ABSTRACT
Evatt opened the proceedings of the Ad Hoc Committee on 27 September. He was now charged with bringing to a conclusion within a matter of weeks the most momentous international question dividing the world and whose answer powerful interests were seeking to postpone. The first thing Evatt sought to establish was his complete independence and the quasi-judicial nature of the proceedings. At his suggestion, the Arab Higher Committee and Jewish Agency were both permitted to participate in the debate. Full and unrestricted discussion took place on both UNSCOP reports and on the Arab item for Palestinian self-determination over its first 17 meetings. The wide latitude given to all sides produced a sedative effect on the passions. The Arab Higher Committee spokesman, Jamal Husseini, the Mufti’s cousin, had been calling for a boycott at first with respect to all Committee proceedings other than the Arab agenda item calling for self-determination for Palestine. Instead, Evatt invited him on 29 September to speak for the Palestinian Arabs. Husseini, in outlining his case, presented to Committee members a memorandum drawn up by the Arab League, which rejected a binational solution to the problem. The advocates of binationalism in preceding years had always been Jews and, despite their complete sincerity, the Arabs now rejected the binational idea as a ploy aimed at establishing by stealth Jewish hegemony in Palestine.1
