Speech #910310453

President. the United States has been the main contributor to the United Nations Relief and Works AgencyUNRWA. the Agency would not have been able to function without the generosity and concern of the American people. It was hoped that through economic and technical assistance. UNRWA would conduct a selfliquidating program for the Arab refugees. But from the very beginning the Arab States refused to cooperate with any program calling for resettlement. claiming that any settlement of the refugee problem that did not involve the liquidation of Israel was an act of treason. Instead they insisted that the refugees must be repatriated to Israel. International programs for integration and resettlement. first projected in the early 1950s. were brushed aside. And so. over the years. the United Nations became an instrument for preservation of the Arab refugees in the UNRWA centers. as well as the political instrument for the advocacy of the Arab demand for repatriation. The existence of UNRWA liberated the Arab governments from responsibility. they were under no compulsion to put up large sums for the care of the refugees and they could ignore programs for resettlement. Indeed. the fact that the international community and the United States were assuming the primary burden was interpreted by the Arab governments as an admission of guilt by the West for the plight of the refugees and an acceptance of the responsibility for reparations. For some two decades the Arab refugees were held as hostages to the political and propaganda campaigns waged by the Arab governments against Israel. This campaign was always paralleled by military appropriations by the Arab governments in contemplation of a renewed war against Israel. During this period in fact. there were three wars: in 1948. 1956. and 1967. In recent years the Arab leadership came to regard the Palestinians not merely as propaganda instruments but as human instruments of war. Beginning in 1965. active measures were taken by the refugee leaders to train them for military action. Refugees were frequently involved in terrorist attacks against Israel. but Zor the most part these were isolated and did not involve paramilitary organizations. In 1965 the international community began to take note of the fact that refugees were receiving military training to make war against Israel. Thus. on April 23. 1965. Arab authorities issued a decree calling up all ablebodied men in the Gaza strip for military service and it was revealed that a substantial number of the Palestinians from Gaza were in military training under the auspices of the Palestine Liberation Organization. During this period Members of Congress questioned the failure of UNRWA to rectify its relief rolls and to eliminate from the list thousands who had died or who had gone to work and who were no longer eligible for relief. For years UNRWA was unable to do this because of the opposition of the Arab States. But now a much more serious problem has arisen. because UNRWA is providing rations for refugees who are being trained for war against a member state of the United Nations. Mr. President. in 1966. the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee adopted the following wording to its Foreign Assistance Authorization Report: No further U.S. contribution shall be made to UNRWA except on the condition that the Agency take all possible measures to assure that no part of the U.S. contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving training as a member of the socalled Palestine Liberation Organization. The committee is firmly of the opinion that U.S. voluntary contributions should not be used to provide support. either directly or Indirectly. to an organization whose avowed goal of prompting aggression is directly in conflict with our efforts to preserve peace and order in the Middle East region. It is my hope that such wording as adopted 4 years ago is similar to the intent of Congress in its consideration of the foreign aid appropriations bill today.