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Resolution 194 (III): Palestine — Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator

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Summary

The General Assembly’s resolution of 11 December 1948, adopted at its hundred and eighty-sixth plenary meeting on the progress report of the United Nations Mediator: it thanks the late Mediator, who sacrificed his life, and the Acting Mediator, establishes a Conciliation Commission of three Member States — named at the same meeting as France, Turkey and the United States of America — to assume the Mediator’s functions and carry out the resolution, resolves that the Jerusalem area be placed under effective United Nations control with a permanent international regime to be proposed to the fourth regular session, that the Holy Places be protected under effective United Nations supervision, and, in paragraph 11, that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, with compensation for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible (Resolution 194 (III): Palestine — Progress Report of the United Nations Mediator, PDF p.2-6).

What the file is

The resolution as printed in the General Assembly’s Official Records, printed p.21-25 for the Resolution 194 portion (PDF p.2-6). 6 PDF pages, about 4,598 words in the text copy counting both languages and the neighbouring resolutions. The text is printed in two columns, English and French in parallel; the English text is the text followed here. The file is not Resolution 194 alone: PDF p.1-2 carry the tail of the preceding Greece resolutions of 27 November 1948 (paragraphs 7-13 and sections B and C), and PDF p.6 carries the opening of Resolution 195 (III) on the independence of Korea after Resolution 194 closes. The text copy’s OCR is heavily garbled throughout; the wording of paragraph 11 and the Commission’s composition note was checked against the original (PDF p.5-6).

Section by section

  • Preceding Greece material (PDF p.1-2). Paragraphs 7-13 on the Special Committee for Greece and sections B (diplomatic relations, frontier conventions, the refugee question between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia) and C (return of Greek children, with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), dated to the hundred and sixty-seventh plenary meeting, 27 November 1948. This material is not part of Resolution 194.
  • Preamble and paragraph 1 (PDF p.2-3). Having considered further the situation in Palestine, the Assembly expresses its deep appreciation of the progress achieved through the good offices of the late United Nations Mediator in promoting a peaceful adjustment of the future situation of Palestine, for which cause he sacrificed his life, and thanks the Acting Mediator and his staff.
  • Paragraph 2 (PDF p.3). A Conciliation Commission of three States Members is established, to assume, as it considers necessary, the Mediator’s functions under resolution 186 (S-2) of 14 May 1948, to carry out the specific functions and directives in the present resolution and any additional ones from the General Assembly or the Security Council, and, on the Security Council’s request, to undertake functions assigned to the Mediator or the Truce Commission by Security Council resolutions; on a request covering all the Mediator’s remaining Security Council functions, the office of the Mediator is terminated.
  • Paragraphs 3-6 (PDF p.3-4). A five-State Committee of the Assembly (China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) is to propose the three States before the end of the first part of the session. The Commission is requested to begin at once and establish contact between the parties and itself at the earliest possible date. Governments and authorities concerned are called on to extend the scope of the negotiations provided for in the Security Council’s resolution of 16 November 1948 and to seek final settlement of all outstanding questions by negotiations with the Commission or directly; the Commission is instructed to take steps to assist them to achieve that final settlement.
  • Paragraph 7 (PDF p.4). The Holy Places — including Nazareth — religious buildings and sites in Palestine should be protected and free access assured in accordance with existing rights and historical practice, under effective United Nations supervision; the Commission’s Jerusalem proposals to the fourth regular session are to include recommendations on the Holy Places in that territory, and for the rest of Palestine the Commission is to call on the political authorities for formal guarantees of protection and access, to be presented to the Assembly for approval.
  • Paragraph 8 (PDF p.4). In view of its association with three world religions, the Jerusalem area — the present municipality plus the surrounding villages and towns out to Abu Dis in the east, Bethlehem in the south, Ein Karim (including Motsa) in the west and Shu’fat in the north — should be accorded special and separate treatment and placed under effective United Nations control. The Security Council is requested to take further steps to ensure Jerusalem’s demilitarization at the earliest possible date; the Commission is instructed to present detailed proposals for a permanent international regime providing the maximum local autonomy for distinctive groups consistent with the area’s special international status, and is authorised to appoint a United Nations representative to co-operate with the local authorities on interim administration.
  • Paragraph 9 (PDF p.4-5). Pending more detailed arrangements, the freest possible access to Jerusalem by road, rail or air should be accorded to all inhabitants of Palestine; the Commission is to report any attempt to impede such access immediately to the Security Council for appropriate action.
  • Paragraph 10 (PDF p.5). The Commission is instructed to seek arrangements facilitating the economic development of the area, including access to ports and airfields and the use of transportation and communication facilities.
  • Paragraph 11 (PDF p.5). The refugees wishing to return and live at peace with their neighbours are to be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and compensation is to be paid as set out in the Summary. The Commission is instructed to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, maintaining close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate United Nations organs and agencies.
  • Paragraphs 12-15 (PDF p.5-6). The Commission may appoint subsidiary bodies and employ technical experts under its authority; its official headquarters is at Jerusalem, whose order authorities are responsible for its security, with a limited number of guards provided by the Secretary-General. It is to render periodic progress reports to the Secretary-General for transmission to the Security Council and the Members. All Governments and authorities concerned are called on to co-operate with it and assist implementation, and the Secretary-General is requested to provide the necessary staff, facilities and funds.
  • Composition note (PDF p.6). At the same 186th plenary meeting, the paragraph 3 Committee proposed France, Turkey and the United States of America, and the Assembly adopted the proposal, so the Conciliation Commission is composed of those three States.
  • Following Korea material (PDF p.6). Resolution 195 (III) begins, approving the Temporary Commission on Korea’s conclusions and declaring the Government of the Republic of Korea the lawful government of the part of Korea the Commission could observe. This material is not part of Resolution 194 and continues beyond the file.

