25
CLOSE-UP
Machiavellian Dove
JAMES DAVID BESSER
Yehoshafat Harkabi has an unpopular
viewpoint for peace in Israel.
36
SPORTS
A. Little Respect
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Small but swift Andover
continues the good skate.
center
FEELING GOOD
Israeli soldiers argue with a Palestinian at the Shati Refugee Camp: 'The U.S. is not going to indefinitely
contribute relief'
What The U.S. Not Arabs
Has Done For The Palestinians
MITCHELL BARD
C
ritics of American Middle East
policy frequently complain that
U.S. taxpayers are forced to support
Israeli policy because of the large amounts
of foreign aid appropriated each year to
Israel. They also complain about the lack
of support for the Palestinians.
In fact, the United States has long been
the principal financial supporter of the
Palestinian refugees. But in contrast to the
gratitude expressed by Israelis, we receive
nothing but opprobrium from Palestinians.
In 1948, the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) was established
to provide assistance to Palestinians who
became refugees following the first Arab-
Israeli war. The UNRWA was meant to be
a temporary agency since the Palestinians,
like every other refugee population, were
expected to be resettled. The United Na-
tions passed a resolution calling for the
repatriation and resettlement of the
refugees, but Israel refused to accept large
numbers of Palestinians unless the Arabs
were willing, as the resolution specified, "to
live at peace with their neighbors."
The Arab states refused to negotiate
peace until the refugees were repatriated.
Except for Jordan, they also refused to
resettle them, preferring instead to confine
the refugees to camps wehre they could re-
main a symbol of the Arab-Israeli conflict
and where hatred for Israel could be allow-
ed to ferment. They have remained in
camps and on UNRWA relief rolls ever
since.
lbday, more than 2 million Palestinians
are on the rolls and more than 700,000 in
camps. After the 1967 war, Israel acquired
responsibility for those in the Gaza Strip
Mitchell Bard is a foreign policy analyst in
Washington.
and West Bank and has made great efforts
to improve their living conditions. These ef-
forts have been impeded by the Arab states,
which have secured a U.N. resolution each
year since 1971 demanding that Israel
desist from removing Palestinians from the
camps.
The United States, meanwhile, has con-
tributed more than 1 billion dollars to the
UNRWA — nearly half the total con-
tributed by all nations. During the same
period, the Soviet Union did not 'contribute
a single ruble and the Arab states combin-
ed contributed less than 10 percent of the
total UNRWA budget to aid their brethren.
Last year, the United States con-
tributed $67 million to the UNRWA; the
Arab states donated a little more than $4
million. More than half of that was con-
tributed by the Saudis, whose contribution
was exceeded by 11 countries other than
the U.S. including Sweden, Denmark and
Switzerland. Oil-rich Kuwait's $1.1 million
contribution put it in the same category
with Australia and Finland. Israel's con-
tribution to support the people now ston-
ing their population was more than double
that of Syria and more than 40 times that
of Egypt and Lebanon. The vigorous sup-
porters of the Palestinian cause in the
Kremlin and Baghdad contributed iden-
tical sums — zero.
"The United States is not going to con-
tinue indefinitely to contribute relief with
no concrete evidence on the part of states
directly concerned that they are willing to
take steps for the resolution of the pro-
blem," the Senate Foreign Relatioans Com-
mittee wrote more than 30 years ago.
Americans have not only been
generous toward the Palestinians, but pa-
tient. Perhaps it is too much to expect
gratitude from them. But it should not be
asking too much that the Arab states do
more to help the refugees by increasing
their contributions to the UNRWA.
What's hot
and
what's not
for personal
health
and
fitness
in 1989.
43
ENTERTAINMENT
Music Maven
JOANNE ZUROFF
Jon Liebman has become a master
at performing, writing, arranging.
56
LIFESTYLES
Young Leader
CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Peter Perlman has taken
a leading role in B'nai B'rith.
63
EDUCATION
Gedolah Goal
HEIDI PRESS
An Oak Park yeshivah wants
to be the community meeting place.
DEPARTMENTS
32
40
58
65
82
20 Seniors
22 Youth
24 Crossword
28 Inside Washington
30 Synagogues
Business
For Women
Engagements
Births
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
December 30, 1988 4:50 p.m.
5:54 p.m.
Sabbath ends Dec. 31
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7