Q. Mr. President, there is a report out today, from
both Washington and London, that you made an effort to bring an end
to the fighting in Palestine and to get the British to stay there beyond
May 15, but that the effort has failed in the last 24 hours?
THE PRESIDENT. I don't think the effort has failed.
The effort is still being made. We are doing everything we possibly
can to prevent bloodshed, and are trying to get the Palestine matter
settled on a peaceable basis. That has always been our objective from
the very beginning. In 1946, when the argument first started--our endeavor
has ways been to get a peaceable settlement without people getting killed
and the holy places being disturbed.
Q. This report said that you had offered an airplane
to send Arabs, Jews, and other representatives--
THE PRESIDENT. I would have given them one, if anybody
wanted to go to the Holy Land and really negotiate in dead earnest.
I would be glad to do anything that would help the matter along.
Q. Mr. President, does your answer apply to the part
of the question which stated that you had asked the British to remain
in Palestine after May 15?
THE PRESIDENT. I have been in no communication with
the British on the subject at all, except through the United Nations.
Q. The United States Government has asked them to remain?
THE PRESIDENT. The United States Government is putting
forth every effort, through the United Nations, to get this thing settled.
I don't know what the United Nations have asked the British to do.