Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Arab Refugees: An Expose by An Egyptian Journalist

All-too-frequently, a casual visitor in an Arab country will
return with a report that either directly or by innuendo vilifies
Israel. Primarily, it is the refugee question that seems to plague the
unknowing and the uninformed.
Recently, a Detroit young lady, who was in Lebanon, passed on
the usual and routine propaganda that is fed to tourists in anti-
Israel areas, and she was quoted as saying: "Thousands of Arabs
were forced out of Palestine after the UN partition in 1948. Many
starved, contracted tuberculosis, and the general feeling was that .the
Americans were indirectly responsible; many felt the partition was
engineered by Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt."
Many similarly fantastic statements are heard from time to
time. The facts have been publicized by Christians and by Jews—gs
well as by Maronite Lebanese who crave for a strong Israel in the
best interests of and for the protection of the Christians in Lebanon
—in proof of the truth: that the refugee problem was created by
the Arabs themselves whose leaders urged their people to leave
their homes and to heed their assurance that once the Jews were
driven into the sea they would be assisted in returning to repossess
their properties and also to acquire the accumulated possessions of
the Jews in Palestine. The result is a matter of record: the Arabs
were licked. Now they can't forgive Israel her triumphs.
There remains the refugee problem. What are the facts?
We are indebted to the ably-edited London (England) monthly
magazine, The Gates of Hope, which, in its current issue, reprinted
the following article by the Egyptian journalist, All El Dali, in the
Egyptian Army paper Al Tahrir:

"The people of Egypt grind their teeth and anger wells up in
their hearts as they read the .headlines in their daily papers,
against Palestine, refugees, Israel .
. Palestine . . . Refugees . . . Here they were again
in the paper I held as I sat in the train heading for Palestine—or
rather Gaza. What am I going to write myself after visiting the
land that once was holy?
". .. Shall I tell them the same lies that have been told ever
since the agents of imperialism sent our soldiers and officers to
their death in this land?
"I spent three days in that unfortunate country . . . There-
upon I realized that all the newspapers have been lying to us,
with the purpose of diverting our attention from the Canal, and
far away for the real problem.
`Hunger, misery and distress are not to be found in the
refugee camps; they are in the villages and hamlets where the
fellaheen live, in the countryside of green Palestine where gardens
and orange groves flourish amidst feudalism; for feudalism breeds
hunger and misery. In the refugee camps, there is security and
plenty.
"I visited seven of them: Al Barege, Al Nusseirat, Deir el
Balah, Khan Yunis, Gabalia, Gaza, Ruffah, - Al Mughazzi. In all of
them I have seen the people eating their fill, drinking milk and
living in comfort. The men lay on their backs in the warm sand
and sunshine, or played dice; happy women carried their healthy
pink-cheeked babies, not the pale sickly babies which you see in
our villages, where there are no refugees.
"A young Egyptian officer told me that whenever a refugee
complains of sickness, an ambulance with a doctor, a nurse and
medicines hastens to attend to him. Do the sick villagers of our
country enjoy such treatment? Do our weakly children drink
milk? Have you ever heard of an Egyptian fellah wearing shoes?
The United Nations takes care of 250,&00 refugees here, not only
for the sake of the refugees themselves, but in order to enforce
security on the borders of Israel, the state which the nations of
the world, our great friends, have imposed upon us.
"We drove further on, past most beautiful gardens and orange
groves. I asked: "To whom do these lands of plenty belong in the
midst of the country of hunger?" "This is the property of Abu
Selim," I was told. And you learn that Mohammed Abu Selim, is
the richest man in the Gaza strip. He wanted to contribute to the
solution of the refugee problem. So he spent £15,000 in building a
mosque. He invited the deputy governor to the opening ceremony
and wanted to hand over to him the keys of the mosque. The
Governor refused. He had asked the rich Palestinian to allocate
some of his lands to the poor, but the rich Palestinian refused
. . You ask: 'Do these landlords help the refugees?' Not a bit.
Abdul Magid Fawa. owns •400 feddans, and so on and so forth—
while 250,000 refugees live on charity." So far Mr. El Dali.
No wonder that Arabs flock in the thousands to the camp,
and the number of Arab "refugees" is therefore rapidly growing.
Originally there were only about four hundred thousand Arab
Refugees (at the utmost), today there are over eight hundred
thousand.
And here is another article in an American publication "The
Radcliffe Quarterly" by a well-known American journalist Corne-
lia James Cannon on the Displaced Arab.
"I went to Jordan steeped in pity for the poor Arab exiled
froM his native Palestine by a combination of fate and his own
action, war and flight. It was easy to be sentimental about the
matter and most Americans are. But a visit to the refugee camps
in Jericho was a shock. Esoteric emotion was replaced by a re-
vulsion of feeling if not justifying their exile at least freshly
understanding it.
"There in Jericho, in camps created to shelter them, sat thou-
sands of Arab men, smoking and endlessly talking as they lounged.
They sat in a filth which a little labor could have eliminated, but
made no move to better their condition. What little work had to
be done, such as bringing water to the camp and thorny bushes
from the mountains for fuel, was done by the women. Meanwhile
there was work crying to be done: roads full of holes which
needed to be filled, unused land which needed to be prepared for
cultivation. There were irrigation canals to be dug, planting to
be begun. Yet there sat the men unperturbed. Why should they
exert themselves? The United Nations had taken over the respon-
sibility of feeding them and they apparently felt no urge to do
anything for themselves. They showed no evidence of initiative,
no effort to improve the conditions, dull acceptance or a bitter
resentment at the fate which had put them where they were.
"They have refused any offered solution of their problem save
a return to Palestine where, under the hated Jews, they were
better off than they had ever been under their fellow Arab ad-
ministration.
"They are unwilling to move to under-populated Arabian
lands and to work to make them fruitful. They wait passively for
the world to offer them something better while being fed and
'eared for where they are.
"The contrast to what was meanwhile happening across the
border in Israel was striking. There millions of trees were being
planted annually to replace those cut down through the centuries
by the Arabs or destroyed by their wandering goats who ate the
bark and so killed the trees. The swamps of Israel, which had
served as breeding places for mosquitoes through the ages, were
being drained and cultivated; steep hillsides were being terraced

