American trusteeship proposal for Palestine

The American trusteeship proposal for Palestine, formally known as the United States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine and announced by President Harry S. Truman on 25 March 1948, was a revised plan from the United States government for the future of the British Mandate for Palestine.^[1] The proposal came four months after the approval in the General Assembly of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine which had been vigorously supported by the United States, and represented a major shift in policy in response to the ongoing 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.

Background

On March 18, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine reported that it had been unable to arrange a truce and recommended a temporary trusteeship for Palestine in order to restore peace.

The following day, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Warren Austin announced that the United States believes that the partition of Palestine was no longer a viable option. On March 20, United States Secretary of State George Marshall confirmed the United States' view that the proposal for a temporary United Nations trusteeship for Palestine is the only idea presently being considered that will allow the United Nations to address the difficult situation in Palestine.

According to the Truman library, Truman wrote a number of personal statements in the following days recording his perspective ahead of the announcement on March 25:^[2]

March 21, 1948: President Truman writes in his diary regarding the confusion caused by the State Department's handling of the trusteeship issue: "I spend the day trying to right what has happened. No luck. Marshall makes a statement. Doesn't help a bit."
March 21, 1948: President Truman writes to his sister Mary Jane Truman that the "striped pants conspirators" in the State Department had "completely balled up the Palestine situation." But, he writes, "it may work out anyway in spite of them."
March 22, 1948: President Truman writes to his brother Vivian Truman regarding Palestine: "I think the proper thing to do, and the thing I have been doing, is to do what I think is right and let them all go to hell."

The proposal

The trusteeship proposal was supported by Loy W. Henderson, head of the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, who opposed US support for partition because he believed it would hurt US interests in Arab countries. The proposal was drafted by Clark Clifford, White House Counsel and Max Lowenstein.

"The United States has proposed to the Security Council a temporary United Nations trusteeship for Palestine to provide a government to keep the peace. Such trusteeship was proposed only after we had exhausted every effort to find a way to carry out partition by peaceful means. Trusteeship is not proposed as a substitute for the partition plan but as an effort to fill the vacuum soon to be created by the termination of the mandate on May 15. The trusteeship does not prejudice the character of the final political settlement. It would establish the conditions of order which are essential to a peaceful solution."

External links

References

Key documents of Mandatory Palestine

1910s	Damascus Protocol The Future of Palestine McMahon–Hussein Correspondence Sykes–Picot Agreement Balfour Declaration Declaration to the Seven Anglo-French Declaration Faisal–Weizmann Agreement King-Crane Commission Report

1920s	San Remo Resolution Palin Commission Report Paulet–Newcombe Agreement Haycraft Commission Report Churchill White Paper League of Nations Mandate Palestinian Citizenship Order

1930s	Shaw Commission Report Hope Simpson Report Passfield White Paper MacDonald Letter Peel Commission Report Woodhead Commission Report White Paper of 1939

1940s	Biltmore Programme Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry Report (Survey of Palestine) Statement of Information Relating to Acts of Violence United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine American trusteeship proposal for Palestine Israeli Declaration of Independence

History Timeline Aftermath

Diplomacy and peace proposals in the Arab–Israeli conflict

To 1948	1914 Damascus Protocol 1915 McMahon–Hussein Correspondence 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement 1917 Balfour Declaration 1918 Declaration to the Seven / Anglo-French Declaration 1919 Faisal–Weizmann Agreement 1920 San Remo conference 1922 Churchill White Paper 1937 Peel Commission 1939 White Paper 1947 UN Partition Plan 1948 American trusteeship proposal

1948–91	1948 UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 194 1949 Armistice agreements / Lausanne Conference 1950 Tripartite Declaration 1964 Palestinian National Covenant 1967 Khartoum Resolution / UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 242 1973 UNSC Resolution 338 / UNSC Resolution 339 1974 Israel–Syria disengagement agreement / UNSC Resolution 350 1978 UNSC Resolution 425 / Camp David Accords 1979 UNSC Resolution 446 / Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty / UNSC Resolution 452 1980 UNSC Resolution 478 1981 UNSC Resolution 497 1983 Israel–Lebanon agreement

1991–present	1991 Madrid Conference 1993 Oslo Accords 1994 Gaza–Jericho Agreement / Israel–Jordan peace treaty 1995 Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement 1998 Wye River Memorandum 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum 2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters 2001 Taba Summit 2002 Beirut Summit and peace initiative / Road map 2003 Geneva Initiative 2004 UNSC Resolution 1559 / UNSC Resolution 1566 2005 UNSC Resolution 1583 / Sharm el-Sheikh Summit / Israeli disengagement from Gaza / Agreement on Movement and Access 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 2007 Annapolis Conference 2010 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks 2013 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks

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