Report of Economic Survey Mission on Arab refugees’ compensation/Israel’s resolution on Jerusalem as capital – UNCCP 122nd meeting – Summary record

UNITED NATIONS CONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR PALESTINE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SECOND MEETING

Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on
Wednesday, 25 January 1950, at 11 a.m.

* Alternate

Unofficial meetings with other delegations

The CHAIRMAN proposed that the members of the Commission should get in touch with Mostapha Bey (Egypt) at 4 p.m. that day and with the representatives of Israel, Jordan and Syria, if they had arrived, on the morning of Friday, 27 January.

It was so agreed.

Observations on the Final Report of the Economic Survey Mission

The Commission decided merely to send Mr. Clapp a letter of thanks and congratulations on the work done by the Mission of which he had been Chairman.

Compensation

The PRINCIPAL SECRETARY stated that by Friday the Commission would be in a position to examine the study prepared, by the Secretariat on the question of the compensation payable to Arab refugees.

Mr. de BOISANGER (France) thought, after re-reading the letter annexed by Mr. Clapp to the report which he had drawn up on this question, that it was advisable in the first place to obtain from the Israeli Government a formal statement that it accepted the principle of payment of compensation to Arab refugees and that it also agreed that this question should not be linked with the question of reparations.

He considered it essential to settle this question as quickly as possible in order to obviate the need for studies which might prove useless, and he proposed that the Commission should make official representations to the Israeli delegation to that end.

The PRINCIPAL SECRETARY observed that the Israeli Government or its representatives had made statements on this subject on several occasions. The Secretariat had collected all those statements in a document which the Commission would do well to study since the Israeli Government might already have agreed, in principle, to pay compensation,

Mr. de BOISANGER (France) agreed that this document might usefully be examined but said that, to his knowledge, the Israeli Government had so far merely proposed to compensate Arabs for agricultural land which they had been obliged to abandon. Moreover, the Israeli Government had stated that it had no intention of examining this question prior to a peace settlement, and it had always connected it with that of the reparations for war damage which it intended to claim from the Arab States.

He considered that the Commission should take a definite stand on the matter forthwith and state that it could not accept the Israeli Government’s viewpoint.

The CHAIRMAN was of the opinion that any decision that the Commission might take on the question of compensation should be deferred until after the study prepared by the Secretariat had been examined.

It was so agreed.

Statement by the Chairman on the first official meeting with the delegations of the Arab States and Israel.

The CHAIRMAN proposed that the members of the Commission should receive the delegations of the Arab States and Israel officially at the beginning of the following week. In that connection he thought it would be advisable for him to make a general statement at the beginning of the first official meeting recalling the Commission’s terms of reference and the results achieved within that framework. In the course of his statement he might inform the parties concerned of the questions likely to be examined, in order to arouse their interest and induce them to take a more active part in the Commission’s work. To that end he requested the Secretariat to prepare a draft statement.

The Commission adopted the Chairman’s proposal.

The PRINCIPAL SECRETARY recalled the resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 8 December 1949, providing for the creation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and for the appointment of a Director for that Agency. It would be advisable for the Director to get into touch with the Commission before proceeding to his post. He proposed that the attention of the Secretary-General be drawn to that point.

The Commission approved the suggestion of the Principal Secretary.

The PRINCIPAL SECRETARY notified the Commission of various articles which had appeared in the "Palestine Post", concerning, in particular, the transfer of certain ministries to Jerusalem and the resolution adopted by the Israeli Parliament regarding the capital of Israel.

Other articles, he said, dealt with the reunion of separated families and the operation of the Israeli-Jordan Mixed Committee which was dealing with that question at Jerusalem. He would keep the Commission informed of developments.

Mr. de BOISANGER (France) wondered whether it would not be advisable to transmit to the President of the Trusteeship Council, for his personal use, all information which came to the knowledge of the Commission, since the Trusteeship Council had no accredited representative at Jerusalem.'

It was so agreed.

The meeting rose at 11.45 a.m.