Draft statement to Arab Rps. reflecting Israel’s views on Refugee Settlement – UNCCP 83rd meeting (Lausanne) – Summary Record

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE EIGHTY-THIRD MEETING

held in Lausanne on Friday,

29 July 1949, at 10.45 a.m.

Consideration of draft statement for submission to the Arab delegations

The CHAIRMAN invited comment on the draft statement containing the Israeli views on a settlement of the refugee question for submission to the Arab delegations and asked whether the Commission agreed to submit the statement to the Israeli delegation first for their approval.

Mr. PORTER suggested that the word “formal” be deleted from the statement and that furthermore it might be advisable to substitute “discussions” for “negotiations”.

The Commission agreed to the United States representative’s first drafting amendment but considered that the word “negotiations” should remain since that would indicate a more advanced stage of the Commission’s work. The Israeli and Arab delegations would themselves have the opportunity of amending the term if they saw fit. It was also decided that the Principal Secretary should be requested to contact the Israeli and Arab delegations regarding the statement that morning in order to expedite the work of the Commission’s meeting that afternoon with the delegations of the Arab States.