501.BB Palestine(E)/12–2349
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Johnson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: The Department of State is preparing for presentation to the next session of Congress proposed legislation for United States participation in the United Nations program for relief, work relief and economic development among the Palestinian refugees in the Near East. This program will follow recommendations made by the Economic Survey Mission under the United Nations in its first interim report to the Palestine Conciliation Commission. On the basis of this report the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution on December 8, 1949 which provides for the implementation of the recommendations of the Mission. For your ready reference we enclose a copy of the interim report and of the General Assembly resolution.
The cost of the proposed program is $54,900,000 for an 18 months’ period ending June 30, 1951 and, in view of attendant circumstances, the Department considers that a reasonable share of the total cost to be borne by the United States is 50 per cent. Therefore the Congress will be requested to appropriate $27,500,000 for contribution to the program, and for expenses incident to United States participation. The object of the program is the restoration of economic conditions conducive to the maintenance of peace and stability in the Near East area affected by the recent hostilities in Palestine. The Department is convinced that the course of action proposed by the Economic Survey Mission and approved by the General Assembly is necessary to achieve this end and that this course is prudent and wise. Strategic considerations underlying United States policy in the area were raised in a letter from Secretary Forrestal to the Department dated September 23, 1948 in which he transmitted a memorandum on the subject from the Joint Chiefs of Staff,1 and you referred again to this subject in a letter to me dated June 14, 1949 in which you emphasized the importance, to our long range interests, of solving the problem of the refugees and of other major differences between Israel and its neighboring Arab States.
Recent discussions have been held in an interagency group regarding the proposals of the Economic Survey Mission and the General Assembly resolution, and the Department of Defense has been represented at these discussions by Captain R. F. Pryce, U.S.N., who is therefore familiar with most recent developments.
[Page 1558]The program must be ready for presentation to Congress early in January, and if a complete case is to be presented, it will be necessary for the Department of Defense to testify as to the strategic importance of maintaining stability in the areas affected. I hope that the Department of Defense will participate in the presentation.
Sincerely yours,
- Regarding these papers, see telegram Telmar 19, September 28, 1948, to Paris, Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. v, Part 2, p. 1427.↩