Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume VI

501.BB Palestine/8–449

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to the President

Washington, August 4, 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 27,1949.¹

2. 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 …”.²

3. The amount of $12,000,000 has already been paid to the United Nations. The United Nations has presented to the Department (a) an official statement to the effect that contributions in the total amount of $13,377,930, in cash, kind and services have been received or are in process of delivery from other governments as of July 31, 1949, and that there have been additional contributions, concerning which definitive information is not yet known, and (b) a request that the United States make a further contribution at this time. The Acting Secretary General of the United Nations states that the need for additional funds is so critical that the relief work cannot continue into September without the assurance of matching funds from the United States.

4. The Department of State believes that the request of the United Nations is reasonable and that the situation is urgent. The Department therefore recommends that the President make a finding that other nations party to the United Nations agreement have met their obligations to the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees in the form and to the extent of the contributions, totaling $13,377,930, shown in the attached schedule as having been received by the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees or in process of delivery from governments other than the United States as of July 31, 1949; and that the President authorize the payment of a contribution of $1,377,930 as an addition to the contribution of $12,000,000 previously made. Further implementations of Public Law 119 will be required later as additional statements are received from the United Nations.³

1. Not printed.
2. Omission indicated in the source text.
3. President Truman, on August 10, made a finding “that other nations party to the agreement on United Nations Relief to Palestine Refugees have met their obligations under said agreement to the extent that an additional contribution to the United Nations in the amount of $1,377,930 is justified.” (501.MA Palestine/8–1049)