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SUBCOMMITTEE 2 ON A UNITARY STATE

Subcommittee 2 elected Dr. A. González Fernández (Colombia) and Sir Zafrullah Khan (Pakistan) as Chairman and Rapporteur, respectively. After the resignation of Colombia from the Subcommittee, Sir Zafrullah Khan served also as Chairman.

Its report recommended the adoption of three draft resolutions. According to the first, the General Assembly, before recommending a solution of the Palestine problem, would request the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on eight legal questions connected with or arising from that problem, including questions concerning the competence of the United Nations to recommend or enforce any solution contrary to the wishes of the majority of the people of Palestine. The second recommended an international settlement of the problem of Jewish refugees and displaced persons and stated principles and proposed machinery for the cooperation of Member states in such a settlement. The third provided for the creation of a provisional government of the people of Palestine to which the authority of the mandatory power would be transferred, as a preparatory step to the setting up of an elected constituent assembly. The constitution framed by the latter would among other provisions contain guarantees regarding the Holy Places, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. Such guarantees were enumerated in the draft resolution.

ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine rejected the recommendation of Subcommittee 2 that eight legal questions be referred to the International Court of Justice for advisory opinions. The first seven questions were defeated by 18 to 25, with 11 abstentions; the eighth, by 20 to 21, with 13 abstentions. The second recommendation of Subcommittee 2, relating to an international solution of the problem of Jewish refugees and displaced persons, was not adopted, the vote being 16 in favor and 16 against, with 26 abstentions. The third draft resolution, providing for the establishment of a unitary, democratic, and independent state, was then rejected by a vote of 12 in favor and 29 against, with 14 abstentions. The United States voted against all three proposals.

The report of Subcommittee 1 on partition, after being amended in minor details, was adopted by the Ad Hoc Committee by a vote of 25 in favor and 13 against, with 17 abstentions. The United States voted in favor of this resolution. Accordingly, the resolution lacked in the Ad Hoc Committee one vote of attaining the two-thirds majority which would be required in the plenary meeting.

The debates in the plenary meetings of the General Assembly on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee began on November 26. Two proposals were introduced on November 28. One, by Colombia, proposed that the whole question be referred back to the Ad Hoc Committee so that it might attempt to evolve a compromise solution. The other, by France, proposed that the final vote be deferred for 24 hours in the hope that a compromise proposal might be submitted. At the close of the general debate on November 28, the French proposal was put to the vote and carried, 25 to 15.

After the 24-hour interval, the Assembly met and heard the Lebanese Representative enumerate six general principles which might serve as the basis of a plan for an independent federal, or cantonal, state. He explained that his suggested compromise did not exclude other proposals capable of reconciling opposing views. The Representative of Iran submitted a proposal by which the Ad Hoc Committee would reconsider the Palestine question in the light of the Lebanese principles and reach a solution more widely satisfactory. The Syrian Representative supported this proposal. The Rapporteur of the Ad Hoc Committee stated that every possible effort at conciliation had been made by the Committee's conciliation group, but its efforts had failed. The Representatives of both the United States and the Soviet Union urged that the partition plan be voted on immediately. The United States Representative held that the federal plan submitted by Lebanon was substantially the same as that rejected by the majority of UNSCOP.

The President ruled that the resolution of the Ad Hoc Committee would, in accordance with the rules of procedure, be voted on first.2 Thus, on November 29, the General Assembly, in a tense plenary meeting, came to the final vote on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee proposing partition with economic union. The report was adopted by the necessary two-thirds majority, the vote being 33 in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions, with Siam absent. The roll-call vote was as follows:

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Since the report was ultimately adopted, the Assembly did not vote on either the Colombian proposal or the Iranian proposal, both of which would have returned the whole question to the Ad Hoc Committee.

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The Assembly then named Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Panama, and the Philippines as members of the commission to implement the recommendations.

SUBSEQUENT STEPS

Since the close of the General Assembly the United Nations has begun the difficult task of placing into effect the recommendations thus reached.

