U. N. Aids Arab Refugees

United Nations Department of Public Information

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Transcribed from the clipping

“For no other word than ‘disaster’ can better describe the desperate plight of a swarming mass of refugees—nearly half a million men, women and children—who fled from their former homes in Palestine… Most of the refugees are poverty-stricken Fellaheen and Bedouins dislodged by the hazards and strategy of the armed conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine.

Their exodus resulted from panic created by fighting in their communities, and by rumors concerning alleged acts of terrorism or expulsion… The Israeli Government refused to re-admit the Arab refugees to the territory under its control because of ‘overriding immediate security considerations.’

It believed that the return during the truce of thousands of displaced Arabs to the state of Israel, which is still surrounded by hostile armies, would gravely prejudice its position… An early settlement is a matter of life and death to both peoples most immediately concerned, the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs.… “In Arab Palestine the refugees were without the care or protection of any recognized government, and the existing local and community authorities were unable to cope with the emergency.

In some instances the refugees outnumbered the local residents by approximately 2 to 1.”… “The Jews have also appealed for U. N. assistance. In the early stage of the campaign, however, the mediator felt that, as the Israeli community was better organized and equipped, ‘it was not necessary to provide medical aid for refugees in their territory’.

Later on, in view of acute shortage of milk for infants, ICEF sent to Haifa some $60,000 worth of powdered milk and cod liver oil.”… “Maintaining that the root of the conflict was in the refusal of the Arab League to recognize the state of Israel, the Jewish note pointed out that ‘any attempt to tear the problem of Arab refugees out of its context and treat it in isolation can only aggravate the issue.’”… “An early settlement is a matter of life and death to both peoples most immediately concerned, the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs: To the Arabs because nearly a third of their numbers are homeless refugees; to the Israelis because until a permanent peace settlement is reached, the strength of their new state is sapped by the need to keep armies in the field.”

Context added by this archive

Written and distributed by the United Nations itself, and printed as a full page. It gives the Israeli government's stated reason for refusing re-admission, “overriding immediate security considerations,” and the Arab League's position, and closes by saying a settlement is a matter of life and death to both.

Cite this clipping

"U. N. Aids Arab Refugees," Tampa Bay Times, 5 December 1948, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1948-051. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1948-051