Summary
The commission appointed by the Security Council in its resolution of 23 April 1948, composed of Belgium, France and the United States of America, with which the United Nations Mediator was directed to co-operate and in concert with which he supervised the observance of the truces of 1948; in the Mediator’s progress report (A/648) it was responsible for supervision of the cease-fire and truce in the City of Jerusalem (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 1719, line 1819).
Details
- General Assembly resolution 186 (S/2) of 14 May 1948 empowered the Mediator “to co-operate with the Truce Commission for Palestine appointed by the Security Council in its resolution of 23 April 1948”, and the Security Council resolution of 29 May 1948 (S/801) instructed the Mediator “in concert with the Truce Commission to supervise the observance of the above provisions”, the two to be provided with a sufficient number of military observers (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 1719).
- Its member States each furnished 21 officers as military observers for the first truce, arriving in Cairo between 11 and 14 June 1948, and 10 more officers each arriving 27 June to 5 July; for the second truce they agreed to furnish 300 officer observers (Belgium 50, France 125, United States 125) (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 1807, line 1947).
- For the City of Jerusalem it was agreed between the Commission and the Mediator that the Commission would be responsible for supervision of the cease-fire and truce in the city and that the observers would assist them and deal with incidents and breaches; their respective spheres of authority were somewhat vague and never clearly defined, but the Mediator received the Commission’s fullest co-operation at all times (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 1819).
- The Commission negotiated the “No man’s land Agreement” of 16 June 1948 in Jerusalem with the United Nations observers, assumed supervision of the Jerusalem relief convoys when the International Red Cross Committee could not do so, and was a party, with the senior United Nations observer, to the 7 July 1948 Mount Scopus demilitarization agreement (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, lines 1871-1879).
- The Security Council resolution of 15 July 1948 (S/902) instructed the Commission to take any necessary steps to make the immediate and unconditional cease-fire in the City of Jerusalem effective (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, lines 1755-1793).
- On 2 August 1948 the Commission (S/938) felt constrained to draw the Security Council’s attention to the Arabs’ refusal to allow water and food supplies to reach Jerusalem (Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, line 2219).
Related pages
United Nations Mediator on Palestine, Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, City of Jerusalem, Folke Bernadotte