Office of the Historian

501.MA Palestine/11–149

Memorandum by the Acting Secretary of State to the President

Washington, November 1, 1949.

Subject: Payment of United States Contribution to United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees

1.
Public Law 25, 81st Congress, a Joint Resolution of March 24, 1949, authorized the appropriation of funds not to exceed $16,000,000 for the relief of Palestine refugees, in response to the message submitted by you to the Congress on January 27, 1949. Public Law 119, 81st Congress, appropriated to the President $12,000,000 for the relief of Palestine refugees, and an additional $4,000,000 for the same purpose, “to such extent as the President from time to time finds that other nations party to such United Nations agreement have met their obligations to the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees…”.1
2.
The amount of $13,377,930 has already been paid to the United Nations, $1,377,930 of which was paid as a result of your finding of August 10, 19492 that other nations party to the United Nations agreement had met their obligations to the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees in the form and to the extent of contributions in the amount of $13,377,930.
3.
The Secretary General of the United Nations has now informed the Secretary of State3 that “the total contributions in cash, kind or [Page 1461] services donated by Governments other than that of the United States, as of September 15, 1949, amount to $15,759,745.” This figure exceeds by $2,381,815 the United States contribution to date. In view of this information, he requests that the United States Government make an additional contribution of $2,000,000 at this time, and states that he will submit a final statement in respect to the balance of the authorized United States contribution within the next two months.
4.
The Department of State believes that the statement of the Secretary General is justification for a favorable finding by the President. The Department, therefore, recommends that the President find that, as of September 15, 1949, other nations party to the United Nations agreement have met their obligations to the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees in a manner and to an extent warranting a further contribution of $2,000,000 at this time by the United States Government, and that the President authorize the payment of a contribution of $2,000,000 as an addition to the payments of $13,377,930 previously made. A finding in respect to the balance of the authorized United States contribution will be requested later.4
  1. Omission in the source text.↩
  2. See footnote 3, p. 1283.↩
  3. Letter of October 13, not printed.↩
  4. Sent along with Mr. Webb’s memorandum were “Four Contribution Charts,” which are not found attached to the Department’s record copy of the memorandum. Presumably the charts were copies of those transmitted with Secretary-General Lie’s letter of October 13. These comprised: (1) a recapitulation of donations by governments other than the United States for relief of Palestinian refugees ($15,759,745 as of September 30); (2) donations in cash and kind to the UNRPR fund made by each of 27 countries, other than the United States, as of September 15. The British contribution of $4,032,258 was the largest in this category; (3) expenditures totaling $5,698,283 for direct care of refugees and local services by Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, as of August 31. The Egyptian contribution of $2,230,704 was the largest in this group; and (4) donations made by the United Kingdom, Eire, Denmark, and Sweden to the Red Cross and other voluntary organizations working with Near East refugees. As of September 15, these totaled $595,000, the British donation of $403,226 being the largest (501.MA Palestine/10–1549).

    The Secretary of State, on November 17, authorized Ambassador Austin to inform Secretary-General Lie that “the President of the United States has considered the statement made by the Secretary General and has found that the extent to which other governments have met their obligations to the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees allows him to authorize the payment of $2,000,000 as an additional United States contribution … [thus] raising the total United States’ contribution to $15,377,930.” (instruction 358 to New York, 501.MA Palestine/10–1549)

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