S/PV.653 Security Council

Are there any other observations? 18. Ml'. Charles MALIK (Lebanon): Ml'. President, l do not know in what way you are going to put this matter ta the vote. Are you·going to put the question of postponement nnm Il January to the vote, as the tepresentative of Colombia has proposed? Pethaps in the light of what l 'said and what the representative of France bas said, you might still be patient and charitable and allow a further period of reflection before putting the matter off for so ma:ny days and weeks. l think that is an important point. 1? The PRESIDENT: l shaH try to sunl11lari~e the situation with which we are faced. Personally, l am happy thatno member of the Council has pressed for a vote at ,this time on the two draft resolutions before 20. Mr. VYSHINSKY {Union of Soviet SociaHst Republics) (tr'anslated from Ru<ssiaini): l do not quite understand the purpose of· postponing our meeting until tomorrow. One might conc1ude from what has been said that it is proposed to take some action or other before tomorrow. But Just what action is it planned to take? 21. If it is a question of amendments which, 111C1- dentally, the President promised would he ready by 3 p.m. today, perhaps we might he told by whom they have been submitted. May not the Security Council at leastbe înfDrmed of· what is a foot? 22. l did not participate in the drafting of any amendmellts. Perhaps those who did so would inform us of the contents of the amendtnents suggested. Or is it -propased to do that tomorrow? 23. In any event, to convene a meeting meœly to dose it after a few minutes and disperse is to he too lavish \Vith our time. l appreciate the full importance of the question and will not refuse to support any proposaI which will make for progress. But l should first like to know the rp.asons for the proposaI to defer today's meeting until tornorrow. What is in store for' us tomorrow? '\iVhat are the prospects? Are they any newproposals in addition to the two draB: resolutions before us? ------+--LI:'ttion<l-ue '24. As l have already pointed out Otll several occasions, one of those draft resolutions, that of the threê Powers, has no hearing on the question at issue and should not therefore be put to the vote at all. 25. If .possible; -therefore, l would like an explanation of what wecan expect tomorrow, if we adjoum until then. 26. Perhaps we rnight suspend today"s meeting for haH an hour or an hour and reach some decision today. l know that all representatives do not live in New York and to waste three hours or so comitig here merely to find that.the party has heen called off and go home half an hour later would he utterly ridiculous. 27. l should therefore be glad if the situation could be c1arified to sorne extent and, befor.e we take a vote, I-shou1à Hket()find out whatwe can expect tomorrow and what we shall have before .us then. l shan then have the facts on which to base a decision on the question which' the President has put to the Council. 28.Mr. HOPPENOT (France) (transloJted from French): In connexion with what Mr. Malik and Mr. The meeting wa.s suspended at 3.50 p.m. and wa'S reswm:'!!d (J)t5 p'.m. 30. The PRESIDENT: The reces's, as the Council will remember, had been scheduled ta last unpl. 4.30, but, at the request of some delegations l, prolonged it until 5 a'dock. l have been a representative on the Councilfor two years now, and l have gone through the records of the previous years, and l must S?y that what happened this aftemoon is really witlitJut precedent. l hope that at least it has heen successful. l should now like to inquire of the representative of .Lebanon, who originally proposed a l"ecess, whether that recess hasbeen succes'Sfu1. 31. Mr. O.arles MALIK (Lebanon): l think that the recess whichthe President was kind enough to grant ~nd which the Council was kind mough to grant itself, with a view to coming to 'some kind of agreement about this matter, has been eminently 'Successful, but l do not think that a'S yet we have finally worked out our ideas ta the very.last comma and.semi-colon and full stop. If l can explore what is happening in my mind and in the minds of many people with ""horn l talk'ed, l think l am rightin saying that we are practically 3.t the final stage of the matter. Therefore, Mr. President, while l can report to you and to the Council that every single moment which you were kind enough ta grant yourselves and us during this recess was utilized, and utilized ta the full and profitably, l am. not yet in a position 10 report complete and final agreement on a text, although l see it just round the corner. l am very 'sincere in saying that and l think that, if you were' ta ask the people with whom we consulted, they would probably agree with me. 32. That being the case, it just happens that we need a little more time to think about this thing. Therefore, if it is agreeable to the Council, we can meet again tomorrow .moming in the hope that, between now and then, we 'Shall have come either toa final agreement, which I. think is .round theço:rn~,orto acertaÎiity .that ·wecannot· agree· at this 'stageand then you can put it off until any time you ûke. . . 33. That seems to me to br:' .a predse and accurate appraisal of the present situa~i0n: we are about to come to an agreement, but wehave not yetquite done 50. 34. Mr. BOPPENOT (France) (translated fro'»~ French); What the representative of Lebal10n just said is too encouraging for the Council to take the responsibility of postponing for two to three. weeks the conclusion of an agreement which l believe, as he does, is actually in the offing. If it isnot feasible to suspend the meeting again for half an hour - aftet all, it is only five o'dock-1 would support Mr. MaliJ's suggestion that we should meet tomorrow moming. 35. Mr. CROSTHWAITE (United Kingdom): l am aware that what l amproposing may be ip'çQt1~ ,_ 5

