The Commission, though subject to the Assembly, was to report to the Security Council, which would take the necessary measures, including enforcement action if necessary. At the same time the Trusteeship Council was given certain responsibilities in relation to Jerusalem. It in turn established a sub-committee to prepare for the internationalisation of the city. Responsibility for Palestine within the organisation was thus highly dispersed, and was to remain so until the mandate came to an end. Moreover, the constitutional position was obscure. The Assembly's resolution could only be a recommendation: for it to be mandatory it would have to be endorsed by a 'decision' of the Security Council. And for this the Council would first have to find a threat to international peace.
InJanuary 1948 the new Commission for Palestine met for the first time. It consisted of representatives of Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Panama and the Philippines. This composition, though slightly amended from the original proposal, was still markedly pro-Jewish, since the first four were all distinctly favourable to the Jewish cause. The Czech member, Lisicky, was elected chairman, and Ralph Bunche, head of the Trusteeship Division within the UN Secretariat, was given the leadership of its staff.
The Commission had twenty meetings in January and issued its first report to the Security Council at the end of that month. Representatives of the British Government and the Jewish Agency appeared before it, but it was boycotted by the Arab Higher Committee, which refused to recognise the partition decision. One subject about which the Commission was concerned was the question of immigration into Palestine. The Assembly's partition resolution had called upon the mandatory power to ensure that, as early as possible and at any rate not later than 1 February, it would make over to the Jewish state a port and hinterland 'suitable to ensure substantial immigration'. Britain had not undertaken this by 1 February, arguing that to allow the uncontrolled arrival of a substantial number of Jews, probably armed, at a time of widespread civil conflict could only make the existing disturbed situation even worse. Despite pressure from the Commission she did not alter this decision. The Assembly's resolution, she argued, was only a recommendation, which could not bind the mandatory power, and she' was therefore not prepared to make over a port for this purpose.
The Commission also pressed to be allowed to take a share in the administration of Palestine, as the resolution likewise demanded. This too the British Government was not prepared to allow, on practical grounds, 'until a short period before the termination of the mandate'. A situation of divided authority would indeed scarcely have been workable. It would have made it almost impossible for effective decisions to be reached in a critical emergency situation. Eventually the British Government announced that it would allow the Commission to enter Palestine on 1 May, before finally withdrawing, on the termination of the mandate, on 15 May.
In any case, the Commission could have exercised no effective authority without some forces to maintain order. This was increasingly clearly recognised by the Commission itself. It therefore decided to turn to the Security Council for assistance. The security situation in Palestine was by this time rapidly worsening. Besides regular attacks on the British forces there, there were continual inter-communal incidents. Local Palestinian Arab groups organised attacks on Jewish settlements and convoys, occasionally assisted by Arab irregulars who infiltrated from neighbounng countries. Jewish groups became increasingly better organised and better armed. Two Jewish terrorist organisations, the Lechi and the Irgun (Stern gang), undertook bombing and other attacks against British and Arab targets alike, while the Haganah, the more official Jewish armed force, now began to procure arms on a wide scale abroad, trained and recruited a substantial force and undertook attacks on mainly Arab targets.
Cyril Leo Toumanoff
