ABSTRACT
In that first fateful year extreme pressure was exerted on Israel by Washington to be more responsive to the mediation efforts in the Palestine Conciliation Commission on the refugee and territorial questions. The second fateful event occurred at the Lausanne Conference of the Palestine Conciliation Commission in the spring of 1949. The Israeli delegation, pressed to accept a "protocol" with appended map, which postulated as "a basis" for negotiation on boundaries the 1947 partition lines, acquiesced, subject to approval by the Israeli government. The secretary of state agreed and wrote President Truman that when the Palestine question came before the General Assembly that fall, it was "essential that United States and United Kingdom policy be coordinated." Israel was ready to help solve the Arab refugee problem in cooperation with the United Nations and the Arab states and wished to establish normal political and economic relations with the Arab states.
