Viewed from its widest angle, the dormant but still unsettled question of the internationalization of Jerusalem is, in reality, a struggle between the Holy See and the Jewish state. Thus one protagonist will inform the United Nations that “the Catholic body throughout the world…will not be contented with a mere internationalization of the Holy Places in Jerusalem” and the other will proclaim to the Israeli Parliament that “for the state of Israel there is, has been and always will be one capital only, Jerusalem, the Eternal”. Since 1947 the Vatican has directed a campaign designed to make unmistakably clear to Israel and the UN that nothing less than the complete territorial internationalization of Jerusalem would be satisfactory; with equal steadfastness has Israel maintained her claim to sovereignty over the entire New City of Jerusalem.

The development of the United Nations has been, and doubtless will continue to be, dependent to a high degree on the support of its largest contributor and most powerful member, the United States. The place of the UN in United States foreign policy is in some degree dependent on the public opinion process. To the extent that knowledge of the role of public opinion can be increased, the potentialities for the growth of the UN can be more accurately judged. Many current proposals—revisions of the Charter, the establishment of armaments control machinery, the founding of new social and economic programs—need to be evaluated in terms of the political possibilities of obtaining American support. What role will public opinion play in formulating United States policy on issues which are crucial in the strengthening of the UN?

The United Nations Charter states that, in building the Secretariat, the Secretary General must give “paramount consideration” to achieving “the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity”, and adds that he must recruit “on as wide a geographical basis as possible”. A dozen years have passed since these standards were set down at San Francisco, and in those years two Secretaries General have attempted to apply them. In their efforts to create a professional civil service, they have had to face extraordinarily difficult problems, but it is clear that the Secretariat today largely fulfills the expectations of the Charter

Economic development involves the whole society of the developing country. The help that foreign countries can give in the process of development is necessarily limited, both in amount and in character. The United Nations has concentrated its aid to developing countries on “technical assistance”—a term that covers a wide range of activities. Along with help and instruction in particular techniques of industry and other such activities, UN technical assistance has also encompassed help and advice in matters of public administration and the execution of public policy in matters affecting development. Public finance is a field of special importance in this connection, both because of its direct importance to the process of development and because its complexity provides the need and opportunity for international assistance. The process of financing is intimately linked with every single activity in the economy and, therefore, the study of these problems affects every phase of economic development. Moreover, in countries which are still at the early stages of development, public finance must necessarily be used to support a nascent private enterprise sector. There is a need for providing social overhead and a necessity for adjusting the revenue system to the requirements of productive investment without eroding the base to an extent which would make it impossible to mobilize the funds needed for economic expansion.

The Charter of the United Nations does not define the “veto”, and many questions have been raised as to what constitutes a veto. For the purpose of this repertoire it has been established that the veto has been applied if a substantive motion which has received a majority of seven votes has failed of adoption through the negative vote of one or more of the permanent members. Thus only the application of the extraordinary right of a permanent member to overcome a majority (seven) has been considered. Negative votes of permanent members on resolutions which have failed to receive the necessary seven votes have not been listed.

The eleventh session of the General Assembly reconvened, after the Christmas recess, on January 2, 1957. At its 668th meeting on March 8 it adopted by 65 votes to 0 with 6 abstentions a resolution stating that it had completed all the items on the agenda of the eleventh session with the exception of the questions considered by the first and second emergency special sessions. It decided to adjourn temporarily and to authorize the President of the Assembly, in consultation with the Secretary-General and with Member states, to reconvene the General Assembly as necessary in order to consider further those items.

The following summary covers the activities of the Security Council from its 757th meeting on December 19, 1956, through its 775th meeting on March 7, 1957.

The Economic and Social Council resumed its 22d session at UN Headquarters with its 952d meeting on December 17, 1956, and concluded it with the 954th meeting on December 21. The major item on the agenda was the negotiation of an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in connection with which the Council adopted two resolutions. Under the terms of the first, co-sponsored by Canada, Ecuador and Pakistan, the Council, noting that the IFC had entered into force and begun its operations, noting further that the Articles of Agreement of the IFC provided that the Corporation, acting through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, should enter into formal arrangements with the UN, and, considering that the Bank had been authorized by the IFC to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the UN on behalf of the IFC on terms substantially corresponding to the terms of agreement between the UN and Bank, 1) requested the President of the Council to negotiate, with the appropriate authorities of the Bank, and agreement between the IFC and the UN; and 2) further requested that, if possible, the report of those negotiations be submitted for the consideration of the Council at its resumed 22d session, in order to permit the Assembly to approve it during the latter's eleventh session. The second resolution concerning the IFC, also co-sponsored by Canada, Ecuador and Pakistan, was adopted pursuant to a report of the President of the Council on the draft agreement which he had negotiated. Both the draft agreement and the draft resolution recommending its adoption were adopted by 16 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions.