The Security Council, on December 9, took cognizance of the plan approved by the General Assembly. The Trusteeship Council, in accordance with the instructions of the General Assembly, is now preparing a draft statute for administering the City of Jerusalem.3 The United Nations commission has now been organized and is holding its first meetings at Lake Success. The Secretary-General has appointed Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Director of the Division of

3 See p. 141.

Trusteeship, Department of Trusteeship and Information from NonSelf-Governing Territories, as Secretary of the commission.

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

The Second Committee of the General Assembly, which deals with economic and financial problems, had three broad tasks which will be summarized first: namely, the consideration of chapter II, Economic Questions, of the report of the Economic and Social Council, relief needs after the termination of UNRRA, and applications by Austria and Italy for admission to membership in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Its other tasks were handled jointly with the Third Committee and will be described last.

1. Report of the Economic and Social Council

Many subjects were covered in the general debate on chapter II of the report of the Economic and Social Council. Among them were: the organization and work of the Economic and Social Council, its commissions, subcommissions, and committees; need for improved coordination between organs of the United Nations and the specialized agencies; surveys of world economic trends; needs of economically underdeveloped areas and proposals that the Economic and Social Council establish economic commissions for Latin America and the Middle East; and the problem of European economic reconstruction. The last subject precipitated the most vigorous debate in Committee. The Representatives of Poland and the Soviet Union took the lead in attacking the "Marshall Plan". They charged that it was a device to by-pass the United Nations, split Europe in two, and bring western Europe under the economic and political domination of the United States. These charges were immediately and effectively refuted by representatives of the 16 nations that had acted upon Secretary Marshall's suggestion through the Committee of European Economic Cooperation. Most of them, as well as the Representative of the United States, also deplored the fact that the governments of the eastern European countries had decided not to join in this cooperative undertaking.

The net result was that those parts of the Polish resolution which were directed against the European Recovery Program were deleted. In such substantially amended form, the resolution merely called. upon Members of the United Nations to carry out all recommendations of the General Assembly and of the Economic and Social Council on economic and social matters and recommended that the Secretary

General report annually to the Council and finally that the Council report to the General Assembly on steps taken by Members to give effect to such recommendations. This resolution was adopted by the General Assembly without debate or objection.

Another resolution growing out of the general debate on chapter II of the report of the Economic and Social Council concerned world economic conditions and trends. Representatives of Australia and Poland combined their separate resolutions on this subject into a single resolution which was adopted in the Second Committee unanimously after two Soviet amendments had been defeated. This resolution was adopted by the General Assembly without debate or objection. It recommends to the Economic and Social Council that it consider a survey of world economic conditions and trends at least annually; that such consideration include an analysis of major dislocations of needs and supplies; that the Council recommend appropriate measures to be taken by the General Assembly, by Members of the United Nations, and by the specialized agencies concerned; and that the Secretary-General assist the Council and its subsidiary organs by providing factual surveys and analyses of economic conditions and trends. This subject had already been dealt with by the Economic and Social Council, particularly during its Fourth Session.*

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The general debate in the Second Committee resulted in a third resolution, proposed by the Representative of Lebanon, concerning a proposal to establish an economic commission for the Middle East. Many speakers referred to the earlier establishment by the Economic and Social Council of two existing commissions of this type-the Economic Commission for Europe and the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East -and to the action taken by the Economic and Social Council at its Fifth Session concerning a Chilean proposal to establish an economic commission for Latin America. In the course of the discussion reference was made to a pertinent resolution of the Economic and Social Council, which calls for a study to be made of the general questions involved in the creation of regional economic commissions. Before the final vote the Committee rejected a Soviet amendment which would have called upon the Economic and Social Council to consider adding to the membership of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. The resolution as adopted by the Committee invites the Economic and Social Council to study the factors bearing specifically upon the establishment of an economic commission for the Middle East. This resolution was

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