A CRUCIAL QUESTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26618, 14 November 1947, Page 5

A CRUCIAL QUESTION

SETTLEMENT BY PARTITION ENFORCEMENT OF AUTHORITY Rec. 11 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 13. Reviewing the Palestine discussions at Lake Success, The Times in a Ifeader emphasises that even the latest accord between the United States and Soviet delegations takes little account of the facts. This accord, The Times says, may make the United Nations General Assembly more willing to approve a settlement based upon partition, but it carries the crucial question of enforcement no further. The Americans, The Times points out, want a United Nations decision in favour of partition but are unwilling to take a direct share in carrying it out. The Russians see a chance of getting British troops out of Palestine quickly and of obtaining a voice in Palestine affairs through the Security Council’s control over the proposed United Nations Commission, but neither the United States nor the Soviet Union pays any attention to the impossible situation that would arise if the British were expected to maintain order, security and essential services in Palestine while the country was administered by an international commission charged with giving effect to partition. Power cannot be divorced from responsibility. If Palestine is to be partitioned by an international authority, that authority must itself be endowed with all the means of enforcement.