Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Arab-Israeli Dispute; United Arab Republic; North Africa, Volume XIII

171. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, October 5, 1960, Noon¹

Washington, October 5, 1960, Noon

SUBJECT

• Palestine Refugees

PARTICIPANTS

• The Acting Secretary (Mr. Dillon)
• Dr. John H. Davis, Director, UNRWA
• IO—Acting Assistant Secretary Wallner
• NE—Armin H. Meyer
• UMSC—Robert T. Bruskin
• UNP—Stephen E. Palmer, Jr.

Acting Secretary Dillon said he had read memoranda of the conversations Assistant Secretaries Wilcox and Jones had recently with Dr. Davis,² and commended the latter’s interest in expanding UNRWA’s vocational training program. He expressed the hope that implementation of the Director’s program would contribute to a solution to the refugee problem, or at least would prevent the situation from worsening. Dr. Davis said that his proposed program was a relatively inexpensive way to obtain some progress. The Acting Secretary said that he was not as pessimistic as some others about probable Congressional reaction to requests for adequate contributions to UNRWA, provided it were made clear to Congress that the program contained elements which would in effect lead to the resettlement of the refugees involved. Of course, this aim could not be so described in the Arab host countries.

Dr. Davis summarized the discussions at the last two meetings of the Agency’s Advisory Commission in Beirut. He noted that the Arab representatives on ADCOM had specifically endorsed his proposals for an expanded vocational training program.

The Acting Secretary expressed satisfaction that some progress had been made on the rectification of the relief rolls, and that according to his information progress was continuing. He described the serious difficulties the Administration had with the Congress on the matter of rectification. Dr. Davis outlined the three-step program for rectification that had been agreed to by Jordan’s Prime Minister Majali shortly before the latter’s assassination³—a) checking UNRWA rolls against official Jordanian death rolls, b) seizing illegally held ration cards and c) conducting a pilot project involving the issuance of ration cards to children and the revalidation of other cards in one camp. He stressed that the GOJ was not in principle opposed to rectification. Rather, the problem lay in the refugees’ lack of confidence in UNRWA motives. The refugees suspect that and giving up of rations, and particularly of ration cards, would somehow affect their rights to eventual repatriation or compensation under Paragraph 11 of GA Resolution 194(III).⁴ Dr. Davis said that he was in favor of moving as rapidly as possible to rectify the rolls, but not so fast that the rectification process would generate serious instability, for such a development could only impede efforts to reach agreement on the basic refugee problem itself. The Acting Secretary said that if real progress could be shown on rectification, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee probably would go along with future contributions to UNRWA.

The Acting Secretary asked, in connection with what Dr. Davis said, about the possibility of the issuance of separate identification cards to the refugees. Would not this aid in the rectification progress? Dr. Davis replied that he was very much in favor of the issuance of separate ID cards, and that he thought that this could be undertaken by the Palestine Conciliation Commission. Mr. Meyer said that we were presently considering what agency or agencies might best undertake this task and that in carrying out the task substantial cooperation from the host governments and UNRWA would be desirable. The Acting Secretary suggested that the PCC might at least initiate the project.

The Acting Secretary said that the USG was fully aware of the grave alternatives which might result were outside aid to the Palestine refugees suddenly stopped. However, UNRWA must be operated so as to stimulate the resettlement of the refugees in every way possible. He hoped that Dr. Davis would keep in mind the necessity for UNRWA to help to develop the preconditions for resettlement. He was gratified that the vocational training program fitted into this concept.

After describing some personnel reforms he had made in UNRWA’s Jordan staff, Dr. Davis developed his views on the problem of the “unemployability” of some of the refugees. He said that at least one half of the refugees over 25 years of age are likely to be charity cases for life. Each year about 15,000 male refugee youths mature. About 20% of these boys would be afforded some technical skill under the proposed vocational training expansion. In outlining his budgetary plans for the next three years, Dr. Davis said that expenditures for housing would not increase, and that the Agency’s school expansion program was almost complete. It was only in vocational training that significant expansion was needed. This was the minimum that could be done to provide stability and to promote economic progress in the area.

In the course of a discussion on the general economic development of the Near East, Dr. Davis said that UNRWA should not become involved in any specific development project, for the Agency’s participation renders such projects objectionable to the Arabs. When the Acting Secretary asked for the Director’s views on the possibilities for creating jobs in Iraq for the refugees, Dr. Davis said that at their present rate of development Iraq and the other countries in the area could probably employ all of the vocationally trained refugees the Agency could provide in the foreseeable future. However, neither Iraq nor Syria needed any more unskilled agricultural laborers, and that is what most of the refugees are. He said that if a large scale development project were undertaken on a crash basis in Iraq, presumably some refugees could be absorbed along with numbers of Iraqi citizens who would have first claim to the benefits of such development. The Acting Secretary observed that the prospects for Jordan to absorb permanently a large block of refugees did not appear to be good. Dr. Davis agreed, and said that at least one half of all of the Palestine refugees would have to move across an international frontier in order to find employment.

Dr. Davis said that on October 4 he had a talk with Ambassador Comay, the Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN. Comay told him that the GOI favored UNRWA’s plans to expand its vocational training program. Comay wondered how Israel perhaps could some way contribute financially to these programs. The Acting Secretary indicated his appreciation of the extreme delicacy of this matter. Mr. Meyer noted that we held considerable amounts of Israeli currency under the PL 480 program, but that we were considering the possibility of having some of these funds put into a reserve for eventual use in a compensation scheme. Dr. Davis said he had told Comay that the question of a possible Israeli contribution might best be deferred for awhile.

There followed another discussion of the Agency’s budgetary requirements, particularly regarding some $2.5 million which Dr. Davis has been able to obtain from other countries under the World Refugee Year program for his $4 million vocational training expansion plan. Dr. Davis said that he would need about $1,000,000 additional from U.S. sources to insure that the expansion of the vocational training program get off to a good start. Mr. Meyer asked if UNRWA could effectively utilize local currencies in expanding its training facilities. Dr. Davis answered affirmatively. Dr. Davis said that, in order to budget effectively, he would have to know fairly soon whether or not additional support from the USG might be forthcoming. The Acting Secretary replied that he saw no reason why we should not ask Congress for additional funds to be utilized in vocational training expansion. He suggested that while in New York Dr. Davis might do well to contact Senators Aiken and Morse, who are on the U.S. delegation, so that these members of the Foreign Relations Committee would properly appreciate the complexities of the Palestine refugee situation. Upon taking leave, Dr. Davis left a memorandum outlining his conception of the role on UNRWA. This memorandum is attached.⁵

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 325.84/10–560. Confidential. Drafted by Palmer and approved in U on October 13. A briefing paper for the meeting, October 4, is ibid., 325.84/10–460.
2. Memoranda of the conversations with Wilcox on September 13 and Jones on September 14 are ibid., 325.84/9–1360 and 325.84/9–1460, respectively.
3. Majali was assassinated on August 29.
4. For text, see U.N. Doc. A/810, pp. 21–25.
5. Not printed.