The sixth special session of the Trusteeship Council was held at Headquarters from December 10, 1956, through January 31 1957.

The future of the trust territory of Togoland under French administration: The sixth special session of the Council had been convened at the request of the French government to consider the results of the referendum which had been held in Togoland under French administration on October 28, 1956.

Right of Passage Through Indian Territory (Portugal v. India): On April 15, 1957, the government of India filed with the Court a preliminary objection to the Court's jurisdiction to entertain the application of the government of Portugal. By an order of April 16, President of the Court fixed June 15, 1957, as the time-limit within which the government of Portugal could present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the objection. Meanwhile, proceedings on the merits were suspended.

The 24th session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Rome, June 18–19, 1956 under the chairmanship of S. A. Hasnie. The Council expressed its sorrow at the death of Professor André Mayer, one of the founders of FAO and the head of the French delegation until his death. The Council also accepted the resignation of the Director-General, Dr. P. V. Cardon, and decided to hold a special session of the Conference on September 10, 1956 to appoint a new Director-General as well as to receive a report by the Council concerning the world food and agriculture situation and matters relating to the organization.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development made three loans during the period under review. On December 20, 1956, it was announced that a loan equivalent to $20 million had been made to the Indian Iron and Steel Company, Ltd. (IISCO), a privately-owned indian company, to help finance additional rolling capacity. The First National City Bank of New York, the Irving Trust Company and the Philadelphia National Bank were participating in the loan, without the Bank's guarantee, in the total amount of $1,032,000, representing the first maturity falling due in April 1960. The loan was for a term of eleven years and bore interest of 5 percent including the 1 percent commission charged by the Bank. Amortization was to begin April 15, 1960. The loan, the second to the IISCO, was guaranteed by the government of India and was to be secured by a first mortage and charge upon IISCO's assets under a trust deed.

The 133rd session of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was held in. Geneva from November 20 to 26, 1956, under the chairmanship of Sir Guildhaume Myrddin-Evans (United Kingdom).

The eighteenth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board was held in Geneva from May 28 to 30, 1956. The session was devoted largely to administrative matters. The Board chose for technical discussion at the tenth and eleventh WHO Assemblies, respectively, the subjects, “The Role of the Hospital in the Public-Health Program” and “Health Education of the Public”. The Board noted the reports of the expert committee on maternal and child health, the committee on malaria eradication, and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/WHO joint committee on health policy.

The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organizaton (NATO) met on February 14, 1957, to hear the United Kingdom Permanent Representative, Sir Frank Roberts, discuss the proposed changes in the United Kingdom defense system and the reduction of United Kingdom forces in continental Europe. It was reported that the United Kingdom case was presented in the light of financial and economic difficulties in the United Kingdom. At a Council meeting on February 22, in Paris, General Norstad (Supreme Allied Commander Europe) reportedly expressed concern, not so much at the suggestion of the reduction of United Kingdom forces as at the possible effect of such reduction on other NATO members. Opposition to the United Kingdom plan was reported to have existed at the Council's subsequent closed meetings, ending without agreement on March 13. It was reported on March 19 that the United Kingdom would defer the major share of the cuts until the Council, at the request of the Western European Union, could study the proposals and review the military resources of NATO.

The sixteenth session of the South Pacific Commission was held at headquarters in Nouméa from October 18 to November 8, 1956, under the chairmanship of His Excellency N. A. J. de Voogd, Senior Commissioner for the Netherlands. For the first time at a Commission session a memaber of a Pacific islands race, Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Ratu Edward Cakobau, O.B.E., M.C., Alternate Commissioner on the United Kingdom delegation, represented a participating government. The Commission, after reviewing arrangements for holding courses to train Pacific islanders in assisting themselves, approved plans for the South Pacific Fisheries Training Course, held at the Commission headquarters, November 19, 1956, to February 22, 1957, and a similar course in health education for about forty trainees in 1957 in cooperation with the World Health Organization. The Commission authorized continuation of the following programs: 1) entomological research in the campaign against the rhinoceros beetle; 2 development of fish farming and pond stocking; 3) field research and advice on mosquito control problems and mosquitoborne diseases; 4) the nutrition study, for which a basic survey of food habits and nutritional status was conducted in Papua, New Guinea, and Netherlands New Guinea in 1956; 5) assistance in the establishment of libraries, literature committees, and book shops by the Commission's Literature Bureau, which had stimulated the production of books, pamphlets, filmstrips, posters, leaflets, and flannelgraphs for the islanders during the previous two years; and 6) stimulation of interest in the formation and conduct of cooperative enterprises, the preparation of practical manuals on cooperation, and the planning of a technical meeting on cooperatives to be held in 1958.

