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AD HOC COMMITTEE ON PALESTINE A note on the discussions of this Committee will be found in the portion of the Middle East section of this report which deals with Palestine. (B) Interim Committee of the General Assembly (" Little Assembly ") The Charter of the United Nations charges the Security Council with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. But the Charter also gives to the General Assembly a definite, though secondary, responsibility in this field and, in addition, charges it with certain other political functions. Various specialized agencies, like the Economic and Social Council, have been established to assist the Assembly to discharge in detail the non-political responsibilities given to it in the Charter. Its important political and security functions, however, were left to be dealt with only once a year at the Assembly's regular sessions ; and in these crowded sessions there has been an inevitable tendency merely to skim over such complicated questions. Had the Security Council worked in the way envisaged by those who framed the Charter at San Francisco, standing Assembly to deal with political and security measures might not have been needed. The negative results of the Security Council's work, however, convinced many States that the Assembly should play a more positive part in these fields. The United States delegate, Mr. Marshall, therefore met with considerable support when, at the opening of the Assembly's second regular session, he proposed the establishment of a Standing Committee of the General Assembly. The New Zealand delegate supported the proposal, stating, inter alia, that it was not only the right but the duty of the Assembly to take into account the paralysis induced in the Security Council by the use of the veto. From the United States proposals and a number of alternative proposals and amendments a compromise resolution was evolved which was adopted by 43 votes to 6 (the Slav States) with 6 abstentions (the Arab States). This resolution provided for an Interim Committee of the General Assembly having six functions : (1) to consider and report to the Assembly on matters which might from time to time be referred to it by the Assembly. Later the Interim Committee was asked to study the veto and to consult, if necessary, with the Assembly's Commission on Korea; (2) to consider and report to the Assembly on questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, provided the Assembly was itself empowered to consider them, and provided that the Committee first determined them to be both important and requiring further study;