U.N.O. and" Palestine Not much more can be said of
the discussion on Palestine at the United Nations Assembly than that it has gone as well as could reasonably be expected. After discursive debates, in the course of which the Soviet delegate urged that the committee to be appointed should include Great Powers (which would mean including all of them) and the Arab delegates demanded that the question of an independent Palestine State should be specifically laid before the committee, a broad and tolerably non-committal resolution was car- ried by 13 votes to i i, with the fantastic number of 29 abstentions ; this latter figure is accounted for, by no means adequately, by a mis- understanding on the part of the South American States—which do not number 29. A special committee of enquiry is to be set up con- sisting of eleven lesser States, none of which can be credited with any serious preconceptions on the subject of Palestine. The terms of reference are, if anything, too wide, for the committee is to " investigate all questions and issues relevant to the problem of Palestine " and to conduct investigations in Palestine and wherever it may deem useful. These last words mean more than may appear, for they admit of investigations among refugees and displaced persons in Germany. There is no admissible reason for linking the Jews of Central Europe more with Palestine than with other countries which could, but for the most part decline to, receive them, but the inclusion of the last words of the terms of reference is a victory for the Jews, who have continued to demand openly that immigration into Palestine shall continue till the Jews become a majority which can swamp the Arabs. The committee of enquiry is to report by September 1st to the regular session of the United Nations Assembly. Diplomatically the question will presumably remain dormant in the interim, but that does not mean that the task of the administration in Palestine between now and September is likely to be any the easier.
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