The eighth meeting of the Consultative Committee on Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia (Colombo Plan) was held in Wellington, New Zealand from December 4 to 8, 1956. The committee noted the progress reported by the United States on a proposal for a regional nuclear center in Manila, for which the United States was prepared to contribute approximately $20 million. The Canadian delegate announced an increase to $34.4 million in the Canadian contribution to the Colombo Plan. Canada also reported on progress in the construction of the Canada-India reactor being established at the Indian Atomic Energy Research Center near Bombay. A communique issued at the end of the meeting stated that during the previous year, a turning point in the progress of the Asian members of the Colombo Plan, many countries had formulated new or renewed national plans and had given continuing attention to improving the planning and execution of their public investment projects. It was reported that the greater part of the cost of development in the public sector was being provided through the efforts of the people of the area, and that, in addition to governmental development projects, private investment was making an important contribution, especially in agriculture and small-scale industries. The report, observing that one of the main obstacles to progress under the Colombo Plan was the lack of skilled personnel, stressed the need for training students in the more developed countries of the area and for sending experts to the area.

The Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) held an extraordinary session at Strasbourg from November 27 to 30, 1956. It elected as its President, Mr. Hans Furler (German Federal Republic, Ohristian Democrat) and the following Vice-Presidents: Messrs. Jean Fohrmann (Luxembourg, Socialist), Roger Motz (Belgium, Liberal), G. Vixseboxse (Netherlands, Historical Christian), Emile Vanrullen (France, Socialist) and Emilio Battista (Italy, Ohristian Democrat). The Assembly discussed four reports. The first dealt with the crisis in the coal market, and pointed out that one of the causes for the crisis was the exceptional cold the preced-ing winter which had led to heavy drawing on stocks and the oil shortage. Under its Treaty, the ECSC had the duty of seeing that adequate supplies reached its members, but the High Authority had not been given many means of ensuring this. The report recommended that the High Authority, in collaboration with the Assembly's Committee on the common market, take up a number of specific questions relative to coal, preferably in the framework of a special conference along the lines of that set up to study security in the mines. The questions included 1) the coordination of measures proposed within each member country, 2) steps to increase production and to bring about economies in the use of coal and coke, and 3) questions of delivery and the import of coal from the United States. The other three reports dealt with 1) the creation, functions and composition of one or more joint committees (“commissions paritaires”) within the framework of the Community, 2) the social aspects of the proposed common market, and 3) security and rescue systems in the mines of the Community.

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) held its fifth session in Geneva, October I–10, 1956; prior to the session the nine-nation Executive Committee held a private session beginning on September 20. After adopting the Director's progress report, a final 1956 movement program of 126,160 Europeans, and a budget of $44.5 million, the Council approved the 1957 plan for resettlement of 122,000 European migrants at a cost of nearly $44 million. Delegates from ten nations pledged contributions amounting to $680,680 for a special fund of nearly $1 million established by the Council for assistance to refugees and migration services. The ICEM Director, Harold H. Tittmann, reported the decline in 1956 of movements to Latin America, and suggested the possibility of increased migration to Colombia, which had accepted relatively few European migrants. A United States delegate (Walter) announced that the United States was prepared to allocate part of its $15 million Latin American Development Fund to promote land settlement programs in Latin America. He stated that the United States could not originate such programs, but required a Latin American nation to make land available for resettlement of migrants and a migrant-sending European nation to contribute its share of financial and economic assistance. In accordance with the United States offer the Argentine delegate said his government would set aside 70 plots of land to assist immigrants in the Melchior Romero colony near Buenos Aires. In addition, 23,000 hectares of land owned by the Banco de la Naoion and located in various parts of the country would be earmarked for other projects.