Although we have had this report that success is just round. the corner, and that there remainu only to put in a few periods and commas, l am afraid, that this may require more than haH an hour, and then there would he the dupiication of the documents so·mat we would have something concrete· and definite hefore us. Persqnally, l think the wiser course would he for the Couneil to adjourn now and to meet again tomorrow morning. 38. The PRESIDENT: What the representative of China has said is correct, but, on the other hand, we must envisage the case of members of the Security Couneil who live outside New York and who would have to tmvel for one or two hours to attend the meeting of the Security Couneil tomorrow morning. 1 understand that the amendments to be submitted are very short, sa that their evenual preparation and eirculation as documents would not take more than ten minutes. Therefore, if there IS no objection to a recess for half an hour, the Couneil will now recess. It WQJS so tlecided. The meeting Vi;ëJ,S suspended at' 5.10 p.m. oo'à resumed at 5.40 p.m. 39. The PRESIDENT: The CoUfici1 will resume for the third timethis afternoon the debate On the item before it. May 1 inquire of the representative of Lebanon what have been the results of this second recess? 40. Mr. Charles MALIK (Lebanon): 1 think that, as the result of the further consultati011JS, this matter bas narrowed down to a very definite point. AIl of us know exactly what are the issues involved and there is no longer any obscurity· whatsoever in the mind of any person who bas taken part in these Llormal consultations. Tt remainsa faet, however, that some of us hereare not in a position to give final agreement tocertain ideas which wc all now fully comprehend but which must be referred to our governments fo:/:' further instn~ctions. 41. 1 think that the enorrilous vallue of the discussions this afternoon has been that they have made it possible {vr us ta know precisely what is &.t stake - the varions alternatives which are possible and those which are not·~and in eœbling some of us to put the matterto our governments. to thai. they may takl~ responsihility for the final decision. 42. l would th.erefore report ta the Couneil that the successive recesœs which it ha:s accorded us have been very fruitfulin this respect,butthat some representatives, because they are not fully in possession of authority to proceed with certain ideas, t;equire fu~er time to think about those idea'S .and to consult Wlth their. governments. 43. This being the case, l think we have reached a point where we might postpone cpnsideration of this matter for a few days, but l dO' not çonsider it necessary 44. Therefore, with the assurance that we shaH all have received final instructions from our governments by then, it 'seems to me that, if it is agreeable to the Couneil as a whole, it would be well to meet again on Monday next, 28 Decemher, to give this matter final consideration. Vve should aH be in a position then either to reach ~OTeement on the problem or else to take whatever other measures seem to be ca1led for in the eircumstances. Thus, l feel that it would he advisable if we were to postpone the consideration of this item until Monday next. 45. The PRESIDENT: The representatîve of Israel has asked for permission to speak and, out of elementary fairness, l shall call upon him on the clear understanding that he does not intend ta touch upon this purely procedural point wi~h which the Couneil is now faced. . 45. sentant je parlera le 46. comprends du serais tard. l'ajournement 47. sonne d'Israël 48. Le primer 46. Ml". EBAN (Israel): l fully understand that iimitation. Therefore, if members of the Couneil wish to discuss tbis proœdura.1 question l should be glad to delay my observations for thetime being. l should, however, like to have some opportunity to Gay a few words befol"e this mp~ting adjourns.

