Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator

on Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte

Sept. 16, 1948.

(Excerpts: Conclusion from Part I of Bernadotte's Report)

Since I presented my written suggestions to the Arab and Jewish

authorities on June 27 [1948], I have made no formal submission to either party

of further suggestions or proposals for a definitive settlement. Since that

date, however, I have held many oral discussions in the Arab capitals and Tel

Aviv, in the course of which various ideas on settlement have been freely

exchanged. As regards my original suggestions, I hold to the opinion that they

offered a general framework within which a reasonable and workable settlement

might have been reached, had the two parties concerned been willing to discuss

them. They were flatly rejected, however, by both parties.

Since they were put forth on the explicit condition that they were purely

tentative, were designed primarily to elicit views and counter suggestions from

each party, and, in any event, could be implemented only if agreed upon by both

parties, I have never since pressed them. With respect to one basic concept in

my suggestions, it has become increasingly clear to me that, however desirable

a political and economic union might be in Palestine, the time is certainly not

now propitious for the effectuation of any such scheme.

2. I do not consider it to be within my province to recommend to the

Members of the United Nations a proposed course of action on the Palestine

Question. That is a responsibility of the Members acting through the

appropriate organs. In my role as United Nations Mediator, however, it was

inevitable that I should accumulate information and draw conclusions from my

experience which might well be of assistance to Members of the United Nations

in charting the future course of United Nations action on Palestine. I consider

it my duty, therefore, to acquaint the Members of the United Nations, through

the medium of this report, with certain of the conclusions on means of peaceful

adjustment which have evolved from my frequent consultations with Arab and

Jewish authorities over the past three and one-half months and from my personal

appraisal of the present Palestinian scene. I do not suggest that these

conclusions would provide for the basis for a proposal which would readily win

the willing approval of both parties. I have not, in the course of my intensive

efforts to achieve agreement between Arabs and Jews, been able to devise any

such formula. I am convinced, however, that it is possible at this stage to

formulate a proposal which, if firmly approved and strongly backed by the

General Assembly, would not be forcibly resisted by either side, confident as I

am, of course, that the Security Council stands firm in its resolution of 15

July that military action shall not be employed by either party in the

Palestine dispute. It cannot be ignored that the vast difference between now

and last November is that a war has been started and stopped and that in the

intervening months decisive events have occured.

Seven Basic Premises

3. The following seven basic principles form the basis for my

conclusions:

Return to Peace

(a) Peace must return to Palestine and every feasible measure should be

taken to ensure that hostilities will not be resumed and that harmonious

relations between Arab and Jew will ultimately be restored.

The Jewish State

(b) A Jewish State called Israel exists in Palestine and there are no

sound reasons for assuming that it will not continue to do so.

Boundary Determination

(c) The boundaries of this new State must be fixed either by formal

agreement between the parties concerned, or failing that, by the United

Nations.

Continuous Frontiers

(d) Adherence to the principle of geographic homogeneity and integration,

which should be the major objective of the boundary arrangements, should apply

equally to Arab and Jewish territories, whose frontiers should not, therefore,

be rigidly controlled by the territorial arrangements envisaged in the

resolution of 29 November.

Right of Repatriation

(e) The right of innocent people, uprooted from their homes by the present

terror and ravages of war, to return to their homes, should be affirmed and

made effective, with assurance of adequate compensation for the property of

those who may choose not to return.

Jerusalem

(f) The City of Jerusalem, because of its religious and international

significance and the complexity of interests involved, should be accorded

special and separate treatment.

International Responsibility

(g) International responsibility should be expressed where desirable and

necessary in the form of international guarantees, as a means of allaying

existing fears, and particularly with regard to boundaries and human rights.

Specific Conclusions

4. The following conclusions, broadly outlined, would, in my view,

considering all the circumstances, provide a reasonable, equitable and workable

basis for settlement:

(a) Since the Security Council, under pain of Chapter VIII sanctions, has

forbidden further employment of military action in Palestine as a means of

settling the dispute, hostilities should be pronounced formally ended either by

mututal agreement of the parties or, failing that, by the United Nations. The

existing indefinite truce should be superceded by a formal peace, or at the

minimum, an armistice which would involve either complete withdrawal and

demobilization of armed forces or their wide separation by creation of broad

demilitarized zones under United Nations supervision.

