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Truman Urges Americans to Refrain From Inflaming Passions in Palestine

(June 5, 1947)

With tensions rising in Palestine after the British turned over the issue of resolving the conflict between Jews and Arabs to the UN, President Truman urged Americans – he was really talking to Jews who were supporting the Zionists – to refrain from activities that would “inflame the passions of the inhabitants of Palestine, to undermine order in Palestine, or to promote violence in that country.”


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the United Nations in special session on May 15, 1947, unanimously adopted the following resolution:

“The General Assembly calls upon all governments and peoples, and particularly on the inhabitants of Palestine, to refrain, pending action by the General Assembly on the report of the Special Committee on Palestine, from the threat or use of force or any other action which might create an atmosphere prejudicial to an early settlement of the question of Palestine.”

The search for a fair and workable solution of the Palestine problem is one of the most difficult and important tasks confronting the United Nations. It is in the interest of the United States as well as of the United Nations that the efforts of the United Nations to solve this problem meet with success. Activities calculated further to inflame the passions of the inhabitants of Palestine, to undermine law and order in Palestine, or to promote violence in that country are certain to create an atmosphere prejudicial to an early settlement of the Palestine problem and to render still more difficult the tasks which the United Nations has before it.

I therefore urge every citizen and resident of the United States, in the interests of this country, of world peace, and humanity, meticulously to refrain, while the United Nations is considering the problem of Palestine, from engaging in, or facilitating, any activities which tend further to inflame the passions of the inhabitants of Palestine, to undermine law and order in Palestine, or to promote violence in that country.