U. S. Hasn’t Troops to Implement Partition, United Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 20, 1948.

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By ROBERT MANNING

United Press Staff Writer

LAKE SUCCESS, N. Y., March 19-“The world situation” was cited by a highly qualified source tonight as the reason for the United States abandonment of Palestine partition.

This person, while he cannot be identified by name or country, said that “in view of the present world situation, the United States does not have the military force to implement partition.”

The world situation is such that the United States has better use for forces in other places, the authority said.

His words can be vouched for as an expression of the position of the top American officials who were responsible for the reversal of American position as disclosed today in the U. N. Security Council.

The source did not go into detail about the “other places” where American troops are needed, but he made it clear he was talking about the state of affairs between Russia and the Western world.

If Russia does not like the new American proposals and uses the Big Five veto to block them in the Security Council, the authority pointed out, nothing can prevent the United States from skirting the Council and going directly to the General Assembly in a special session. In the Assembly the veto does not apply, and the United States has been able to round up a husky majority for almost every proposal it has ever made.

The decision to go back on the American-inspired partition decision of last November was made “on the highest authority,” the source said. This doubtless meant that President Truman gave the final go-ahead for the speech delivered in the U. N. today by American Delegate Warren Austin.

The new American policy was hammered out only after detailed talks with British and French authorities, it was made known here.

Some persons thought this meant the present noncommittal attitude of London toward the American proposals would give way quickly to outright support and perhaps even a decision to stay in Palestine a bit longer than May 15 if necessary.

Authoritative sources disclosed the kind of Palestine trusteeship being contemplated by the U. S. State Department is the form under which the U. N. organization itself would be the Holy Land’s caretaker.

This would require the U. N. as trustee to raise funds-from its member governments-and to hire soldiers and policemen to maintain order.

The government would be made up of persons appointed by the U. N. and supervised by the U. N. Trusteeship Council.

Since Russia has boycotted the Trusteeship Council since its beginning on grounds it is illegally constituted, approval of the American program by the General Assembly would raise a major problem.

Since they could not block a majority decision by veto, the Russians either would have to end their boycott of the Trusteeship Council or let strategic Palestine be taken over to all intent and purposes by the Western powers without any Russian say.