76. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, April 23, 19591
SUBJECT
- Mr. Hammarskjold’s draft UNRWA report
PARTICIPANTS
- The Secretary
- The Secretary-General of the United Nations
- The Honorable Henry Cabot Lodge
- Mr. Walter N. Walmsley, Acting Assistant Secretary, IO
The Secretary-General’s discussion with the Secretary, which lasted from 11:20 through lunch to 2:45, was arranged on Mr. Hammarskjold’s initiative and was therefore essentially of subjects of Mr. Hammarskjold’s selection.
Mr. Hammarskjold said that he did not believe it was practicable today to seek acceptance by the Arab host countries of the principle of responsibility for Palestine refugees. The Arab attitude is that they would be left holding the bag if funds were cut. In the light of their own low standards of living, their countries could not absorb or support the refugees, and survive. Hammarskjold was therefore proposing in his report that the problem be approached on a function-by-function basis starting with education, which he said both Cairo and Amman have agreed to accept responsibility for. He intends to show his draft to the Arabs concerned, to us, and perhaps to some of the other contributors (e.g. the UK) before it is released in a matter of weeks.
The Secretary and Mr. Hammarskjold agreed that the Rifai scheme was not practicable.2 The Secretary believed, however, that if agreement could be obtained from the UAR and Israel for the two earth dams in Jordan, abutting on Syria, that were contemplated in the Johnston Plan, this would be an immense step forward in settling the refugees in Jordan. The Secretary would hope that Hammarskjold would look into this as a first step toward resettlement of the refugees. Mr. Hammarskjold was impressed by the promise of this idea.
The SYG said that he had just sent Bunche out to visit Israel, Gaza, Cairo and possibly Baghdad. While Bunche is charged with such specific purposes as the Israeli use of the canal and the situation in Gaza, there is also the general purpose of not leaving the Arabs too long “unattended”, lest they get out of hand. He was glad that Fawzi [Page 171] had asked to see him in Geneva. The SYG feels he must talk to Fawzi about the Palestinian Brigade, said to number some 300, that had gone to the Gaza Strip for the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal but had stayed on. The UNEF and this Police Force cannot, he said, “coreside”. The Egyptians say that this force is needed for security purposes in the strip because of the presence of Communists among the refugees. The SYG is also worried about the Egyptian build-up in Sinai since the recent troubles between the Syrian region and Iraq.
Concerning the canal, the SYG said he felt that the flags of necessity vessels used by Israel were regarded by the UAR as “provocative”, and that the UAR now cares less about the cargo than about the charters. He would talk with Fawzi about this as well.
On Egyptian relations with France and the UK, Hammarskjold said that Algeria balks any improvement with the former, while in the case of the UK, the Egyptians have been holding back on suspicion of UK backing of Kassim.
(Subsequently the Department heard from Hare that the Brigade in Gaza numbers closer to 1,000. This has been confirmed by a letter from Hammarskjold who adds that reports from Burns and Bunche “give me a gloomier picture of the Middle East than I had when meeting you.”)
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 320.511/4–2359. Secret. Drafted by Walmsley and approved by Herter on May 19.↩
- On April 8, Lodge reported on a dinner conversation with Rifai at which the Prime Minister had proposed long-term bilateral aid to Jordan for economic development. The resulting economic activity would draw in refugees and get them off the relief rolls, thus reducing UNRWA expenses. (Telegram 873 from USUN; ibid., 320.511/4–859)↩