Speech #890119771

Mr. Speaker. I submit that all of this is a callous effort to play on the emotions and hopes of these refugees. rather than a sincere attempt to clarify the problem and point a way toward its positive solution. If the Arabs had not gone to war. the refugees would be living In the independent Arab State or in Israel. where. it is to be noted. some 250.000 Israeli Arabs live peacefully today. It is the Arab refusal to make peace with Israel which needlessly and cruelly prolongs the refugees plight. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that there would not be a single Arab refugee today if the Arabs had accepted the 1947 United Nations partition plan. The Arab States unanimously agreed upon that policy. and they must share in the solution of the problem. It was In 1947/.that the Arab Higher Committee. led by the exMufti. declared a holy war against the Jewish community of Palestine and called on the Arab population to leave their homes. thus clearinga path for the Arab armies. Their leaders promised that they would soon return to enjoy the spoils of victory. Despite the historical record. the Arabs now insist that the refugees were expelled from Israel. and they demand their repatriation. They speak of the "right of the refugees to return to Israel." This claim to the "right to return" is based on a deliberate misreading of a United Nations resolution. The United Nations created a Palestine Conciliation Commission on December 11. 1948consisting of France. Turkey. and the United Statesto negotiate an ArabIsrael peace settlement. Paragraph 5 of the resolution called for "negotiations conducted either with the Conciliation Commission or directly. with a view to the final settlement of all questions outstanding" between Israel and the Arab States. The same resolution. in an attempt to win Arab support. in paragraph 11. declared thatThe refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practical date. and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return. The General Assembly further instructed the Conciliation Commission to "facilitate the repatriation. resettlement. and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation." The Arabs Immediately seized on paragraph 11 to back up their claim of an unconditional right to return. Conveniently ignoring their vote against the 1948 resolution and overlooking paragraph 5. which calls for negotiations. they completely close their eyes to the section which offers resettlement as an alternative to repatriation. and they totally disregard the clause which makes the return of the refugees conditional on their willingness to live in peace. On September 1. 1961. President Nasser stated: If the Arabs return to Israel. Israel will cease to exist. In their attempt to exploit the refugees. the Arabs capitalize on the compassion which the refugees plight arouses. and they conjure up an imaginary figure of nearly 1.300.000 helpless individuals who are dependent upon charity and relief. But Mr. Speaker. what are the facts? At the time of partition. some 750.000 Arabs lived in what is now Israel. Despite the mass exodus. about 160.000 remained in Israel. Therefore. the total number of bona fide refugees could not have exceeded 600.000. Therefore. the figure of over a million refugees Is pure invention. not supported by any authoritative study. including the reports of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. which Is responsible for caring for these refugees. But where do the rest come from? The Arabs seem to exercise some mysterious control over the elementary facts of life. Some of the Arab refugees are selfappointed. others are immortal. At first. there were a substantial number of Arabs who. even when the fighting ended in 1948. were living in Arab territory occupied by Jordan and who claimed the right to United Nations relief because they were rendered indigent by the war. They were given the status of refugees. although many had never lived in Israel. Second. padding the United Nations rolls has been notoriously common. In 1962. Harlan Cleveland. former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that in Jordan alone. of the 430.000 refugees receiving United Nations rations. 140.000 were illegal ration card holders. Senator ALBERT GORE described the situation as follows: They rent the cards like vacant houses. They mortgage them and put them up as collateral and sell them. Some of the moneylenders have hundreds and they regularly collect money for flour or food with runners and then sell it. Moreover. while refugee births are eagerly announced. refugee deaths are concealed so that the family may continue to use the deceaseds card. And third. the birth rate is high. In the 14 years from July 1950 to June 1964. the number of newborn refugee children totaled 473.113. Nearly 50.000 babies are born each year. And finally. while almost 20 percent of the refugees have been resettled in Arab countries. they are still included In the total number of refugees cited by the Arabs. In reality. of the 1.3 million alleged refugees. almost half are under the age of 15 and have never lived in Palestine. Only about onethird actually came out of Israel and out of those. virtually all left before the state was established. They never were citizens of Israel and have no allegiance to it. In comparison. since 1948 Israel has absorbed roughly 1 million Jewish immigrants. many of whom are people who suffered terrible persecution under Hitler and who could not return to a normal life in Europe. To accept back large numbers of Palestinian Arabswho would return believing that their old way of life was given back to themwould cause insoluble problems because they would find themselves in a modem state with a highly competitive economy. and they would present to this 16yearold state. problems of providing them with a life and a livelihood. But. unfortunately. numerical logic does not solve the problem. Words are not enough. Action is needed. In order to provide these refugees with food and welfare assistance and carry out work projects designed to promote the "integration of the refugees into the economic life of the Near East." the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was created in 1949. A number of programs were proposed. and a $200 million rehabilitation fund established. but the Arab governments rejected the projects for political reasons. Instead of being a temporary agency. the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has become institutionalized with a staff of 14.000 persons. It is interesting to note that recently United Nations Relief and Works Agency employees have threatened to strike. demanding higher pay. despite its deficit of $2 million last year and an expected deficit of $3 million next year. The American people and Members of Congress seem to be becoming discontented over the prospect of carrying the seemingly unending burden of supporting the refugees. Last week the House passed the Foreign Aid Authorization Act. In its report on that bill the Foreign Affairs Committee stated: For a number of years this committee has urged that greater effort be exerted to reduce the relief rolls of Palestine refugees. and to promote the absorption of these people into the normal economic life of the Near East region. Unfortunately. very little progress has been made in that direction to date. The number of ration recipients is higher today than it was 4 years ago.