in Part I of that report as providing a practical means of giving effect to the principles contained in the resolution of 29 November 1947 and as a basis for a peaceful settlement of the Palestine question;

United States and Guatemala

DELETE numbered paragraph two of the United Kingdom resolution.

Australia and Columbia

BEING OF OPINION that the Assembly’s resolution of 29 November 1947 is the basic starting point of settlement by the Assembly of the Palestine question;

Poland

AFFIRMS that the resolution of 29 November 1947 is the basis for the final settlement of the Palestine question by the General Assembly;

Australia and Poland

NOTES the establishment since 15 May 1948 of civil and military authority, under the Provisional Government of Israel, over substantially the area which, under the resolution of 29 November 1947 was recognized as delimiting the Jewish State in Palestine envisaged in that resolution;

United States and Columbia

2. CALLS UPON the governments and authorities concerned to extend the scope of the negotiations provided for in the Security Council’s resolution of 16 November 1948, and to seek agreement by negotiations conducted either directly or through the Conciliation Commission with a view to a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them.

Syria

DECIDES to constitute a Commission composed of five Member States with functions:

To study on the spot and to prepare proposals for the establishment of a single State of the whole of Palestine on canonization or federal basis in which all sections of population in Palestine will participate in rights and duties as loyal citizens of a democratic State with wide autonomous privileges in cantons or areas to be assigned to each of them.

IV. Conciliation Commission

A. Composition and appointment of Commission

United Kingdom

3. ESTABLISHES a Conciliation Commission consisting of (three States Members of the United Nations) which shall have the following functions:

Guatemala

3. ESTABLISHES a Conciliation Commission composed of three (or five) personalities appointed by the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  The Commission shall have the following functions:

Australia

ESTABLISHES a Commission of Conciliation for Palestine composed of not more than five members, with the following functions:

Colombia

3. ESTABLISHES a Conciliation Commission consisting of three world known personalities appointed by the General Assembly which shall have the following functions:

Poland

ESTABLISHES a Commission of Conciliation for Palestine composed of representatives of … (five states), with the following functions:

Syria

DECIDES to constitute a Commission composed of five Member States with functions:

B. Terms of Reference

United Kingdom and Colombia

3(a) To assume the functions given to the United Nations Mediator on Palestine by the resolution of the General Assembly of 14 May 1948;

3(b) To carry out the specific functions and directives given to it by this resolution and such additional functions and directives as may be given to it by the General Assembly or by the Security Council;

3(c) To enter into consultations with the Governments and authorities concerned with a view to achievement of a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them, including in particular the questions dealt with in the General Assembly resolution of 29 November 1947 and in Part I, section VIII, paragraph 4 of the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine;

3(d) To undertake, upon the request of the Security Council, any of the functions now assigned to the United Nations Mediator on Palestine or to the United Nations Truce Commission by resolutions of the Security Council; upon such request to the Conciliation Commission by the Security Council with respect to all the remaining functions of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine under Security Council resolutions, the office of the Mediator shall be terminated;

Guatemala

REPLACE paragraph 3(c) of the United Kingdom draft resolution by the following:

3(c) To use its good offices with the Governments and authorities concerned with a view to achievement of a final settlement of all questions outstanding between them.

Australia

(1) To assist the interested parties to enter immediately into direct negotiations to reach a permanent settlement, which shall include final designation of the boundaries of the State of Israel and in relation to the rest of the area of Palestine shall take into account the wishes of the people therein;

(2) To promote good relations between the State of Israel, the Arabs of Palestine and the neighboring Arab States;

(3) To appoint under its supervision a boundaries commission which shall draw up the final boundaries of the State of Israel in conformity with any agreement arrived at between that State, the neighboring States concerned and the people interested, reporting, in the event of failure to secure agreement between the parties on boundaries and related matters, its recommendations to the General Assembly with a view to final determination by the Assembly of the question;

(4) To consult with all governments and parties concerned, and with the Trusteeship Council, in order to protect and preserve the spiritual and religious interests involved, with a view to the carrying out of the plan for the future government of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in conformity with the principles of the resolution of 29 November 1947;

(5) To call into consultation all those organs and agencies of the United Nations which may assist in working out plans both for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons and for their repatriation where feasible in the areas from which they have come;

Poland

(1) To assist the interested parties to enter immediately into direct negotiations to reach on the basis of the resolution of 29 November 1947 a permanent settlement which shall include the final designation of the boundaries of the State of Israel and the establishment of an independent Arab State over the rest of the area of Palestine;

(2) To appoint, under its supervision, a boundaries commission which shall draw up the final boundaries of the State of Israel and of the Arab State in Palestine, reporting in the event of failure to the General Assembly with a view to final determination by the Assembly;

(3) To establish the economic union and promote good relations between the State of Israel and the Arab State of Palestine;

(4) To call into consultation all those organs and agencies of the United Nations which may assist in working out plans both for the resettlement of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons and for their repatriation where feasible in the areas from which they have come;

V. Boundaries

United Kingdom

4. INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission in pursuance of paragraph 3(c) above to enter into consultations with the Governments and authorities concerned with a view to delimiting the frontiers in Palestine as part of a final settlement, taking into account the following general considerations, without excluding any territorial settlement mutually acceptable to the parties;