If there is no objection l shal! ask the ::epresentative of Israe~ to proceed. 48. Ml". BOKHARI (Pakistan): l should he very glad for th~ representative of Israel tG have a full opportunity ta say what he .wishes to say, but l should have thought, Ml". President, that first you would have liked the Couneil to come to some decision with regard to the procedural situation. 49. The PRESIDENT: On ·the other hand, if we decided to adjourn we should have to do so at once without giving the represehtative of Israel that opportunity. That is why l thought that, out of elementary fairneS's, it would be better to .pennit him to speak now. ~onsk~1r d abord 49. mais le n'aurait pourquoi rable 50. Je d'Israël nous à aura au 50. Ml" BOKHARI (Pakistan): l fully understand that, Ml". President. My idea was that he should have an opportunity under any eircumstances, and l thought that we should pe:r'haps deeide until when we were adjourning and 'Chat, the Couneil having decided upon a ,date, you would then, naturally, like to'give the representative of Israel an opportunity to state his point of view before the actual adjoumment. 51. The PRESIDENT: If that is understood we 'Shall proceed on those lines. 51. est, le cédure. 52. d'une présente d'accord autant qu'au 52. Ml". HOPPENOT (France) (translated from French): Ml". Malik has summed up our present situation excellently. Personally, l agree with his conclusions. So far as l unde1"stand the situation, the delegations mainly concerned appear to have reached agreement on te:h.i:s; and sorne of them ~ and perhaps 54. l support Mr. Malik's proposaI that the debate should he suspended and resumed next Monday afternoon. 55. Mr. ECHEVERRI CORTES (Colombia) (transla.ted from. S pœnish) : Once again I insist - and I wish te> submit a formal motion to this,. effect - that we should meet again on 11 January. It seems to me that we have been very tolerant in suspending this afternoon's meeting twice to see whether the parties could come to an agreement. They have not come to an agreement. 56. As I have alrea.eÏ.y said, particularly in South America there are holidays during which most government officiaIs are celebrating and it is very complicated and difficult to get in touch with them. It is practically impassible for my delegation to get in touch with its Govemment during the Christmas holidays. 1 therefore helieve that it would he best to postpone our debate until Il January at Il a.m. I think that would be only fair not only from our own point of view, because it is so difficult for us to get in touch with our govemments, but also from that of the members of the Secretariat. I anl certainl)' not the on1y one who has heard in the last few days that the staff of the Secretariat as a whole is counting on sorne leisure time at Christmas and the New Year. I think that by acting as l have proposed we should he doing the right thing not only by ourselves and our governments but also by the members of the Secretariat. 57. Accordingly, I formally move and urge that we postpone our next meeting uutil Monday, 11 January, at 11 a.m. '58. Mr. CROSTHWMTE (United Kingdom): 1 understand on1y tao well the preoccupations expressed to us by the Colombian representative, in which we all share to agr~er or lesser extent, about the incon- __ venience of meeting during these next few weeks, but my delegation is prepared tago ala-ng with the suggestion made by Mr. Malik and Mr. Hoppenot. I should, however, strongly recommend that if this tine werefollowed there should he a slight modification in it, namely that the next meeting, if mere 1S to he a meeting alter Christmas, should be held not on Monday but on Tuesday. Itseems to me that there will have to be a certain amount of contact between memhers of the Counci1 before the Council meets, -and it will be difficult to keep in touch during those holidays. Itseems to me that it would he morè businesslike taagree to a meeting on the Tuesday rather than the Monday after Christmas, if we meet at aIl that week.

I should Iike ta support the motion made by the repre-

l readily accept the United Kingdom re};1resentative's suggestion fora slight amendment to the original proposaIs made by Mr. Malik and myself, which l regarded as formal proposaIs. l R::,OTee entirely that the Council's next meeting should be held on Tuesday, 29 December, instead of Monday, 28 December. 63: l regret to say that the Colombian represel1tative's arguments, which the United States representative has supported, have not fully convinced me of the need to delay discussion of tbis matter untilll January. l cau assure the members of the Secretariat that l fully appreciate their fatigue and the difficulties they have to undergo. Having said that, however, l am sure that it will not impose too great a strain on their devotion.to dutY if we ask them to come ta work when the Christmas holidays are aIreadya thin,; of the past, in other words to give us their valll::tble support for a few more hours on Tuesday next. 64. Mr. Charles MALIK (Lebanon): l agree with the amendment proposed by the United Kingdom representative - namely, that the Security Council's next meeting on this question should take pl~ce on Tuesday, 29 December. l very much hope that representatives who do not share our opinion will reconsider and help the Council ta meet again next week and to dispose of this item.

