Evening star., 1948-03-12
u. n. Secrecy Policy
On Holy Land Experts
MiIdIyAmusesLon
By H. J. J. Sorsint
North American Newspaper Alliance

Norm American Newspaper Alliance
LONDON, Mar. 12.-Britons have
been mildly amused by the mystery
which the United Nations has con-
tr1ved to weave around the advance
secretarial party of the Palestine !
Commission, whose arrival at Jeru-
salem was announced recently.
Attempts by press photographers
to take pictures of the party when
they took of from New York for
London threw executives Of U. N.
Into horrified agitation How
lever, things were better managed
from the official point of view
when the mission arrived at the
:, London airport. Furtively, with a
/ secrecy only equalled by that which
I guarded the wartime journeyings of
the most exalted officials, the four
inner, and two women in the party
{ were whisked away to their tenn
sporary and secret residence.
III There they remained. strictly in
communicate, until the time of
their equally secret departure for
Palestine. London executives of the
y. N. courteously refused to reveal
the place where they were hidden.
The party will be in London only
for a few days, and will be too busy
to see any one," was told. So, al
though an official announcement of
their arrival was sent out from
headquarters, the press was not al
lowed to see them. Officials at the
British Colonial Office and the For
eign Office obligingly entered into
the little conspiracy OF silence and
professed complete ignorance Of the
party's whereabouts.
Security Reasons Cited.
When pressed, U. N. officials
whispered hints Of security rea-
sons" Yet 1t Is q safe bet that the |
Arab organization In London was
able to keep close tab on the
party's movements.
Was 1t a mere coincidence that
while the members Of the Palestine
Commissions secretariat were driv-
ing to Jerusalem after their arriv-
al at LYDIA Airport they found
themselves exposed to the bullets
of Arabs who had chosen that par
ticular road and that particular
time to stage shooting affray with
Jews supposed to be lurking on the
other side of the highway? For the
Arabs had declared quite openly
that they would consider as fair
targets for attack all members of
the U. N Palestine Commission sent
into the Holy Land to organize
partition.
And that brings me to another /
point on which U. N. offlcialdom
remains obstinately secretive. Well
founded reports In New York and
elsewhere had it that U. N. had
taken out special insurance policies
at Lloyd's of London to cover risks
run by its agents going into the
danger zone of Palestine.
Insurance Is Top Secret.
A perfectly natural thing to do,
most people would say. But not
U. N. officials. For them 1t had
to be a top secret. While admit
ting that U. N. takes out an over
all policy for every one of their
representatives travelling abroad
$4,000 is the policy vAlue, I believe
u. N. headquarters In london in
sisted on wrapping q saroud of
mystery around the question of
special policies for the Palestine
Commission and its secretariat.
And although the u. N. oficials
have succeeded In drawing into
tneir web OF secrecy every one con-
nected with the insurance, I can
nevertheless confirm that such
policies have been taken out. I
know even the firm-a member of
Lloyd's-which negotiated the deal
on behalf of its American cor
respondent.
Now, UNDERSTANDABLE enough, In
surance brokers don't disclose their
clients affairs to outsiders. But
even the manager Of this particular
firm agreed that the U. N. Pales-
tine Commissions affairs were of
a public nature and should be
available to the press and the pub
lie. Trained to be scrupulous in
everything, however, he said he
could not divulge details of their
policies without referring to high
er authority" A query there
brought an incompromising mo" as
to publicity.
So the mystery remains. U. N.
oficialdom is satisfied. And its
representatives face obvious and
known risks which U. N. will not
admit are covered by insurance.