TheUnited States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine, announced by PresidentHarry S. Truman on March 25, 1948, was a revised plan from theUnited States government for the future of the BritishMandate for Palestine.[1] The proposal came four months after the approval in the General Assembly of theUnited 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 ongoing1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.[2]
On March 18, 1948, theUnited 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.[3]
The following day,United States Ambassador to the United NationsWarren Austin announced that the United States believed that the partition of Palestine was no longer a viable option. On March 20,United States Secretary of StateGeorge Marshall said that the proposal for a temporary United Nations trusteeship for Palestine was the only idea being considered that would allow the United Nations to address the difficult situation in Palestine.[3]
According to theTruman Library, Truman wrote a number of personal statements in the following days recording his perspective ahead of the announcement on March 25:[3]
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The trusteeship proposal was supported byLoy W. Henderson, head of the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, who opposed American support for partition since he believed it would hurt U.S. interests in Arab countries. The proposal was drafted byClark 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."
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