By April 17, 2008 Read More →

U.N. Will Be Asked to Wait Until British Troops Leave, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 11, 1948.

British MandateClick here to view the original newspaper article.

LAKE SUCCESS, Jan. 10 (AP)—A British spokesman said today that Great Britain will ask the United Nations Palestine Commission to stay out of the Holy Land until British rule ends.

The commission is expected to begin talks with the British next week on the details of executing the U. N.-ordered partition of Palestine.

The commission held a secret one-hour meeting today on plans to implement the partition by October 1.

The British are understood to be ready to end their mandate May 15, or earlier if the U. N. is ready to take over, but are cautioning against U. N. entry into the Holy Land until a week or so before the changeover in authority.

‘UP TO U. N.’

The British spokesman emphasized the date for terminating the British mandate is fluid and depends principally on when the U. N. will be ready, along with the physical problems of winding up British affairs and withdrawing troops. He emphasized the stand is in line with London’s original position that the British government cannot undertake to enforce any solution in Palestine which is not acceptable to both Jews and Arabs.

The commission today was understood to have discussed informally the problems ahead, and no action was taken on plans for going into Palestine, pending conferences with the British.

RUSSIAN MEMBER

George Barnes, director of the U. N. press division, who will accompany the group to the Holy Land, said delegates did not touch on the problem of security for U. N. personnel or how partition would be enforced in the face of Arab opposition. Arkday Sobolev of Russia, assistant secretary general, attended the session.

(United Press reported authoritative sources as saying Sobolev will accompany the commission to Palestine as top U. N. officer.)

Comments are closed.