REFUGEES ASSAIL ISRAELI PROPOSAL

Arabs at a Jordanian Camp Spurn Offer to Let Them Return to West Bank

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ZEIZEIA, Jordan, July 3—Palestinian refugees, interviewed at a camp here today, rejected Israel’s offer to ‘let them return home and shouted that all Israelis were “kazabeen”—liars. Their complaint was echoed, though more mildly, by a Jordanian Government spokesman who said that “the Israelis are trying to deceive us.”

An Israeli radio broadcast announcing that refugees from the Jordan River’s west bank, now occupied by Israel, would be permitted to return was heard yesterday on transistor radios in the camp at this desert water hole 20 miles south of Amman. Today, one refugee, Ali Ahmed Almallah, scowled and said: “I do not go back to the west bank if the Jews remain.

I will rather die here.” Mr. Almallah, who is 56 years old, gestured at the rows of tents. A crowd of men around him talked angrily. A Jordanian police official, Hassan Ahmed, murmured to an American visitor: “Do not say you are an American or they will kill you.”

The United States is providing 10,000 tents for the refugees, but they resent America’s support of Israel in the past. Israel offered to let refugees come back to the west bank if they returned by Aug. 10. No one who leaves after July 4—tomorrow—will be allowed to return, the Israelis said.

A spokesman for the Jordanian Information Ministry, Ghazi Saudi, said that the Israeli offer had been made for propaganda purposes. Government officials said privately that poor refugees feared that they would not … [JUMP OF THE MATCHED ARTICLE — this is the part that merges into CP-1967-044:] Refugees at Camp Spurn Israeli Offer Continued From Page 1, Col.

7 be able to support themselves under Israeli occupation. Refugees at the camp, whose thousand tents are pitched near a Roman cistern renovated by American aid, said that the Israelis had destroyed and looted some houses on the west bank and threatened to shoot Palestinians if they did not leave.

By Allenby Bridge, across the Jordan River, scores of refugees tried to return home to the west bank. They were turned away by Israeli officials, who told them to come back in a few days. [END OF THE MATCHED ARTICLE.

Everything below is SEPARATE material printed on the same clipping — three distinct sidebar stories with their own heads, bylines and datelines, plus a photograph and caption.

Transcribed so nothing on the page is lost, but NOT part of CP-1967-044 and NOT to be merged into its excerpt.] [SIDEBAR 1 — separate story, own byline:] Dayan Visits Allenby Bridge By JAMES FERON Special to The New York Times JERICHO, Jordan, July 3—Maj. Gen.

Moshe Dayan, the Israeli Defense Minister, traveled to Allenby Bridge today to find out why refugees were continuing to leave the Israeli-controlled west bank. Although the Cabinet decided yesterday to give those who had left a month in which they could return, the traffic was still outward bound this morning.

Fifty to 60 trucks loaded with furnishings and other possessions waited on the narrow road leading to the demolished bridge across the Jordan River. General Dayan, who speaks Arabic, talked with Arabs and with Israeli officers. The conversations made it clear that the refugees are leaving for a variety of reasons, mostly dealing with family and financial problems.

“Some of these people have their relatives on the other side, men who sent families to Amman while they stayed on to keep the cattle or protect the house or the business,” General Dayan said. “Now they want to join their family.” “Others are moving their whole household away, the ones you see with the furniture,” he added.

“In some cases, the wage earner is in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia and they cannot receive his assistance unless they go to Amman. “And there are others who simply would rather live under Arab rule than under Israeli rule. We are not Arabs, let’s face it.”

General Dayan was asked what kind of proof would be required of returning refugees to show that they had been residents of the west bank. He said that had not been worked out, but that it would not be complicated. He watched for several minutes as refugees walked slowly across the unstable boards and planks of the bridge.

About two dozen trucks and several hundred men waited on the other side.

There was no sign that anyone was returning. [SIDEBAR 2 — separate story:] Arabs Urged to Return Special to The New York Times BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 3—Laurence Michelmore, Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees, today urged Arabs who fled the west bank area to return to their homes.

The situation on the east bank of the Jordan River, he said, “caused me great anxiety” before the Israeli announcement that refugees could go back.

“Temporary accommodation in schools, where five or six families were living in one room, posed a serious health hazard, not only for refugees but also for surrounding communities,” he said. [SIDEBAR 3 — separate story:] Hussein Welcomes Offer Special to The New York Times LONDON, July 3—King Hussein of Jordan today called the Israeli offer to allow refugees to return to their homes on the west bank of the Jordan River “a welcome development.”

“Only time will show whether this offer was sincere,” he said at a news conference in the Jordanian Embassy here. The King estimated that 120,000 to 150,000 refugees had crossed the river, fleeing for a variety of reasons. He said that some had feared napalm and fragmentation bombs, that some had found their homes destroyed and that others faced hunger or looting.

The Amman radio urged west-bank inhabitants to stay in their homes and urged those who had departed to return, the King said. King Hussein said that he was giving first priority to bringing about an Arab summit meeting. “This is the time for it,” he said. “All indications make me feel it will be held.”

He had just come from lunch with Prime Minister Wilson and George Brown, the Foreign Secretary. [SIDEBAR 4 — separate item:] King Arrives in Paris PARIS, July 3 (Reuters)—King Hussein arrived here tonight from London for talks tomorrow with President de Gaulle. [PHOTOGRAPH, top right of page, with credit and caption:] United Press International Cablephoto Prime Minister Wilson welcoming King Hussein of Jordan outside 10 Downing Street in London yesterday.

How this transcription was made

Read from the scan at 6x to 18x by a machine looking at the image of the page, not by OCR and not by a person. No masthead or folio; the date follows the dateline 'ZEIZEIA, Jordan, July 3' and the body's own 'July 4 - tomorrow'. The clipping ends mid-sentence above 'Continued on Page 2, Column 2', so the excerpt does not close on a full stop. Printed error kept as set: a stray opening single quote with no closing mark in 'Israel's offer to ‘let them return home'. Carries a named, aged, placed and directly quoted Palestinian refugee, Ali Ahmed Almallah, 56. The other part of this article was added on 2 November 2026 from a second clipping (m003_1.png).

Cite this clipping

"REFUGEES ASSAIL ISRAELI PROPOSAL," The New York Times, 4 July 1967. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1967-044. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1967-044