Speech #860014702

report of October 19. 1950. admitted: "There is reason to believe that births are always registered for ration purposes. but deaths are often. if not usually. concealed so that the family may continue to collect rations for the deceased." At one time the refugees were offered a burial bonus of $14. but this sum was weighed against the advantages of keeping their deceased on the ration rolls and the offer found no takers. A ration card is too precious an asset to be surrendered. Its holders. as Time magazine put it. "gradually found themselves better off materially than they had been at home: they have a higher daily calorie ratien (15001600) than some of the fellahin in Nassers Egypt. better health and sanitation services than they had ever known in Palestine." There is a thriving black market in ration cards. and in oil. sugar. flour. and clothing rations. Ration cards have thus been accumulating incessantly. with relief rolls swelling accordingly. And since every ration card is supposed to stand for an Arab refugee. the inflated figures of alleged registered refugees have been mounting from year to year. unchecked and unverified. The Clapp Mission estimated that in the third quarter of 1950 about 492.000 relief rations would be needed monthly. but when UNWRA took over its field of duties on May 1. 1950. it distributed more than 860.000 rationsan increase of 75 percent over the Clapp estimates. By the end of 1950. there were already 960.000 refugees on the agencys roll. During the following 3 years (195153) sizable deletions from ration rolls were made. and in 1953 the total was reduced to 871.748. But soon thereafter the total again began to swell. and by the end of 1957 the number of registered refugees rose to 1.037.821an average yearly increase of 41.000. These numerical ups and downs testify to a complete absence of any reliable system of control for counting the refugee mass. The UNWRA personnel in charge of the camps are not at all eager to check the rolls scrupulously. It is little know that UNWRA field workers in the camps. on whose reports the agencys leadership are fully dependent. are almost to a man themselves Palestinian refugees. They are the least likely to care for the accuracy of the relief count. and prefer to keep the camps hermetically sealed to any outside control. Not all refugees. however. live in the camps. Hundreds of thousands who are classified as refugees and receive relief live elsewhere. in cities and villages. In Jordan. this outside category even constitutes an overwhelming majority357.000 as against some 177.000 living in 25 camps. Many among them have in the meantime established themselves in business or trade. in government service. and have grown quite prosperous. But they jealously hold on to their ration cards and their refugee status. Recent reports relate that thousands of welltodo familiesmerchants. artisans. civil servants. members of liberal professionswere sending their domestic servants once a month to relief stores to collect their rations. This state of affairs makes no sense and should not be allowed to continue. The international community. which in the last ten years has spent $300 million for Arab refugee relief. is entitled to know the exact number of genuine. not faked. Arab refugees. The prerequisite for a realistic approach to. and solution of. their problem is a general census of the refugees. both inside and outside the camps. The falsely magnified figures frustrate any sober discussion. It is therefore to be hoped that the Secretary General of the United Nations will earnestly look into this technical aspect. and that his investigation will lead to a census of the Arab refugees. PeopletoPeople Contacts To Promote International Understanding