Evening star., 1947-12-01
The Palestine Decision

The General Assembly's vote to partition
PaIestine-the last major act before ad-
journing-has launched the United Ma
tions on what Dr. Aranha of Brazil has
rightly described as "a bold and historic
experiment" 1t is historic because 1t in
wolves the creation of two new nations out
of an old mandate. 1t is bold because it is
self-evidently full of great risks-a fact
grimly underscored by the intensely bitter
and Threatening Arab reaction to it.
Based on Soviet-American proposal
one of the very few that Russia and the
United States have been able to agree upon
to date-the experiment is made up of
these main features: Q) There is to be
jigsaw division of the Holy Land into an
Arab state and Jewish state; CD these
states are to be politically independent OF
each other, but they are to work out
program of economic union; (3) Jerusalem
sacred alike to Moslem. Jew and Chris
tian-is to be an international trustee
ship; (4) the British, as the mandatory
power, are to withdraw completely from
the country by next August l; (5) mean
while, the two new nations are to organize
their own militia to maintain order within
their borders, and 60 with full inde-
pendence scheduled to take effect on Octo-
ber 1 a special U. N. commission is to
function on the scene, one of its main
responsibilities being to alert the Security
Council in case the Arab League powers
translate their current threats into armed
action.
On the face of things, considering their
limited military capacity and their long
term economic and political interests, 1t
seems bit difficult to believe that those
powers-as members of the United Nations
will violate the Charter by violently
resisting a decision made by over two
thirds of the U. N. membership. If they
live up to their obligations, the partition
! ing can be carried out with relatively little
bloodshed, for the projected new Jewish
state has more than enough trained man.
power to maintain internal order and
| defend itself against possible attacks COM
| ing solely from forces within the Holy
Land. Unfortunately, however, the Arab
League countries-Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Lebanon, Syria, Iran, etc.-have come close
to vowing armed intervention. In their
| others as the best possible, though admit
tedly far from perfect-is grossly unjust
and therefore a thing to be fought to the
bitter end. The passions behind this feel
| ing run as deep as those on the Zionist
side, and only the overoptimistic will
shrug off that fact What must be recog-
nized is that the situation involves
fanaticism of kind that could conceiv-
ably sweep away reason and result in an
explosion leading to the gravest conse-
| quences.
All this, of course, was taken into full
consideration before the General Assembly
voted for partition. In large measure the
final decision may be regarded as an act
of faith-faith in the willingness of every
member of the United Nations to live up
to the Charter and to cooperate for an
enduring peace. Given that willingness,
| given good will and reasonableness, the
u N will have better than even chance
to achieve shining success in Palestine
"a success ending the tragic plight of
Europe's Jews and helping to stabilize one
of the worlds most vital strategic areas.
The alternative-a holy war" waged by
the Arabs-s almost too dismal to con-
template.