Egypt, Jordan, Syria and to a lesser extend Lebanon have placed so many obstacles in the effort of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees to alleviate the lot of the Arab refugees that it may be necessary to suspend or terminate” UNRWA activities in some of those countries unless the governments give the UN “open and full cooperation.”
That was port of a blast at the Arab governments delivered here today by Henry R. Labonisse, director of UNRWA, in his annual report to the General Assembly. The report which touches only on the activities of the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1956, specifies a number of serious hurdles placed in the path of UNRWA by the four Arab states which are “host” countries where 922,279 officially-designated Arab refugees are now registered with UNRWA.
Arab has failed to keep its promise to help clear the UNRWA rolls of so-called refugees who may not be entitled to any relief at all, according to the La Bouisse report. Jordan has also insisted on restricting UNRWA activities by imposing import taxes on supplies brought into the country exclusively for relief purposes. Egypt and Syria both have created “particular difficulties” by trying to curb UNRWA’s freedom to appoint members needed for its staffs, and in some instances has refused UNRWA personnel the right to leave the countries even on official UNRWA business, the UN director states in his report.
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