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from the mandatory Power, from representatives of the population of Palestine, from Governments, and from such organizations and individuals as it may deem necessary ; " 5. The Special Committee shall give most careful consideration to the religious interests in Palestine of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity ; "6. The Special Committee shall prepare a report to the General Assembly and shall submit such proposals as it may consider appropriate for the solution of the problem of Palestine ; "7. The Special Committee's report shall be communicated to the Secretary-General not later than 1 September, 1947, in order that it may be circulated to the members of the United Nations in time for consideration by the Second Regular Session of the General Assembly ; "The General Assembly "8. Requests the Secretary-General to enter into suitable arrangements with the proper authorities of any State in whose territory the Committee may wish to sit or to travel, to provide necessary facilities, and to assign appropriate staff to the Committee ; " 9. Authorizes the Secretary-General to reimburse travel and subsistence expenses of a representative and an alternative representative ~from each Government represented on the Committee, on such basis and in such form as he may determine most appropriate in the circumstances." The usual complimentary speeches and votes of thanks to the President, the Chairman of Committee I, and the Secretariat were then carried, and the first Special Session of the General Assembly closed its meeting on Thursday, 15 May. On the whole, the work of this Special Session of the General Assembly may be said to have been well done. There was. considerable apprehension in the early stages lest the discussions on this very delicate, involved, and intractable problem might unnecessarily exacerbate the situation. Though the Assembly was called solely for the purpose of establishing a Committee of Inquiry to ascertain facts and make recommendations for the Regular Session of the General Assembly next September, it was, perhaps, too much to expect that the discussions would be confined solely to that aspect, and, in point of fact, the actual substance of the problem was traversed to a considerable extent both by many of the delegations on the one hand, and by the representatives of the Jewish Agency and the Arab Higher Committee on the other. But, generally speaking, such discussion as there was on the substance of the dispute was moderate and responsible, and though there were —as -was almost inevitable in the nature of the subject under review—conspicuous exceptions, the sense of the Assembly was such that they were confined to limits as narrow as possible, and it was the general feeling that the prospects of an earnest and impartial inquiry were prejudiced to a much less degree than might perhaps have been expected. The terms of reference of the Committee of Inquiry are of
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