Israeli-Syrian armistice, Palestinian assets/resettlement, access to Holy places – UNCCP 36th meeting (Beirut) – Summary Record

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH MEETING
held in Beirut on 2 April 1949 at 7 p.m.

Replies of the Arab delegations

The CHAIRMAN observed that according to present indications the Arab delegations seemed generally to favour the continuation of exchanges of view, except for the representative of Iraq, who had still received no reply from his Government and did not expect one before the following Monday. The Chairman was of the opinion that a telegram should now be despatched to Tel Aviv requesting an interview for the Commission with Mr. Ben Gurion on Wednesday afternoon or as soon as possible thereafter. On Monday, if no further communications had been, the Principal Secretary should explain to the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs that the Commission’s report was ready and that it included a statement of the acceptance in principle of the Arab Governments to continue the conversations, and should inquire whether in the Minister’s opinion the report might now be despatched at once to the Secretary-General.

The Commission agreed to the Chairman’s proposal.

Relations between the Commission and the Armistice supervision organisation

Mr. ETHRIDGE explained that a telegram had been received from Dr. Bunche stating that he was returning to Lake Success in the near future, leaving the Israeli-Syrian armistice negotiations in the hands of Mr. Vigier, and that he would be happy to meet the Commission before his departure, if it so desired.

The CHAIRMAN called attention to the note prepared by the Secretariat, which he thought should be given careful study by the Commission. The Commission would naturally have to take over the task of armistice supervision, since the Commission might not always be in the Palestine area, however, it would have to entrust the task to a chief of staff who would be appointed for this purpose. He considered it essential that the Commission should meet the Acting Mediator to discuss the continuation of his work; if it were not possible for him to come to Beirut, a member of the Commission should go to Rhodes. He suggested that a telegram should be sent immediately asking Dr. Bunche to come to Beirut for a meeting either the following day or Tuesday afternoon.

The Chairman’s suggestion was approved.

Palestinian assets and their utilisation for resettlement of refugees

It was agreed that the Secretariat’s paper on this subject was a most important one which should be carefully studied; the discussion was according postponed.

Communication from the British Consulate in Jerusalem

Concerning the letter from the British Consul requesting information on the present situation of the Holy Places, Mr. ETHRIDGE expressed the view that the letter was a formal enquiry made at the request of Mr. Bevin.

The CHAIRMAN instructed the Principal Secretary to prepare a formal reply in objective terms, to the effect that the Holy Places were in the same situation as at the end of the Mandate, and that until peace was established in Palestine free access to them would not possible.