The situation with which l am now faced is quite different from the on~ with which l was faced before the Council's second recess. Before that recess, there were only various ·suggestions before us. That is why l then declared that, if we Were going ta vote on those suggestions, we should do so on a logical basis. Now, however, as l have said, the. situation: has changed. There are two formaI proposals before the Council: one, submitted by the representative of Lebanon and supported by the representatives of the United Kingdom and Frànce, that the Security Councii should postpone 'its discussion F1'e1~ch) :.T regret that I cannot completely. agree with the President's iuterpretation of the roles of procedure. 69. As the President said. role 32, according ta which "principal motions and draft resolutions shaH have precedence in the order of their submission", is applicable. Now Mr. Malik and I myself 'Submitted our proposai before our Colombian colleague submitted his. 70. I think that the role of which the President was in fact thinking is rule 36, which deals ,vith amendments. But there can be no amendment to a non-existent draft resolution. There are two separate proposals which, as I see it, must he put ta·the vote in the order of their submission. 71. The PRESID;ENT: Before callîIlg on the next speaker, I should like to reply to the point of order raised by the representative of France. 72. l would remind the representative of France that the representative of Colombia had formally moved his proposa! before the Council recessed. At that time, the representative of France had made a suggestion that the Security Council should meet either during the week after Christmas - on 28 or 29 Decemheror on 4- or 5 January 1954, the exact date to he determined later. 73. I call on the representative of Colombia on a point of order. ' 74. Mr. ECHEVERRI CORTES (Colombia) (translated fro-;n Spanish): I fully agree with your interpretation of my motion. Even at the outset, I made that motion formatly. 'Vhen I saw a possibility of reaching agreement by suspending the meeting, I did not want to reintroduce it hecause I believed that there was no point in trying to interrupt an agreement. I am now repeating my motion, which is a formal one, as ybu have properly interpreted it, for the Council to meet again on 11 January at 11 a.m.

If the President and the representative of Colombia consider that the Colombian proposaI bas precedence over mine, I sball not press the point. l agreethat it should be put to the vote first. 76. Th~ PRESIDENT: We shall vote now on the Colombian proposal ta have tiùs discussion postponed unill Monday, 11 January, at 11 a.m. . A vote was taken by show of hands. In javour: Colombia, United States of America. 78. l'shaH now put to the vote the proposaI of the representative of Lebanon, which has been supported by the representatives of France and the United Kingdom, that the Security Council resume its discussion of this subject on Tuesday, 29 December. l understand that the Councii would meet at 3 p.m. on that day. A vote was taken by show of hands. In fa.v01w: China, Denmark, France, Lebanon, Pakistan, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northem Ireland. . Against: None. Abstaining: Chile, Colombia, Greece, United State$ of America. The proposal was adopted by 7 to noneJ with 4 abstentions. 79. The PRESIDENT: The proposaI is adopted. 80. Are the members of the Council ready now to listen to the representative of Israel? 81. Mr. CROSTHWAITE (United KingCiom): l should like first to hear the views of other œpresentatives about the nece6sity of keeping General Bennike with us until after Christmas.

l was going to retum to that item raised by the representative of the United Kingdom, ta which we are obliged to give our fuHest attention. My personal suggestion to the Security Council would he that General Bennike be released from the duty of remaining here. He is obliged ta go back to his headquarters and, as ail the members of the Council will remember, he is obliged to submit to the Council in less than two month's time a report on an extremely serious question, the· frontier incidents between Israel and Jordan. My suggestion would therefore he that we release the General from his duty of remamillg in New York, and eventuaily, if the Security Council comes ta a decision on this subject, ask him ta come back again. Is there any objection to that? 83. Ml'. BüKHARI (Pakistan): l presume that the President has ex,pressed. his opinion as the representative of Greece, in which case his views are entitled '10 the highest respect. However, ther~ are some representatives rOlmd this table who have considered General Bennike's presence to he of great value and who think it will continue to be of great value to us during our discussions. 84. It will be realized that at this stage mast of the memhers of the Council do not even know what proposaIs we are likely to be confronted with when we meet again, and we do not know whether, when those proposaIs do come before us, at lea:st some of us might not like .to consult General Bennike himself herein this Council. 87. The PRESIDÉNT: 1 must confess that 1 made the suggestion with reference to General Bennike not as representative of Greece but as President of the Security Council for this month. It is only a 'Suggestion, to be considered by the Security Couneil. 1 made it hecause 1 had been informed that General Bennike himself had expressed the opinion that his presence at his headquarters was much mnre important than his presence here. On the issue hefore us, he has already submitted two very full reports. 88. Ml". BOKHARI (Pakistan): 1 apologize, Ml". P~esident, for holding up the proceedings of the Security Council, but had you been kind enough to take us into your confidence before, 1 would have gladly agreed with you. 89. The PRESIDENT: Is it agreeable to the Security Couneil that we pennit General· Bennike to go back to bis headquarters and, if necessary, calI him back again to New York?

