NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE opening of the United Nations session on Palestine at Flushing Meadow has not been propitious. The Indian member of the steering committee which will settle the agenda for the session has made a completely unhelpful—and unsuccessful— attempt to commit Britain in advance to whatever decision the Assembly may make. Some of the " solutions " already proposed would require Britain alone to support a policy which is equally bad for Palestine and the world. Mr. Gromyko has set out once more on the weary road of Russian policy by asking for delay and coming down on the side of the Egyptian delegate whose primary purpose was obviously to make things as difficult as possible for the British Government. The Jewish Agency, the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation and the Progressive Zionist district No. 9 of New York have all asked to be heard by the Assembly, thus helping to remind the delegates that there are a number of points of view on the Palestine problem and that several of them are Jewish. The American representatives have so far shown an objectivity which is a refreshing change from the uncritically pro-Jewish argu- ments which they have usually put forward in the past. But it is clear enough that Sir Alexander Cadogan is not going to have a simple task in securing general assent to the British proposal for a special fact-finding committee to present the issues to the September meet- ing of the regular Assembly. An alternative Arab proposal that the mandate should be terminated forthwith and Palestine declared independent has taken many hours to eliminate, again with Mr. Gromyko inevitably playing an anti-British role. This is hardly more likely to conduce to peace in Palestine than the Zionist claim that the partition of the country and the lifting of the immigration limita- tions should take place simultaneously, which is certainly not a solution which Britain could possibly accept. But at the same time the British proposal for yet another enquiry hardly commands warm support. All the relevant facts are known, and the only possible excuse for one more tour over the all-too-familiar ground might be to break down still further the remarkable ignorance of the American public and give it a prolonged opportunity to think about Palestine with its intellect instead of with its emotions. The American representatives at Flushing Meadow and certain sections of the New York Press are already leading in the right direction.