(a) That there are important elements common to both the resolution of the General Assembly of 29 November 1947 and the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine;

(b) That the delimitation of frontiers in areas not covered by (a) above should be carried out in the light of the general equilibrium envisaged in the resolution of 29 November, the Mediator’s comments thereon in paragraph 3(d) of Part I, Section VIII of his report, and his specific conclusions in paragraph 4(b) of the same section, with a view to contributing to the peaceful adjustment of differences between the parties;

United States

4. INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission in pursuance of paragraphs 2 and 3(c) above to enter into consultations with the Governments and authorities concerned with a view to delimiting the frontiers in Palestine as part of a final settlement, taking into account the following general considerations, without excluding any territorial settlement mutually acceptable to the parties;

(a) That there are important elements common to both the resolution of the General Assembly of 29 November 1947 and the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine;

(b) That certain modifications in the territorial arrangements of the General Assembly resolution of 29 November 1947 should be considered taking into account Part I, Section VIII, Paragraph 4(b) of the Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator in so far as it may contribute to a peaceful adjustment of differences between the parties ;

Colombia

(Same as the United States except for the United States amendment adding the reference to paragraph 2 in the phase “in pursuance of paragraphs 2 and 3(c) above”.)

Guatemala

INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission to assist the governments and authorities concerned with a view to delimiting the frontiers in Palestine, taking into account the actual situation in Palestine, and in conformity with the principles of the resolution of 29 November 1947, without excluding any territorial settlement mutually acceptable to the parties.  In the event of failure to secure agreement on the boundaries and related matters, the Commission shall report to the General Assembly for the purpose of final determination of the question by the Assembly;

Australia and Colombia

BEING FURTHER OF OPINION that the final settlement in Palestine as regards boundaries should be in conformity with the principles of the recommendation contained in the Assembly resolution of 29 November 1947 but should also take into account subsequent proposals, including those in the Mediator’s Report;

Australia (repeated from terms of reference of Conciliation Commission as set out above)

(3) To appoint under its supervision a boundaries commission which shall draw up the final boundaries of the State of Israel in conformity with any agreement arrived at between that State, the neighboring States concerned and the people interested, reporting, in the event of failure to secure agreement between the parties on boundaries and related matters, its recommendations to the General Assembly with a view to final determination by the Assembly of the question;

Poland (repeated from terms of reference of Conciliation Commission as set out above)

(2) To appoint, under its supervision, a boundaries commission which shall draw up the final boundaries of the State of Israel and of the Arab State in Palestine, reporting in the event of failure to the General Assembly with a view to final determination by the Assembly;

VI. Future of Arab Palestine

United Kingdom and Columbia

5. ENDORSES the recommendation contained in paragraph 4(c) of the Mediator’s conclusions concerning the disposition of the territory of Palestine not included within the boundaries of the Jewish State or the City of Jerusalem, and INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission, in full consultation with the inhabitants of Arab Palestine, to assist the Governments of the Arab States concerned to arrange for the disposition of this territory in accordance with the aforesaid recommendation;

Guatemala

The Commission shall assist the inhabitants of the Arab territory of Palestine in deciding upon the political organization they wish to give to the said territory.  No annexation to a neighboring State shall be decreed without the consent of the people, freely and legally expressed;

Australia (repeated from terms of reference of Conciliation Commission as set out above)

(1) … in relation to the rest of the area of Palestine shall take into account the wishes of the people therein;

Poland (repeated from terms of reference of Conciliation Commission as set out above)

(1) … and the establishment of an independent Arab State over the rest of the area of Palestine;

VII. Jerusalem

United Kingdom

7. RESOLVES that in view of its association with three world religions, the Jerusalem area, as defined in the General Assembly resolution of 29 November 1947, should be accorded special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine and should be placed under effective United Nations control with the maximum feasible local autonomy for the Arab and Jewish communities; INVITES the Security Council to take further steps to secure the demilitarization of Jerusalem with the least possible delay; and INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission:

(a) To take all feasible steps to facilitate the effective administration of the area, co-ordinating to the fullest extent possible the organs of self-government and administration of the Arab and Jewish communities of the Jerusalem area,

(b) To report to the Security Council for appropriate action any attempt to interfere with its functions with respect to Jerusalem, and

(c) To present to the fourth regular session of the General Assembly detailed proposals for a permanent international regime for the Jerusalem area.

To assist it in carrying out these functions, the Conciliation Commission is authorized to appoint a United Nations Commissioner for Jerusalem who shall be responsible to the Commission;

8. RESOLVES that, pending agreement on more detailed arrangements among the Governments and authorities concerned, unimpeded access to Jerusalem by road, rail, or air should be accorded to all inhabitants of Palestine; and INSTRUCTS the Conciliation Commission to report immediately to the Security Council for appropriate action by that organ any attempt by any party to impede such access;

Australia (repeated from terms of reference of Conciliation Commission as set out above)

(4) To consult with all governments and parties concerned, and with the Trusteeship Council, in order to protect and preserve the spiritual and religious interests involved, with a view to the carrying out of the plan for the future government of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in conformity with the principles of the resolution of 29 November 1947;           /…

—–