Office of the Historian

No. 691
The Acting United States Representative at the United Nations (Wadsworth) to the President of the Security Council1

[New York, October 17, 1953.]

I have the honour on behalf of the Government of the United States, to request you to call an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider, under “The Palestine question”, the matter of the tension between Israel and the neighbouring Arab States with particular reference to recent acts of violence and to compliance with an enforcement of the General Armistice Agreements.

The United States Government believes that prompt consideration of this question by the Security Council is necessary to prevent a possible threat to the security of the area, and in this connexion considers that the Council would, in the first instance, be assisted by a report in person as soon as possible from the Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization.

James J. Wadsworth
  1. Source: Reprinted from U.N. doc. S/3111. Identical letters to the President of the Security Council were sent on Oct. 17 by the Representatives of France (S/3109) and the United Kingdom (S/3110). The Qibya incident was discussed by the Security Council at its 629th to 643d meetings, from Oct. 19 to Nov. 25 (U.N. docs. S/PV. 629–643). The discussions included reports by Major General Bennike and statements by the representatives of Jordan and Israel. At the 640th meeting, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States submitted a joint draft resolution which in its final revision (S/3139/Rev. 2) was adopted on Nov. 24; for the text, see Document 738.↩