Speech #940114232

The suggestion is made that what is really involved here is the very broad question of U.S. policy with respect to the sale or grant of arms to other foreign countries. such broad principles as the matter of the enforcement by the executive branch of the laws of our country. that those principles are going to be completely subverted if we adopt this legislation. I will take issue with that analysis of the problem. I would suggest that there is a -more immediate concern to which We are directing our attention in the adoption of this bill. and that is -the concern that we feel in our hearts for the 180.000 or more Cypriot refugees who have been driven from their homes because of this tragic Intercommunal or civil conflict. I would suggest that if we really want to do something for those people. for those refugees. that we ought to adopt this legislation today. When we look at the Middle East today. what is the problem there that for more than a quarter of a century has continued to fester and break out once. twice. three timees. in tragic war? It has been the problem of the Palestinian refugees. has it not? The problem of hundreds of thousands of people who were driven from their homes. and because we have not had a political or judicial settlement of the issues involving those refugees. they continue to keep the threat of war hanging over the Middle East even today. I would suggest that unless we can do something to solve the problem of the refugees on Cyprus. unless we can have a political settlement of that dispute. we are going to continue to have the threat of war hanging over that unhappy island. This bill. in my judgment. in my humble opinion. at least moves us off the position of total impasse where we stand today. The suggestion has been that some of us supporting this legislation are not really interested in the plight of the refugees. that the U.S. Government has been less than concerned about these people driven from -their homes. I think the facts belle any such charges. This country was one of the very few countries to respond to the worldwide appeal that was made by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the International Committee for the Red Cross last summer. We have donated in the last fiscal year. the one ended June 30. $36 million for the assistance of these people. We have requested an additional $25 million in the fiscal year 1976 to finance the U.S. support for Cyprus. $15 m== of that to cover some of the relief activities. the cost of the U.S. support of the relief activities.