320.2 AA/7–951: Despatch
The Chargé in Lebanon (Bruins) to the Department of State 1
No. 13
Subject: Remarks of John B. Blandford, Jr., Director, UNRWA, at Meeting with the Advisory Commission
[Page 758]On July 6, 1951, Mr. J. B. Blandford, Jr., Director, UNRWA, met for the first time with the members of the Advisory Commission.2 By coincidence the meeting was also the 100th session between the Commission and the Director.
The meeting was opened with a few words of welcome to Mr. Blandford on the part of the Commissioners. Mr. Blandford, in expressing his appreciation, stated that even though he had moved to the Director’s side of the table, the team which had worked so well together over the past year remained with the same membership.
Mr. Blandford then proceeded to give a composite picture of his talks with the three major contributing Governments, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Mr. Blandford found substantial agreement in all three capitals as to the interpretation of reintegration. Reintegration means the providing of homes and jobs to refugees, principally the building of villages near employment opportunities. It is expected that the Agency’s effort will be primarily in the field of agricultural resettlement. The Agency might also undertake minor engineering works necessary for the creation of long-term employment, such as the construction of access roads to villages and village irrigation facilities.
The Agency’s program should fit into a large-scale economic development effort in the receiving countries to be financed by international bank loans, oil royalties, grants in aid, and local government budgets. This large-scale effort would undertake the big engineering jobs which must be done, such as building roads to open up new territories, large water and power projects, etc. The Agency can cooperate directly in the large-scale program by assisting in obtaining economic information and stimulating economic development.
The immediate problem before the Agency is essentially the political problem of getting local government cooperation. The Near East Governments must agree to accept refugees for reintegration—this cannot be by-passed. Detailed negotiations will be necessary, the end of which will be to obtain the maximum involvement by local governments in the Agency’s program.
Therefore the Agency should be in a position of maximum strength during these negotiations, keeping in mind the Arab League condition that the international community undertake to see the entire reintegration job through. Mr. Blandford hopes to get as much of the negotiation task as possible completed before the next session of the UN General Assembly. For this reason Mr. Blandford hopes that the contributing governments will do their utmost to make the Agency as strong as possible during the forthcoming negotiations. This could be [Page 759] done either by large cash contributions or by commitments from contributing governments which would enable the Agency to formulate a program of reintegration investment. Mr. Blandford mentioned the target of 50 million per year for three years of reintegration.
Mr. Blandford found that all three of the major contributing governments had the impulse to tackle the economic problems of the Near East bilaterally. He succeeded in obtaining the agreement of the US Government that the needs of the Agency should first be met before the US would embark on a bilateral program. He pressed this same viewpoint in London and Paris and found no vigorous dissent. There was general agreement that the refugee problem had the first political priority and was the most important form of economic development—the transformation of nearly one million people who are presently an economic blight into a social and economic asset to the receiving countries. He requested the Advisory Commission’s agreement with this viewpoint and hoped that the members would so advise their Governments. There was a danger of the western democracies’ by-passing the difficult immediate need in favor of more pleasant bilateral economic development projects.
Mr. Blandford pressed each of the three Governments to reconsider its contribution with a goal of $75 million for the current fiscal year so that a first-year program of $50 million for reintegration could be negotiated with the Near East States. The President of the United States has requested the Congress for $50 million contribution to the Agency. The present Congress is economy-minded and may well cut deeply into the Mutual Security Bill of which the US contribution to the Agency forms a part. However, there are reasons for optimism based on the special appeal of the refugees. Last year a Congress which made many cuts in foreign aid appropriations passed the entire amount requested for assistance to Palestine refugees.
Mr. Blandford stressed the need of obtaining larger contributions in London and Paris. With adequate financing the Agency might be able to squeeze two years of reintegration work into one. The French and British Governments promised to consider his request; however, the matter needs extensive follow-up, and Mr. Blandford asked the French and British members of the Commission to make a special effort.
Mr. Blandford closed his remarks by again pointing out the necessity of his having at least commitments from contributing governments so that he could negotiate programs with the Near East states. He expressed the hope that the United States Government would explore the possibility of giving contract authority to the Agency.