(Continued on Page 20)

Bnai Brith Gets Harold Stassen Optimistic on Israel
in Testimony Before Senate Group
Dulles' Citation WASHINGTON (JTA) — Th e Sen. Ellender reviewed his

WASHINGTON — Secretary of
State John Foster Dulles has is-
sued a citation to Bnai Brith
praising the Order for its efforts
to make known the principles of
the United Nations Charter.
A citation was also issued to
the Bnai Brith Women by Secre-
tary Dulles. In the citation, he
expressed special gratitude to
the American non-governmental
organizations whose representa-
tives contributed "so effectively
and uniquely" to the success of
the first United Nations Confer-
ence held in San Francisco in
1945.
Bnai Brith is a constituent mem-
ber of the Coordinating Board of
Jewish Organizations which has
consultative status as a non-
governmental body with the Eco-
nomic and Social Council of the
United Nations. Since 1947 the
Bnai Brith Women's Supreme
Council has had accredited ob-
server status with the United Na-
tions.
The Bnai Brith delegation of
men and women were present at
the special U.N. session held in
San Francisco last month to cele-
brate the 10th anniversary of the
signing of the United Nations
Charter.
Bnai Brith lodges and chapters
throughout the world are cur-
rently planning a number of
varied programs to mark the ob-
servance of United Nations De-
cennial Day on Oct. 24. On this
date ten years ago the United
Nations Charter went into effect.
Bnai Brith, with 2,000 branches
totaling over 360,000 members in
34 countries, is the oldest and
largest Jewish service organiza-
tion in the world. --

