Truman Gets British View On Critical Situation in Palestine

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Transcribed from the clipping

WASHINGTON—(AP)—President Truman received today from Sir Oliver Franks, the British ambassador, an outline of Britain's views on the Palestine situation. Mr. Truman and the ambassador conferred for nearly a half hour at the White House.

Franks said afterwards that he submitted "the views of my government on the Palestine situation." He told reporters these were the same he had expressed at the State department to Undersecretary Lovett. LOVETT DISCLOSED to a news conference that the United States had expressed concern to the British government over troop movements in the Palestine area.

Lovett emphasized at the same time that American policy is directed toward putting across an effective armistice in the Jewish-Arab fighting. Presumably, Franks' visit was a follow-up to this earlier exchange with the British government. The ambassador told reporters he delivered no note but "quite literally talked with the President." A reporter asked whether he gave Mr.

Truman assurances that Britain would take no action in its dispute with Israel over the shooting down of five British planes, which might interfere with the truce negotiations. Franks replied that any comment on what took place would have to come from the President.

THE REPORTER'S reference was to the negotiations for an armistice between Israel and Egypt which began today at Rhodes.

How this transcription was made

Date and publication rest on the collector's slide label; no masthead, folio or printed dateline appears on this clipping.

Context added by this archive

MARIA'S FLAGGED SLIDE. Clipped page column, no masthead, no folio, no printed date; date is label-only. The internal evidence supports it: 'the negotiations for an armistice between Israel and Egypt which began today at Rhodes' — the Israel-Egypt talks on Rhodes opened 13 January 1949.

Attribution to the Poughkeepsie Journal rests on the neighbouring column, 'Pomeroy's Plan Finding Favor', which is entirely Dutchess County school politics (Hyde Park, Arlington, Dutchess townships, County School Boards association); that is a separate article and is not transcribed here. No byline; AP credit inside the dateline. There is no deck.

A third item on the clipping, 'Jews Vow Hold Forever on Jerusalem' (ATLANTIC CITY, AP, Dr. Bernard Joseph, military governor of Jerusalem), is a separate article. WORDS FOR THE PLACE AND PEOPLE: 'Palestine' appears five times — in the headline, 'the Palestine situation' twice, 'the Palestine area', 'the Palestine war'.

It is the name of a situation, an area and a war; it is never the name of a people's country. The parties to that war, as the paper names them: 'the Jews', 'Jews and Arabs', 'the Jewish-Arab fighting', 'Israel', 'Egypt', 'Trans-Jordan', 'King Abdullah', 'the Middle East', 'the Arab states'. WHAT IS ABSENT: no Palestinians.

No Arab inhabitant of Palestine appears as a party, a casualty, a refugee or a name. The war is a dispute between Jews, Arab states and two Western governments over an 'area'. Nobody who lives in that area is quoted, named or counted.

Cite this clipping

"Truman Gets British View On Critical Situation in Palestine," Poughkeepsie Journal, 13 January 1949. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1949-034. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1949-034