The revolution and pacts (55). The Bernadotte plan (II). Dual rejection. Both the Arab states and Israelis rejected Bernadott's proposals. The Arab world turned it down on the grounds that, as Syrian officer Mohamed Nimr al-Khatib said: “Most of these mediators are spies for the Jews anyway.” It also entailed recognition of the Jewish state, they said. Meanwhile, the Israeli government, hating the idea of giving up Jerusalem and bent on military action, quickly rejected the plan. The Israelis assumed they would not be able to retain their sovereignty within the boundaries proposed. Fighting thus resumed on July 8, 1948 and the Israeli army gained strength and succeeded in pushing back the Arabs until a second UN cease-fire was declared on July 18, with no time limit and a threat of economic sanctions against any country that violated it. Moreover, it was revealed that Bernadotte's second proposal had been prepared in consultation with British and American emissaries. The degree to which they influenced the proposal is poorly known, since the meetings were kept strictly secret and all documents were destroyed, but Bernadotte apparently “found that the US-UK, proposals very much in accord with his own views” and the two emissaries expressed the same opinion. The secret was publicly exposed in October, only nine days before the US presidential elections, causing President Truman great embarrassment. Truman reacted by making a strongly pro-Zionist declaration, which contributed to the defeat of the Bernadotte plan in the UN during the next two months. Also contributing was the failure of the cease-fire and continuation of hostilities. The Israeli government criticised Bernadotte's participation in the negotiations. In July 1948, Bernadotte said that the Arab nations were reluctant to resume the fighting in Palestine and that the conflict now consisted of ‘incidents'. A spokesman for the Israeli government replied: “Count Bernadotte has described the renewed Arab attacks as ‘incidents.' “When human lives are lost, when the truce is flagrantly violated and the Security Council defied, it shows a lack of sensitivity to describe all these as incidents, or to suggest as Count Bernadotte does, that the Arabs had some reason for saying no... Such an apology for aggression does not augur well for any successful resumption by the mediator of his mission,” the Israeli government said. Meanwhile, LEHI, a Jewish underground organisation (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) called Bernadotte a British agent who had cooperated with the Nazis in World War II. The organisation considered his plan to be a threat to its goal of Israeli independence on both banks of the Jordan River Thus, Bernadotte's mediation mission was defeated by insufficient UN backing resulting from the Cold War; the utter rejection of his proposals by the rival parties. Ironically, it was also the result of the unforeseen impact of the UN embargo, which aimed to dry up the military resources of both warring parties but in fact increased Israel's military edge over the Arabs, resulting in an Arab defeat and an armistice based on lines more favourable to Israel than those Bernadotte had recommended earlier. In the end, those lines received international legitimacy. Bernadotte had indeed expected the UN to enforce his proposals, as Britain and the US initially seemed prepared to back the plan. [email protected]
