Arrival of Jewish refugee ship – Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) – Summary record of the Thirty-Seventh meeting (private)

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH MEETING (PRIVATE)

Held at the Y. M. C. A. Building, Jerusalem,

Saturday, 19 July 1947, at 12:30 p.m.

Present:

CHAIRMAN: Mr. Sandstrom (Sweden)

Mr. Hood (Australia)

Mr. Rand (Canada)

Mr. Lisicky (Czenchoslovakia)

Mr. Garica Granados (Guatemala)

Sir Abdur Rahman (India)

Mr. Entezam (Iran)

Mr. Blom (Netherlands)

Mr. Garcia Salazar (Peur)

Mr. Fabregat (Uruguay)

Mr. Simic (Yugoslavia)

SECRETARIAT: Mr. Hoo (Assistant Secretary-General)

Mr. Garcia Robles (Secretary)

After the conclusion of the evidence by the representatives of the Palestine Government, the Committee met in private to hear a statement from the Chairman and to discuss other matters.

Report on arrival of Jewish refugee ship.

The CHAIRMAN informed Members that the previous day he had received a letter from the Jewish Agency in which it was suggested that some Members should go to Haifa to witness the arrival of the ship (the Exodus 1947)* carrying Jewish refugees, to ascertain the exact conditions on board and to hear a first-hand account of the occurrence.  Together with Mr. Simic he went to Haifa.  He then gave Members an account of what he and Mr. Simic had seen.

The CHAIRMAN said they had witnessed the transport of passengers from the ship to the freighter which it had been understood would take them to Cyprus.  The people looked very poor and tired.  There had been no brutal handling of the passengers by the troops. Later they went on board the freighter and spoke to the immigrants who gave them messages for their friends in Palestine.  They were mainly concerned to be given food and drink.  They learnt the story of the boarding during the night by the officers of the boarding party.  The officers thought that the boarding had taken place not more than two or three miles off the shore, while the ship was steering towards Haifa.  The party had had to fight their way down to the wheelhouse, which had been surrounded by barbed wire,.  They had used something like Chinese crackers to frighten off the crowd.  Tin boxes and other missiles had been thrown at them.  They  had used tear gas after tear gas had been used against them.  During this fight he understood there were 2 killed and some 150 injured.

Mr. SIMIC (Yugoslavia) confirmed the Chairman's account adding that he had seen twelve people gravely wounded lying on stretchers.  Wounded soldiers had also been observed.

Mr. Garcia GRANADOS (Guatemala) and Mr. FABREGAT (Uruguay) expressed their satisfaction at the investigation carried out at Haifa by the Chairman and the representative of Yugoslavia.

Projected visit to Transjordan

The Committee then briefly discussed plans for the projected visit to Amman and agreed to postpone any decision on the matter until after their arrival in Beirut.

Liaison Officer of the Mandatory Power

The CHAIRMAN told Members that he had been informed by the High Commissioner that the Mandatory Power had appointed Mr. D.C. Mac-Gillivray as its liaison officer to the Committee.

The meeting was adjorned at 1:10 p.m.

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[AAC13SR37.pdf]