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that the High Commissioner for Palestine should be asked to act as intermediary during negotiations between Arabs and Jews on the detailed terms of a truce in that limited area. Further Discussion of Means for Protection of the City The Council then returned to a consideration of steps which might be taken for the protection of the municipality as a whole in contradistinction to the Walled City. In addition to the French suggestion for the immediate despatch of an international volunteer police force of one thousand men, the Council had by this time before it a United States proposal for the establishment of a temporary trusteeship for the City (submitted in the form of a draft working paper). Examination of French Proposal While no one doubted that the French proposal was worthy of the most careful consideration, various questions were raised regarding the nature of the proposed police force, the practicability of recruitment, and especially the legal basis in the Charter for the despatch of such a force. After the representative of the Arab Higher Committee had objected to the sending of any foreign troops to Jerusalem the French representative declared that, since his proposal depended upon the co-operation of the two parties, he would withdraw it for the time being. United States Trusteeship Proposal The Council then turned to a consideration of the United States proposal that a special temporary regime under a temporary trusteeship agreement of a simple character should be established in Jerusalem. The United States representative maintained that such an arrangement represented the only method whereby a legal basis could be established within the Charter for the maintenance of law and order and the administration of the city. The United States Government, he said, was prepared, along with the other members of the United Nations, to undertake its share of responsibility for the establishment of a provisional municipal administration for the City. The scheme, which would apply only to the municipality (and not to the larger area laid down in the partition plan), would include guarantees for access to the city and provision for the maintenance of supplies of food and water. The representatives of New Zealand, China, Belgium, and France agreed in principle with the proposal, but the representative of the Jewish Agency, while welcoming the provision for assurance of water and food supplies, did not consider trusteeship a suitable form for an international regime in the city, and the Arab Higher Committee categorically rejected the scheme in its entirety, characterizing it as a first step towards implementation of the partition scheme. The United Kingdom representative also opposed the trusteeship plan on the grounds of impracticability, but he said that since it was doubtful if the scheme could be
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