the partition of palestine 87The United Nations sought the views of its member states, and on
April 11 the interim Indian government gave its formal consent. Having
secured the necessary affi rmative response, Secretary- General Trygve
Lie summoned the fi rst Special Session of the UN General Assembly,
which met in New York City on April 28. The session continued until
May 15, when it established the eleven- member UNSCOP. Because of the
urgency of the situation, Nehru nominated Asaf Ali, his ambassador in
Washington, as India’s representative to the First Special Session of the
United Nations.
Asaf Ali and the UN Drama
On the eve of the fi rst Special Session, Asaf Ali was given a list
of instructions:
(1) To endeavor to obtain... India’s membership on the Fact Finding
Committee;... (2) to be most careful not to commit the Government
of India to any views of substance without prior reference;... (3) to
support the Egyptian proposal for inclusion in the agenda an item
relating to the termination of the Mandate and the declaration of
Palestine’s in de pen dence; [and] (4) to avoid raising issues which
might aff ect relations between India and any other country.^6It is obvious that India was angling for membership in the proposed com-
mittee even before the commencement of the Special Session. Asaf Ali
was accordingly advised that it was “for the sponsors of the resolution to
make out a case for the termination of the Mandate and to indicate how
the vacuum thus created will be fi lled.”^7 Because of the generally pro- Arab
postures that the Congress Party had adopted in the past, Nehru did not
want Asaf Ali to make statements that would prejudice India’s role regard-
ing the future of Palestine. Unfortunately, Nehru’s misgivings were not
far off the mark.
Asaf Ali played an active role at various stages of the deliberations and
in tune with the position of the INC adopted an overtly pro- Arab posi-
tion.^8 As the United Nations was deliberating the Palestinian problem,
India was being partitioned along communal lines. As a leading Muslim
member of the Congress Party, Asaf Ali was unable to accept the notion
that religion “can convert people into a nation” and strongly repudiated