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Latin America and the Palestine Partition Resolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Edward B. Glick
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Extract

On November 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly, by a vote of 33 in favor, 13 opposed, and 10 abstentions, adopted its fateful resolution recommending the division of Palestine between the Jews and Arabs. In that vote and the debates preceding and following it, the major substantive contributions were made by Latin America. When the partition resolution threatened to flounder on the rocks of United States-Soviet disagreement, Pedro Zuloaga of Venezuela suggested the formation of a subcommittee to resolve these differences. The group did so under the chairmanship of Jorge García Granados of Guatemala. During the entire second Assembly, he and Prof. Enrique Rodriguez Fabregat of Uruguay made the most stirring appeals for Jewish statehood. As president of the Assembly, Brazil's Oswaldo Aranha ruled that the partition recommendation had to be voted on first, before any proposals for delay.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1959 , pp. 211 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1959

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References

1 United Nations, General Assembly, Official Records, Second Session, Plenary, II, 1424-1425. Cited hereafter as UN, G.A.O.R., etc. The Latin American subtotal was 13 in favor, 1 opposed (Cuba), and 6 abstentions (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico).

2 See the writer's book, Latin America and the Palestine Problem (New York: Theodor Herzl Foundation, 1958), passim. Portions of this article are taken from the book and are reprinted here with the kind permission of the publisher.

3 An article in Americas, the organ of the Pan American Union, says of their efforts: “At Lake Success, Dr. García Granados, constantly aided by Señor Rodríguez Fabregat, led the struggle for a clearly defined partition plan … as zealously as though it were for the freedom of his own people.” Reynolds, Mary G., “Latin Americans in Israel” Americas, II (November, 1950), 5.Google Scholar Italics added.

4 John A. Houston, “The Role of the Latin American States in the Establishment and Practise of the United Nations,” Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, 1951, p. 370.

5 “Nuestra presentación,” Israel y América Latina, I (August, 1949), 3.

6 On the other hand, García Granados, admittedly pro-Zionist, claims the Arabs tried to pressure Guatemala and Costa Rica into adopting anti-partition stands. Granados, Jorge García, The Birth of Israel; The Drama as I Saw It. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), pp. 263–264.Google Scholar

7 According to the New York Times, December 2, 1947, p. 14; and Hamilton, Thomas J., “Partition of Palestine,” Foreign Policy Records, XXIII (February 15, 1948), 291.Google Scholar

8 In a letter to the New York Times, December 11, 1947, p. 32.

9 UN Document A/AC. 21/10. See also the New York Times, February 7, 1948, pp. 1, 8.

10 UN Document A/AC. 21/11. See also the New York Times, February 19, 1948, p. 12.

11 Quoted in Hamilton, Partition, “Partition of Palestine,” loc. cit,, p. 291.

12 Ibid.

13 García Granados, The Birth of Israel, pp. 283-284, 288-289.

14 UN, G.A.O.R. Second Sess., Plenary, I, 79; and La Prensa (Buenos Aires), November 30, 1947, p. 5.

15 Carias told this to Miss Anne Winslow, editor-in-chief of International Conciliation, at a meeting of the Latin American United Nations caucus. Miss Winslow relayed this information to the author in an interview on May 20, 1954.

16 Again, as in the case of information imparted by other diplomats, the author is pledged not to disclose the source of this information.

17 International Christian Conference for Palestine, Washington, D. C, November 1, 2, 1945 (n.p., n.d.). See also Click, Edward B., “Zionist and Israeli Efforts to Influence Latin America: A Case Study in Diplomatic Persuasion,” The Western Volitical Quarterly, IX (June, 1956), 331–333.Google Scholar

18 Netv York Times, December 3, 1947, p. 5.

19 Ibid., November 25, 1948, p. 8.

20 UN, G.A.O.R., Second Sess., Plenary, II, 1028-1029.

21 According to Weiser, Benno, “Ecuador: Eight Years on Ararat,” Commentary, III (June, 1947), 535.Google Scholar

22 In a personal interview with the author, May 24, 1954.

23 According to a reliable source very close to the government of Israel, who for obvious reasons, desires anonymity,

24 Diario de la Marina (Havana), November 30, 1947, pp. 33-34.

25 Mexico, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Memoria … de septiembre de 1947-agosto de 1948 (Mexico: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 1948), p. 38.

