Sixteenth Progress Report; blocked accounts/safe deposits/valuables, . Lebanese property claims – UNCCP 335th meeting (New York) – Summary record

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE THREE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIFTH  MEETING (CLOSED)

Held at Headquarters, New York,

on 12 June 1958, at  3:30 p.m.

CONTENTS

1. Adoption of the agenda

2. Draft Sixteenth Progress Report of the Commission

3. Release of Arab Refugee accounts blocked in banks in Israel and transfer of safe deposits and valuables

4. Letter dated 11 March 1958 addressed to the Chairman of the Commission from the Permanent Representative of Lebanon

5. Other business

1. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

The agenda was adopted.

2. DRAFT SIXTEENTH PROGRESS REPORT OF THE COMMISSION

The Commission decided to examine the draft report page by page. The following changes were decided upon: Page 1 — The first sentence of paragraph 1 would be omitted and consequential changes would be made in the first part of the second sentence. Page 6 — The last clause of the final sentence in paragraph 14 would be omitted.

The portion of paragraph 15 starting with the words “In view of the variations” to the end of the paragraph would form a new paragraph 16, and the following paragraphs would be renumbered accordingly. Page 7 — The last sentence on the page would be redrafted as follows: “Agreements with the former Governments of Egypt and Syria were reached but these agreements have remained unimplemented”. Page 8 — The first sentence on page 8 would be omitted and the second sentence would be added to the previous paragraph (new paragraph 19). In paragraph 20 on page 8 the words “owned by Arab refugees in banks in Israel” would be inserted after “transfer of valuables”.

The draft report was adopted.

Concerning paragraph 17, the CHAIRMAN noted that the representative of Israel had said that the question was a minor one and that he anticipated no particular difficulty. It might be worth while to sound out the Israel representative again before the report was reproduced.

After some discussion, the Commission agreed that the text of the report as adopted would be transmitted to the Secretary-General and to the parties on 13 June, it being understood that it would not be reproduced until 17 June. If the necessary information was received from the representative of Israel prior to 17 June, paragraph 17 would be revised accordingly.

The CHAIRMAN, in reply to a question put by Mr. Chai, Acting Principal Secretary, suggested that the Press might be informed that the Commission had met and had worked on its progress report to the General Assembly.

3. RELEASE OF ARAB REFUGEE ACCOUNTS BLOCKED IN BANKS IN ISRAEL AND TRANSFER OF SAFE DEPOSITS AND VALUABLES

The Commission did not discuss this question further inasmuch as it had been dealt with in the course of discussion of its progress report.

4. LETTER DATED 11 MARCH 1958 ADDRESSED TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION FROM THE PERMANT REPRESENTATIVE OF LEBANON

Mr. CHAI (Acting Principal Secretary) circulated copies of a memorandum on the subject from the Legal Office of the Secretariat.

Mr. DAUGE (France) asked whether the representative of Lebanon had made any further inquiries regarding the matter.

The CHAIRMAN replied that he had arranged a meeting with the representative of Lebanon in order to secure further information, but it had had to be postponed because of the recent meetings of the Security Council. He would try again at the first opportunity.

It was also agreed that the Commission might meet to consider the question if that should be necessary.

5. OTHER BUSINESS

The CHAIRMAN drew the Commission’s attention to a letter from Mr. Tannous of the Palestine Arab Refugee Office. After some discussion it was agreed that a copy of the communication transmitted by Mr. Tannous would be forwarded to Barclay’s Bank in Jerusalem, with the request that it be returned if Barclay’s were unable to take any action. Mr. Tannous would be informed that the Commission was investigating the matter.

The meeting rose at 4.30 p.m.