786.00/7–1350
Mr. Arthur Z. Gardiner 1 to Mr. James Terry Duce, Vice President of the Arabian-American Oil Company
My Dear Mr. Duce: In accordance with our recent conversations, I am taking this opportunity to write you on the subject of the need as we see it in the Department for private assistance to provide relief for indigent Arabs who are not properly classifiable as refugees from their homes in Palestine. The calculations of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission, accepted by the General Assembly, indicate that a total of 652,000 are qualified for current assistance from the United Nations funds made available for relief and work relief. General Kennedy estimates that there are 150,000 to 200,000 indigents, now in receipt of United Nations assistance, who no longer can qualify for such assistance, as the reasons for their indigency do not arise from their refugee status. You will recall that General Kennedy mentioned that there were some 15,000 in the old City of Jerusalem, who formerly depended on the tourist trade for their livelihood, and who are now unemployed. Thousands of additional cases of indigency are to be found in the Gaza Strip and throughout Arab Palestine.
If the United Nations program is to succeed, the Relief and Works Agency of the United Nations can no longer continue to provide food [Page 952] and clothing for people in this category and they must look to private sources of charity for their future support. The cost of the minimum food and clothing required is estimated to be of the order of $3,500,000 per annum, based on the experience of the United Nations relief program. Charitable agencies, and in particular, the Pontifical Mission, are making a very substantial contribution to relief in the area. It is our feeling that if the facts are fully known, and if an appropriate organization is established, a very substantial response to assist these people would be made by the American people.
Steps are being taken to initiate action along these lines by various charitable organizations interested in the Near East, such as the Near East Foundation, the Near East College Association, H.E.L.P., the American Middle East Relief, and CARE. Church organizations are also being consulted. We hope that these efforts can be centralized and agree with you that appropriate publicity can do a great deal to make a fund raising program successful.
General Kennedy has indicated to you his full willingness to cooperate with the resources at his disposal in the Near East, so that the United Nations and private programs will not overlap in their activities.
We can do no more than lay these facts before you and trust that you will give them your sympathetic and thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely yours,
- Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian and African Affairs.↩