Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

501.BB Palestine/5–1648

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) to the Secretary of State

top secret
personal

Lake Success, 16 May 1948.

My Dear Secretary of State, I am sending to you with this a copy of a secret and personal letter which I have sent to all permanent members of the Security Council in connection with the communication from the Egyptian Government dated 15 May 1948, which is now being considered by the Council.

You will appreciate, I am sure, the position which I have taken as Secretary-General in this matter. My primary concern is for the future usefulness of the United Nations and its Security Council.

I am convinced that the Security Council must act decisively and quickly in dealing with this matter under the Charter, irrespective whether its efforts succeed or fail. If the Security Council, by slow and ineffective action, permits the Egyptian Government, through the use of its forces, to establish a de facto position beyond its own frontiers, then I believe a precedent will have been created which will prejudice the future usefulness both of the United Nations and its Security Council. I must do everything in my power to prevent this.

Time is the vital factor in this situation. The longer action by the Security Council is delayed, the less chance will there be of halting the forces which are now in movement. I appreciate the political factors which might influence certain Great Powers to let matters in the Middle East take their course, but I am convinced beyond all doubt that if this happens—when the case has already been brought to the attention of the Security Council—that the Security Council will have destroyed its usefulenss, and indeed will have created a precedent for any nation to take aggressive action in direct contravention to the Charter of the United Nations.

I have been informed of some of the difficulties which presently exist between the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom in approaching this problem. For this reason, because of the great influence those two powers can exercise [with others] in ensuring that effective action is taken in the Security Council, and because time was so short, I was most anxious that you and your Under-Secretary of State should have been consulted personally on this matter so that you might have known my views and so that—with your concurrence—I might have been able to approach the British Government in dealing with this vital problem.

I appreciated that my personal presence in Washington at this time could have been misinterpreted, and for that reason from 7:00 p. m. on Saturday evening last efforts were made to arrange for my personal representative to wait on you and Mr. Lovett. I greatly regret this consultation could not take place for if there had been any action which I could have taken as Secretary-General to influence the Government of the United Kingdom and other Governments, I would have been prepared to do so, and if necessary to despatch my personal representative to London immediately after he had reported to me the result of the consultation in Washington.

Yours sincerely,

Trygve Lie

[Enclosure]

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Austin)

secret

[Lake Success,] 16 May 1948.

My Dear Mr. Austin: The Egyptian Government has declared in a cablegram to the President of the Security Council on 15 May, that Egyptian armed forces have entered Palestine and that it has engaged in “armed intervention” in that country. On 16 May I received a cablegram from the Arab League making similar statements on behalf of the Arab States.

Since this matter is now before the Security Council, it is not necessary for me to invoke the provisions of Article 99 of the Charter, under which the Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.

I consider it my duty, however, to emphasize to you that this is the first time since the adoption of the Charter that Member States have openly declared that they have engaged in armed intervention outside their own territory.

Moreover, this armed intervention has taken place in a territory which has been the special concern of the United Nations. A Truce Commission appointed by the Security Council has been active in Palestine for some time and it is only a matter of hours since the General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a United Nations Mediator with the mandate of seeking agreement of the parties to a peaceful adjustment of the situation in Palestine.

The very first of the purposes of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security. In Article 24 of the Charter the Members conferred on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security “in order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations”.

The opening discussions of the Council on 15 May have shown that there is danger that such prompt and effective action will not be forthcoming unless members of the Council take a decisive stand in support of the authority of the Charter and of the United Nations.

Hostilities have already begun. There is grave danger that they will increase in intensity, and there is likelihood that other parties will become involved to the menace of the peace of the Middle East.

A failure of the Security Council to act under these circumstances can only result in the most serious injury to the prestige of the United Nations and the hopes for its future effectiveness in keeping the peace elsewhere in the world. Moreover, it may undermine the progress already made by the Council in other security problems with which it is now dealing.

I most earnestly urge that your Government should take account of the extreme seriousness of the situation which now faces the United Nations and of the necessity for prompt action at this crucial moment.

I have sent a similar communication to each of the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Yours sincerely,

Trygve Lie