Speech #890119771

As a result. the committee proposed and Congress approved an $800.000 cut. in addition to the administrations cut of $1 million in the U.S. contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The committee stated that the reduction was aimed at "greater progress" in "phasing out this program." Arab response was immediate. In an editorial. on August 10. the Beirut Daily Star warned thatIf the livelihood of the Palestine refugee is threatened. this will affect peace and stability in the Middle East. * * * As long as the United Nations is unable to convince. if not force Israel to abide by its resolutions to repatriate or compensate the Palestine refugees. then It cannot just wash Its hands of this humanitarian issue. Mr. Speaker. there is no justification for the United States to continue to supply the United Nations Relief and Works Agency with 70 percent of its budget. The problem is not one for the United States alone. This is an ideal time to take concrete steps to solve the problem of the Arab refugee. The solution is one which has been proposed by numerous congressional committees and endorsed by the Democratic Party platforms of 1956. 1960. and 1964. It is the resettlement of the refugees in the Arab lands where there is room and opportunity for them. I believe that the best way to accomplish this goal would be through the establishment of an international committee. by the United Nations. to supervise the gradual transfer of United Nations Relief and Works Agencys activities to the Arab governments. The committee would. at the same time. work out an overall program for the economic development of the Near East. harnessed to the resettlement of the refugees. The plan is not a new one. In 1959. former Under Secretary of State C. Douglas Dillon told Congress that the United States wanted action which "would put a greater measure of the responsibility. if not the whole responsibility. for actual administration ofthese programs on countries where the refugees are presently placed. with the United Nations. which seems to be the appropriate agency. carrying the burden of trying to collect and audit the funds necessary. but forcing these countries to face up more directly themselves to the problem of administering this solution." In the same year. United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold reported that the refugees could indeed be integrated into the economy of the Near East. He said: The unemployed population represented by the Palestine refugees should be regarded not as a liability. but more justly as an asset for the future. It is a reservoir of manpower which. in the desirable general economic development will assist in the creation of higher standards for the whole population of the area. Mr. Hammarskjolds report emphasized that as the Near East developed. the PalestineArab refugees who lived in the area would gradually find work and would be integrated into the economies of the Arab states. As we know. the Arab governments attacked the Hammarskjold plan because it interfered with their propaganda demand for repatriation. It seems to me that we must now go back to the Hammarskjold concept with its emphasis on work. development. and resettlement. If we are to continue to vote large sums for the Arab refugees. let these moneys not be wasted on refugees who are already partially absorbed. or who are dead. or on those who are being conscripted to fight in a Palestine liberation war. Let this money be used for economic development. tied to employment of the Arab refugees. I know that there will be resistance from the Arab States if we pursue such a program. but it seems to me that the leverage is in our hands. May I remind you that it is deplorable that past emphasis has been on relief and not on work.