The President's 'suggestion is probably correct. 1 should have thought, however, that it would not be superfluous to learn the views of the parties on this matter. 91. The parties to this dispute are OOth present and 1 think it would be desirable to learn their views as to whether General Bennike will be needed for further explanations, as far ws they can tell, Dr whether they consider it possible not todetain him any longer in the Couneil. 92. In my view, we should first of all learn the views of the parties concerned.

On the point on which the President has invited my opinion, l fully agree with General Bennike's own view that the very important interests which he represents in our region would be hest served by his active presence in our midst. Therefore, if that is his conclusion, l believe that the Council would be acting wisely in suppœting that view. 96. The PRESIDENT: l will calI UP01:' General Benl'ike himse1f. 97. General BENNIKE (Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization): l believe that l can do better work in Palestine than here. 98. .The PRESIDENT: That answer is concise and clear. 99. Mr. ZEINEDDINE (Syria) We were fully prepared to leave the question for General Bennike to decide as he thinks fit.

Since there is no objection topermitting General Bennike to return to his headquarters, I shouldlike ta tell him that all our blessings will go with him in his very difficult task. 101. I should Iike now to ask the representative of Israel whether., since we have decided to hold a meeting in the course of next week, he would prefer to speak now or to make his statement on 29 December.

l should like to make not a statement but jnst one brief observation on a matter of substance, which will take me sorne two or three minutes. My point refers to the observations made by the rep-resentative of Lebanon conceming certain consultations and agreements, consultations during the tworecesses which have taken place today in the Security Council discussion and agreements which the representative of Lebanon has described. as being round the corner and which he now says may he delayed a little. Tt is necessary, simply for the ·sake of objective truth and without any intent of criticism, 1'0 put on record that the delegation of Israel bas taken no part today in any such consultation and that any negotiations looking towards this agreement have taken place without my delegationor without my GO\Ternment, whose vital interests are here involved. 103. Mr. Charles MALIK (Lebanon): As far as am .concemed, l did not enter. into any consultations with the deiegation of Israel or come to any agreement with them. That is objectively quite true. Whetner anyb6dy eise dld, l do not know, but l am quite prepared ta take the ward of Mr. Eban tha:t nothing of this nature has happened and therefore there was no contact.with them. At the 'same time, obviously, what l really meant wa'S consultation::; among the members of the Security Couneil who have the right to vote. It is 'Such memhers only who certainly get in touch with everybody else, in varying ways;'-With Israel and Syria and others. It is the members of the Couneil who are involved in this matter because they finaUy will have to deeide this question. 104. Therefore, whatever words are u'Sed refer exdu'Sively to membets of the Ser.urity Couneil, with whom,obviously, l had contact. l had contact not with a few but with a number of them. However, l repeat, l had no conta.cts with Israel; l had no agreements with Israel. Israel had no consultations or agreements with me. But l did have extensive conversationslet me caUthem that. Let me correct everything and caU it "conversations" - not consultations, not agreements. We had extensive conversations with many members of the vJuneil, and in this context l am ialking, only of the Couneil and of nothing else. Obviously the other Members of the United Nations who are h~re, such as Syria and l'Srael, who are the two parties directly concerned, would in some form or other, l take it,be taken into account. But l do not know who contacted Israel. I··know that l contacted Syria. l do not know who contacted Israel and l do notknow whether there wasany agreement between., Israel. and anybody else. 105. The PRESIDENT : Beforeadjourning the meeting, l should like to extend to my colleagues my best wishes for the coming holidays. Alas, they are very few, thanks to our deeision. l also wish to extend mybest wishes to aU the members of the Secretariat who are assisting us inour work. The meeting rose at 6.35 p.m.