UNWRA Joint Report, Blocked accounts – UNCCP 317th meeting (New York) – Summary Record

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE TH  MEETING (CLOSED)

Held at Headquarters on 7 October 1954,

at 5 p.m.

CONTENTS

1. Consideration of paragraph for insertion in the Joint Report of the Director and Advisory Commission of UNRWA

2. Draft Letter to the Representative of Israel

3. Draft Note concerning blocked accounts

4. Reply to the General Refugee Congress of Ramallah

1. CONSIDERATION OF PARAGRAPH FOR INSERTION IN JOINT REPORT OF DIRECTOR AND ADVISORY COMMISSION OF UNRWA

The CHAIRMAN noted that a revised version of a paragraph to be inserted in the Joint Report of the Director and Advisory Commission of UNRWA had just been received. The Director had invited the comments of the Commission. The Chairman had two suggestions to make, namely the deletion of the words “very important” in the first sentence and the deletion of the word “negative” in the third sentence.

Mr. BARCO (United States of America) thought that the entire fourth sentence should be deleted.

It was agreed to suggest to the Director of UNRWA that the three deletions be made, the feeling being that such changes might lessen the possibility of provoking a long debate in the Assembly which could only confuse and delay the formulation of a constructive and realistic approach to the questions of repatriation and compensation.

2. DRAFT LETTER TO THE REPRESENTATIVE OF ISRAEL

The Commission approved the text of a letter to the representative of Israel requesting that arrangements be made to permit Mr. Issaevitch, a member of the Commission’s Sub-office in Jerusalem, to fly over Israel territory between Jerusalem and Gaza in the performance of his official duties.

3. DRAFT NOTE CONCERNING BLOCKED ACCOUNTS

The Commission approved the text of a note concerning blocked accounts proposed by the Chairman, to be sent to the representatives of the seven Arab States and the representative of the United Kingdom. It was also decided to release the text of the Note to the press.

4. REPLY TO GENERAL REFUGEE CONGRESS OF RAMALLAH

The Commission agreed that a reply should be sent to the General Refugee Congress informing them of the recent action of the Government of Israel and enclosing a copy of the Commission’s Note to the Arab States.

The meeting rose at 5.30 p.m.