Speech #870107299

President. in the past few weeks we have heard and read a great deal about the administrations foreignaid bill. I should like to comment on a section of the billattention to which has not been directedsection 301(c) authorizes the President "to make voluntary contributions on a grant basis to international organizations and programs administered by such organizations on such terms and conditions as he may determine * * *" and authorizes our Governments contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works AgencyUNRWA. This Agency is concerned with relief and assistance to the more than 1 million Palestinian refugees scattered in Jordan. the Syrian region of the United Arab Republic. Lebanon. and the Gaza strip. "Strangers and afraid in a world they never made"-this describes the tragic plight of these Arab refugees. The general circumstances attending the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem are well known. In 1947. the General Assembly of the United Nations took action which partitioned Palestine. then governed by Great Britain under a League of Nations mandate. and created the independent Republic of Israel. The Republic of Israel was officially proclaimed with the withdrawal of British troops from the area in May 1948. The new state was promptly recognized by the United States. the Soviet Union. and other world powers. but was bitterly opposed by the adjoining Arab States. In the military conflict which followed. most of the Arab population left Israel. and have since lived as refugees in surrounding Arab countries. Our concern today is with this displaced population of more than 1 million persons which makes the Middle East one of the worlds largest repositories of refugees. It is also one of the most sensitive political areas of the world. Though the solution to the refugee problem lies within the Middle East. the political situation which produced it has bedeviled international relations since the end of World War II. For the most part the Arab refugees are innocent victims of political. ideological. cultural. social. and economic forces in the regionforces presently charged with large doses of emotionalism. irrationalism. and understandable national aspirations. Though these forces will ultimately be the agents of progress and change which bring to the area. as a whole. a fuller and richer life. for the moment these forces are contributing to the deadlock in a solution to the refugee problem. Added to this is the fact. recently pointed out by Dr. John H. Davis. Director of UNRWA. that the refugee problem is growing rather than diminishing. inasmuch "as the birth rate continues to exceed the combined death rate and the rate at which persons become selfsupporting." Today there are nearly 200.000 more persons dependent upon UNRWA than there were when the Agency began operations in 1951. The most tragic aspect of this development is that an increasing number of the Arab refugees are not only unemployed but are unemployable. primarily because they lack the skills and training for todays jobs. Particularly handicapped in this respect are the young people who have grown to adulthood as refugees. During the 10 years of UNRWA operations there simply have been no funds for other than purely custodial carethe minimal provision of food. clothing. and shelter. Until World Refugee Year and the additional contributions then made available. almost nothing had been done to provide education and vocational training. Great stress is now being placed by UNRWA on its educational and training tasks among the very large segment of young refugees just reaching maturity. Tremendous and rewarding efforts have already been made by UNRWA in this field. But the task is great and will not be carried forward unless funds are available on a continuing basis. Current plans through June 30. 1963. call for a fivefold increase in vocational training opportunities. a 100percent increase of university scholarships for entering students. an increase. commensurate with available funds. in the individual grants and loans program for those persons who possess a skill but do not have sufficient funds to make a start on their own. and finally. an improvement in the standards of basic elementary and secondary education. and an expansion of the enrollment capacity which will be in harmony with that of the host country. A sobering fact which makes the implementation of the UNRWA program mandatory. is that half of the million refugees registered with UNRWA are 16 years of age or under. These refugee youth. Mr. President. are above all yearning to cease being refugees. simply because they are human beings. individual persons possessing hopes and aspirations common to all peoples throughout the world. This uprooted youthful throng must not be underestimated in the impact on the Middle Eastern community. Such a throng is a potential prey to agitators. and. as an early report of UNRWA indicated. rich and tempting soil for exploitation by those with other motives than the welfare of the refugeeand I would add. the stability of the Middle East. The question of a solution to the Arab refugee problem is frequently posed. and in the last decade a number of solutions have been suggested by interested persons. governments. and international organizations. But. Mr.