(b) The frontiers between the Arab and Jewish territories, in the absence

of agreement between Arabs and Jews, should be established by the United

Nations and delimited by a technical boundaries commission appointed by and

responsible to the United Nations, with the following revisions in the

boundaries broadly defined in the resolution of the General Assembly of 29

November in order to make them more equitable, workable and consistent with

existing realities in Palestine.

(I) The area known as the Negeb, south of a line running from the sea

near Majdal east-southeast to Faluja (both of which places would be in Arab

territory), should be defined as Arab territory;

(II) The frontier should run from Faluja northeast to Ramla and Lydda

(both of which places would be in Arab territory), the frontier at Lydda then

following the line established in the General Assembly resolution of 29

November.

(III) Galilee should be defined as Jewish territory.

(c) The disposition of the territory of Palestine not included within the

boundaries of the Jewish State should be left to the Governments of the Arab

States in full consultation with the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, with the

recommendation, however, that in view of the historical connection and common

interests of Transjordan and Palestine, there would be compelling reasons for

the merging of the Arab territories of Palestine with the territory of

Transjordan, subject to such frontier rectifications regarding other Arab

States as may be found practicable and desirable.

(d) The United Nations, by declaration or other appropriate means, should

undertake to provide special assurance that the boundaries between the Arab and

Jewish territories shall be respected and maintained subject only to such

modifications as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties concerned.

(e) The port of Haifa, including the oil refineries and terminals, and

without prejudice to their inclusion in the sovereign territory of the Jewish

State or the administration of the city of Haifa, should be declared a free

port, with assurances of free access for interested Arab countries and an

undertaking on their part to place no obstacle in the wasy of oil deliveries by

pipeline to the Haifa refineries, whose distribution would continue on the

basis of the historical pattern.

(f) The airport of Lydda should be declared a free airport with assurance

of access to it and employment of its facilities for Jerusalem and interested

Arab countries.

(g) The City of Jerusalem, which should be understood as covering the area

defined in the resolution of the General Assembly of 29 November, should be

treated separately and should be placed under effective United Nations control

with maximum feasible local autonomy for its Arab and Jewish communities, with

full safeguards for the protection of the Holy Places and sites and free access

to them, and for religious freedom.

(h) The right of unimpeded access to Jerusalem, by road, rail or air,

should be fully respected by all parties.

(i) The right of the Arab refugees to return to their homes in Jewish

controlled territory at the earliest possible date should be affirmed by the

United Nations, and their repatriation, resettlement and economic and social

rehabilitation, and payment of adequate compensation for the property of those

choosing not to return, should be supervised and assisted by the United Nations

conciliation commission described in paragraph (k) below.

(j) The political, economic, social and religious rights of all Arabs in

the Jewish territory of Palestine and of all Jews in the Arab territory of

Palestine should be fully guaranteed and respected by the authorities. The

conciliation commission provided for in the following paragraph should

supervise the observance of this guarantee. It should also lend its good

offices, on the invitation of the parties, to any efforts toward exchanges of

populations with a view to eliminating troublesome minority problems, and on

the basis of adequate compensation for property owned.

(k) In view of the special nature of the Palestine problem and the

dangerous complexities of Arab-Jewish relationships, the United Nations should

establish a Palestine conciliation commission. This commission, which should be

appointed for a limited period, should be responsible to the United Nations and

act under its authority. The commission, assisted by such United Nations

personnel as may prove necessary, should undertake:

(I) To employ its good offices to make such recommendations to the

parties or to the United Nations, and to take such other steps as may be

appropriate, with a view to ensuring the continuation of the peaceful

adjustment of the situation in Palestine;

(II) Such measures as it might consider appropriate in fostering the

cultivation of friendly relations between Arabs and Jews;

(III) To supervise the observance of such boundary, road, railroad,

free port, free airport, minority rights and other arrangements as may be

decided upon by the United Nations;

(IV) To report promptly to the United Nations any development in

Palestine likely to alter the arrangements approved by the United Nations in

the Palestine settlement or to threaten the peace of the area.