Mr. President. whoever tries to understand the Palestinian refugee problem reaches for the true nature of tragedy. For 20 years a just resolution of this problem has defied the best efforts of the United Nations as well as the individual efforts of many nations. including the United States. Indeed. we have only to consider what has been the result of these 20 years of concern: during the ArabIsrael conflict which followed the partition of the Palestine Mandate in 1948. an estimated 750.000 Arabs fled from their homes in Palestine and took refuge in Jordan. Syria. Lebanon. and a small enclave of 140 square miles of barrenness known as the Gaza strip. Today. after 20 years of dedicated effort by the United Nations Relief and Works AgencyUNRWAand the investment of over $400 million by the United States alone. the central facts are these: the original 750.000 Arab refugees now number 1.3 million. with over 720.000 in Jordan and almost 400.000 in Gaza. in addition. 40.000 new refugee children are born each year. over onehalf the total number of refugees are under the age of 20. the refugee birth rate is one of the highest. if not the very highest. in the world today. one quarter of a million Arab children are now awaiting a place on the relief rolls. These statistics are sobering and shocking. but the condition of these people is even more disturbing. The refugees themselves remain barely preserved from starvation by the United Nations. UNRWA. the United Nations relief organization. is only able to provide each refugee with $14 worth of food per year. approximately 4 cents a day. From my own observationboth in 1959 and now again from a visit from which I returned yesterdaythese- tragic people are hungry. miserable. embittered and impoverished. burdened with unwanted and uncared for children. numb and generally impassive. yet vulnerable to fanatical hate stimulated by those who hope for -a triumphal return to a Palestine cleansed of Jews. Desperation has bred disillusion. misery has spawned hatred. and years of idleness and want have withered pride in labor.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees