Memo Making Case For U.S. to Abandon Partition

As the end of the British mandate approached, State Department Arabists, who had opposed the establishment of a Jewish state, were working to scuttle partition by proposing that resolution be replaced with one creating a trusteeship for Palestine. This draft memo probably came from the State Department and tries to give the impression of fairly evaluating the Palestinian situation by showing advantages and disadvantages to partition when the intent is to convince the president to abandon his support for partition. It reiterates Arabist arguments about the threat posed by the Soviet Union and the need to assure access to Middle East oil by not upsetting the Arabs.