Speech #900178337

The other 15 percent of the administrations estimate would be used for meeting the U.S. share of the cost of maintaining during the first 5 months of 1967 and then repatriating the U.N. Emergency Force. and of the activities of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in caring for both the refugees of the 1948 conflict and the new refugees created by hostilities in the Middle East last June. In view of adamant opposition by the U.S.S.R. and other states to the role of the U.N. as an effective peacekeeper. U.N. peacekeeping operations in recent years have been financed by the contributions of those countries which voluntarily support them. If the United States does not pay its share of the costs of the last phase of the U.N. Emergency Force. and of possible subsequent peacekeeping operations in the Middle East. the effect would be to hamper U.N. efforts to stabilize conditions in the area and to compound the financial problems of the United Nations. If the United States were to reduce its contribution to UNRWA below the level of previous years. that organization would be forced to reduce its services to refugees. old and new. at a time when tension continues at a high level in the Middle East. Mr. President.