Speech #850012511

figure of 215.000 refugees is therefore undoubtedly highly inflated. Israeli authorities are now checking it very carefully. The estimates are that the actual number does not in fact exceed 125.000. The checking period is bound to be a long and exacting procedure. during which the refugees will have to remain in the camps under Israeli guardianship and to possess abundant time for mediation about their future. There is every reason to think that during this time many of them are likely to reconsider their 8yearlong uncompromising insistence on repatriation to and resettlement in Israel. This insistence was largely the result of systematic brainwashing by the Egyptian authorities who had been cultivating the belief that very soon Israel will. be wiped out and the refugees will return as masters to their former lands and homes. This belief has now been irreparably shaken. Faced with the alternative of a long wait in the camps or acceptance of compensation and resettlement in other countries. many are likely not to be attracted by the prospect of further camp existence and the uncertainty of the ultimate outcome. C. L. Sulzberger. the roving chief correspondent of the New York Times. wrote after a visit to the Middle East in October 1955 that. according to "expert assurances no more than 50.000 refugees would come back." A trend to emigration manifested itself already long ago. But the Egyptian authorities had already in 1951 placed a virtual veto on moving the refugees from the Gaza strip.