320.2 AA/10–2451: Despatch
The Minister in Lebanon (Minor) to the Department of State 1
No. 214
Subject: Approval of Arab League for Arab States to Cooperate with UNRWA (PRA)
There is enclosed a translation of the text2 of a decision made by the Arab League on October 7, 1951, to cooperate with PRA in its proposed three-year program aimed at the creation of better living conditions and employment opportunities for Palestine refugees.
[Page 920]The decision is followed by ten clauses setting forth the conditions under which the Arab States will cooperate. These conditions reflect: 1) Arab desire to assist the refugees while not prejudicing their political rights; 2) Arab insistence that the major financial burden of the program be borne by the United Nations and concern lest the refugees become an economic burden to the host states; 3) Arab demand that in the execution of the program full respect be paid to the sovereignty and independence of the Arab States.
Comment: The decision represents an important step forward in PRA’s effort to provide a solution to the Palestine refugee problem. The conditions of cooperation are not new or arbitrary—in fact, all of them except No. 6 were implied in the three-year plan proposals submitted by PRA to the Arab States and the League.
This decision provides a setting in which PRA can hopefully enter into negotiations for specific projects with the individual Arab states.