26 Colombia, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Memoria de Relaciones Exteriores presentada al Congreso Nacional (Bogota: Imprenta Nacional, 1948), pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

27 “La Asamblea General: el problema de Palestina,” Hispano Americano, XII (December 5, 1947), 20.

28 United Nations, Security Council, Official Records. Third Year, No. 130, p. 25. Cited hereafter as UN, S.C.O.R., etc.

29 La Prensa (Buenos Aires), November 8, 1947, p. 8.

30 Horowitz, David, State in the Making, translated from the Hebrew by Meltzer, Julian (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953), p. 261.Google Scholar

31 The author is not at liberty to disclose his identity.

32 Occulus, “Erev Ne'ilah? /On the Eve of the ConclusionpJ,” Yiddisher Kemfer, XXVIII (November 28, 1947), 2.

33 TJN, S.C.O.R., Third Year, No. 130, p. 14.

34 Occulus, who has a Zionist orientation, gives this explanation: “The Arab community in Argentina energetically aided Perón to reach his presidential office and to concentrate in his hands the political power of the Republic. It is hardly a secret that the vast majority of Argentine Jews did not back Perón and his ambitions. The present President of Argentina owes the Jews nothing, whereas he is much beholden to the Arabs.” “Erev Ne'ilah?,” loc. cit., p. 2.

35 In a conversation with the author, May 19, 1954.

36 See Azziz, Shihade B., Abecedario de la causa árabe en Palestina, una exposición de la causa árabe en forma concisa y leíble, que se espera, será un paso hacia un interés más profundo y más amplio a favor de ella, translated by Marcus, Antonia S. (Tegucigalpa: Imprenta Alef-Ba-Ta, 1937).Google Scholar

37 For short bibliographical sketches of these families, see Empresa Periodística, Chile (eds.), Diccionario biográfico de Chile (4th ed.; Santiago: Talleres Gráficos “La Nación” S.A., 1942), pp. 853, 1063-1064. There is a Plaza Yarur in Santiago, and according to an acquaintance of the family, Sergio de la Cruz, former graduate student from Chile in the Department of Economics of the University of Florida, the Yarurs are generally considered to be the “Rockefellers of Chile.” Personal interview with the author, July 7, 1954.

38 This informant, whose veracity is beyond question, has requested that he not be identified.

39 “Resigning the Mandate,” The Round Table, No. 149 (December, 1947), p. 452.

40 Horowitz, State in the Making, p. 258.

41 This is the view of Ya'akov Beller, “Tsionism in die Latein Amerikaner Lender [Zionism in the Latin American Countries],” Dos Yiddishe Folk, XXXII (September, 1950), 7.

42 Weiser, Benno, “The Pro-Zionism of Latin America,” Jewish Frontier, XV (October, 1948), 17.Google Scholar

43 Carolina de Campbell, “El problema de Palestine,” Boletín del Instituto Panameño de la Opinión Pública. No. 7 (July, 1950) pp. 1-12.

44 Ibid., p. 1.

45 Ibid., p. 2. Italics added.

46 UN, G.A.O.R., Second Sess., Palestine Com., p. 204.

47 Quoted in “South America Also Closes its Doors,” The Christian Century, LXIV (December 24, 1947), 1573.

48 TJN, G.A.O.R., Second Sess., Palestine Com., p. 77. mbid., p. 167.

50 Quoted in Diario de la Marina (Havana), November 29, 1947, p. 1.

51 UN, G.Á.O.R., Second Sess., Plenary, II, 1384-1385.

52 de Campbell, “El problema de Palestina,” p. 1.

53 Ibid., p. 2.