Jerusalem – Trusteeship Council meeting – Verbatim record (excerpts)

TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

Second Session

VERBATIM RECORD OF THE 34th MEETING

Lake Success, New York

Tuesday, 2 December 1947, at 2:00 p.m.

President: Mr. Francis SAYRE (United States of America)

NOTE. Any corrections of the originals of speeches in this record, provided for in rule 47 of the rules of procedure of the Trusteeship Council, should be submitted in writing within two working days to Mr. E. Delavenay, Director, Editorial Division, Room CC-87, Lake Success.  Corrections should be accompanied by or incorporated in a letter written on headed notepaper and enclosed in an envelope marked “Urgent” and bearing the appropriate document symbol number.

(Interpretations of speeches will be replaced in the official records by full translations from the originals.)

The PRESIDENT: I declare the seventh meeting of the Second Session of the Trusteeship Council open.

REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE ON DRAFTING OF RECOMMENDED RESOLUTIONS ON PETITIONS

THE PRESIDENT: I understand that the Sub-Committee we established for proposing and formulating recommended resolutions on petitions, which met yesterday afternoon and this morning, has formulated its conclusions.  Those conclusions will be mimeographed and distributed tomorrow morning.  Therefore, we shall take no action this afternoon with respect to those conclusions, so that the members may have a chance to read and study the recommended formulations.

I also should like to announce the appointment of our Working Committee on Jerusalem.  Having conferred with the Assistant Secretary-General and having reached full agreement with him, I shall ask the following countries to serve on that Committee: Australia, China, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

My hope is that this Committee can be what its name implies, a very real working committee, but a working committee composed of first-rate men.  I think this is probably the most important Committee which the Trusteeship Council will be appointing this session, and I hope and trust that the countries represented on this Working Committee will appoint their very best men to help do this very important job, the job of helping to formulate recommendations for the Trusteeship Council, studying the problems and reaching tentative conclusions.  My hope is that this Committee can get to work at once, holding a meeting tomorrow morning in order to organize.  This Working Committee will no doubt want — and it is so empowered — to secure such technical assistants as it may find necessary, and I am sure it will require assistance.  I hope that that Committee, working every morning, will be able to break the back of the work before our Council adjourns preceding the Christmas holidays.  It may be that the Council can clean up its work, other than the Jerusalem question, some time next week, and then can devote its entire attention, if desirable, to Jerusalem questions in the days following.  Or again, that Working Committee may want, before the end of next week, to refer knotty questions to the full Council for its consideration, and the working Committee will be at full liberty to do so if it deems it desirable.  In other words, this very important Committee will have full authority to steam ahead, and the Trusteeship Council will give to the Committee every assistance possible in order to do an A-1 job.  I will announce at the close of the meeting this afternoon the time and place of the meeting of the Working Committee tomorrow.

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