On April 2, 1947, the United Kingdom transmitted a message to the United Nations requesting the Secretary-General to place the question of Palestine on the agenda of the next annual session of the General Assembly and to call a special session “as soon as possible” in order to constitute a special committee to study the Palestine situation and report thereon. Within eleven days a total of 28 concurrences, the necessary majority, was received, thus making possible the convocation of such a session. Consequently, the General Assembly's first special session convened on April 28, with a provisional agenda containing one substantive item: “constituting and instructing a special committee to prepare for consideration of the question of Palestine at the second regular session.”