Arab States Keeping Dp’s on Relief Roll to Get U.N. Funds, Lowdermilk Charges

The governments of the Arab states in which Palestine Arab displaced persons are now living are not permitting the refugees to obtain employment in order to remain eligible for United Nations financial aid for the refugees. This statement was made here today by Dr. Walter Clay Lowdermilk, U.S. soil conservation expert who has just returned from a visit to Israel, at a press conference held under the auspices of the American Christian Palestine Committee.

The author of the Jordan Valley Authority plan said that the Arab states–including Transjordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria–refuse to allow the Arab DP’s to go off the relief rolls so that they can continue to receive per capita grants from the United Nations. He charged that in effect the United Nations was subsidizing the Arab governments through the relief program for the Arab refugees.

Asserting that Israel “is better-watered than southern California” and that “water is now actually going to waste” there, the conservation expert stated that the southern desert area “can be productively used for a ranching type of cultivation, similar to that in the American southwest.” The economic problems of Israel “are many and grave,” he said, “but Israel is open-minded, determined and idealistic.” The first stage in implementation of the Jordan Valley Authority plan–exploitation of underground waters–is now being worked on, he revealed.

A group of American Christian leaders left New York by air for Israel today on a study tour of the Jewish state, organized by the American Christian Palestine Committee.