-

J. L. Zemon Heads
Hebrew Free Loan

Julian L. Zemon was elected
president of the Hebrew Free
Loan Association.
Other officers elected were Ja-
cob L. Keidan and Maurice
Klein, vice-presidents; Frank A.
Wetsman, secretary; Gus New-
man, treasurer.
New directors 'are Maurice
Aronsson, Morris H. Blumberg,
Irwin I. Cohn, Lawrence W.
Crohn, and Mrs. Joseph H. Ehr-
lich.
The list also includes Maurice
A. Enggass, Nathan Epstein, Wil-
liam Friedman, Ira G. Kaufman,
Maurice Landau and Samuel
Lieberman.
Additional directors are Robert
R. Marwil, Dr. Thomas B. Mar-
wil, Louis Stoll, George M. Stutz,
Jack Tobin. and Ruben H. Isaacs.
Incot'porated in 1895, the He-
brew Free Loan Association was
organized to grant loans, without
interest "for any socially accept-
able purpose".

Meyer L. Prentis Heads
Torch Drive Committee

prediction that economic condi-
tions in Israel will become nor,
mal in five years was made be-
fore a Senate committee here by
Harold Stassen, former director
of the now defunct Foreign
Operations Administration which
distributed American economic
aid to Israel.
"I think the great determina-
tion of their people and their
resourcefulness, and their intelli-
gence is such that Israel will
make a go of it and be on their
feet in another five years," Mr.
Stassen said, testifying before
the Senate Appropriations Com-
mittee on the foreign aid bill.

Senator Allen J. Ellender,
Louisiana Democrat, ques-
tioned why Israel is alloted so
much money when it receives
funds apart from that in the
bill from the U. S. Mr. Stas-
sen replied: "Israel maintains
a different standard of living,
and it has been mostly people
who have come in from Eur-
ope or have been fleeing from
persecution and even murder
in other parts of the world, so
you have a different kind of
a situation." He stressed that
Eric Johnston's water devel-
opment plan for the Jordan
River is the "best hope" for a
"better situation between Is-
rael and the Arab states."

impressions of the Middle East
gained during a recent trip. He
termed the Arab-Israel situa-
tion "the most explosive in the
world, in my humble judgment,
almost as bad as Russia." He
said, ``it is my honest belief that
this matter will never be settled
unless some of these Arabs go
back to Israel." The Louisiana
Senator called for a re-evalua-
tion of the Arab refugee prob-
lem. He said that in Jordan
there are over 460,000 refugees.

Senator Everett Dirksen, Illi-
nois Republican, recommended
the settlement of Arab refugees
in Iraq, because it is an under-
populated country. He said Leb-
anon will not issue work per-
mits to the refugees and will
not admit them to citizenship.
Senator Dirksen said refugee's
children are being born at the
rate of 25,000 a year; 60 percent
of the Arab refugees are now
under _16 years of age, he stated.
"The refugee problem is going
to blow us out of the water un-
less it is solved." He said, "It
occurs to me that somewhere
along the line we are going to
have to dump a little more
money in this thing in the hope
that some of them can be ab-
sorbed in Iraq."

$6,000,000 Paid by Israel to Arab
Refugees; Valuables Are Returned

.