Key passages

  • “the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date” (paragraph 11, PDF p.5; the paragraph continues, in the wording checked against the original, that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible — that continuation is garbled by hyphenation in the text copy and is not quoted here).
  • On Jerusalem: the Jerusalem area should be accorded “special and separate treatment from the rest of Palestine” and placed under effective United Nations control (paragraph 8, PDF p.4; the surrounding verbs are garbled in the text copy and are not quoted here).
  • On the late Mediator: the Assembly expresses its deep appreciation of the progress achieved through his good offices in promoting a peaceful adjustment of the future situation of Palestine, for which cause he sacrificed his life (paragraph 1, PDF p.2-3, paraphrased; the text copy garbles this passage and it is not quoted here).

Evidence the work relies on

  • The resolution is an act of the General Assembly, not an argued report; it relies on no evidence section. Its operative references are: General Assembly resolution 186 (S-2) of 14 May 1948 (the Mediator’s functions, paragraph 2(a)); the Security Council’s resolution of 16 November 1948 (the negotiations to be extended, paragraph 5, with footnote 1 to the Official Records of the Security Council, Third Year, No. 126); and the Mediator’s progress report named in its title. The French text is printed in parallel throughout.

Analysis

The resolution’s method is institutional succession plus instruction: it closes the Mediator phase by transferring its functions to a three-State Conciliation Commission, and it decides the three questions it treats as still open — Jerusalem (special and separate treatment, effective United Nations control, a permanent international regime to be proposed later), the Holy Places (protection and free access under effective United Nations supervision, with formal guarantees outside Jerusalem), and the refugees (paragraph 11). Paragraph 11 itself contains two distinct entitlements in the text as printed: return at the earliest practicable date for refugees wishing to return and live at peace with their neighbours, and compensation both for the property of those choosing not to return and, separately, for loss of or damage to property which under international law or in equity should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible. The resolution gives no vote figures, no definition of “refugees”, and no timetable beyond “the earliest practicable date” and the fourth regular session for the Jerusalem proposals; those limits are the text’s own.

People, organizations, places and events

Palestine Conciliation Commission, United Nations Mediator on Palestine, UN Security Council, City of Jerusalem, Holy Places, Folke Bernadotte

Concepts

Right of Return

How it relates to other sources

Open questions

  • The resolution gives no vote figures for its adoption; figures given by other ingested sources are recorded on UN General Assembly Resolution 194 from those sources.
  • Paragraph 11 does not define which persons count as “the refugees”, nor name the Governments or authorities responsible for compensation; the later UNCCP analysis quoted in Rethinking Statehood in Palestine (PDF p.218-219) is a separate source’s record, not this text.
  • The text copy’s OCR is garbled throughout; quotations other than those checked at PDF p.5-6 are paraphrased in the section-by-section account rather than quoted.

Coverage

PDF p.1-6 of 6, read in full

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