JERUSALEM (J T A) — Israel a time even this role was ful-
has paid out nearly $6,000,000 filled grudgingly, with Jordan
to Palestine A r a b refugees objecting to the wording of the
whose bank accounts were application forms.
frozen in Israel banks.
It was reported that Barclays
It was also revealed that valu- Bank—the Israel agent—has be-
ables and documents in safe de- gun negotiations with the Egyp-
posit boxes in the banks have tian authorities for the return of
been returned to many Arab property of Arab refugees now
owners, through the medium of living in the Gaza strip. The
the United Nations and a British arrangements discussed with
bank acting as agents for the Egypt are similar to those
agreed to by Jordan. Syria and
Israel Government.
Lebanon, which are hosts to
The frozen accounts were re- some refugees, are said to be
turned mostly _10 Arabs now re-
interested in such an arrange-
siding in Jordan. Less than
ment.
$3,000,000 in frozen bank de-
The contents of safe deposit
posits plus the contents of some
boxes still remain to be re- boxes 'are opened in the pres-
turned. The Israel unilateral ence of UN officials, Israel offi-
agreement to return these assets cials and bank representatives
was worked out with the United nominated by Israel and the
Nations Palestine Conciliation Arab owners. The contents are
Commission. Jordan's role in the
listed then and resealed and de-
return of assets was agreeing to
permit the refugees to apply for livered by the bank, safeguarded
and receive their property. For by UN personnel, to the Arabs.

Between You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1955, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Prosperity Trends:

Reports from Jewish communities in various parts of the
country indicate that the federations and welfare funds are this
year raising more funds than last year . . .The average increase in
Jewish fund-raising in the communities is estimated to be about
7 percent over last year's campaigns . . This is actually the first
time since 1948 that most of the communities have succeeded in
reversing the downward trend in fund-raising of each of the last
seven years .. . Improved economic conditions in the country and
the re-appraisal of the campaign structure and methods by many
cities are responsible for the new trend.
UJA leaders are especially happy over the fact that the cam-
paigns in the communities are going so well this year . . . It can be
seen from the reports they receive that the spirit of the fund-raising
campaigns in the communities is the best since 1948, the year that
Jewish fund-raising in this country reached extraordinary peaks.

Meyer L. Prentis, former treas-
urer of General Motors Corp., has
been reappointed for the fifth
consecutive year as chairman of
the goal and al-
locations com-
mittee of t h e
United Founda-
tion's Torch
Drive, to be held
Oct. 18 to Nov.
* * *
10. His commit-
Washington
Views:
tee will recom-
The United States Government, which keeps an eye on develop-
mend the money
ments in Israel, has prepared a report predicting that Israel will
to be sought in
depend for many years yet on financial aid from abroad . . This
this year's cam-
is primarily due to the fact that even under the _best of circum-
paign and the
stances, Israel will have to import one-third of its food from other
Prentis
manner of dis-
tribution of the funds among countries . . . At present Israel is importing about fifty percent of
the 150 of t h e Torch Drive's its basic food-stuffs and will this year have to spend about $60,000,-
000 in foreign currency for this purpose . . . The U.S. report takes
member agencies.
into consideration Israel's seven-year plan for agricultural develop-.
ment, but asserts that even if this plan is completely successful,
Argentina State Radio
Israel will still' have to import more than six million bushels of
Broadcasts Israel Music
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Is- wheat annually, as well as other products . . By that time there
rael Ambassador Arieh L. Ku- will be 2,000,000 Jews in Israel experts estimate . . . The report
bovi inaugurated the Argentine lauds Israel's efforts in the field of agricultural development, but
state broadcasting system's fort- claims, that while the population of Israel has doubled since 1948,
nightly half-hour Israel music food production has risen only 20 percent . . . It considers insuffi-
series. The broadcast series, cient water for crops Israel's basic problem, and it points to the
which will have its counterpart benefits which Israel will have from the Jordan water development
in broadcasts of Argentine music plan, if it is accepted by the Israel government ... The report cites
in Israel, is one of the features the fact that foreign exchange needs for this year were budgeted by
Against this sum Israel will have $84,000,-
of the 1953 Israel-Argentine Israel at $346,000,000
000 in income from its exports, about $60,000,000 from German re-
cultural exchange treaty.
parations and perhaps $74,000,000 in United States grant-in-aid .. .
2 DETROIT JEWISH NEWS The remainder will have to come from the United Jewish Appeal,
the sale of Israel bonds, and other pro-Israel drives;
Friday, July 29, 1955

—

