The Reagan Administration is asking Congress to provide $12.5 million to assist in the resettling of Soviet and East European immigrants in Israel for the 1983 fiscal year, the same amount as was appropriated this year. The money will be given to the United Israel Appeal.
Richard Vine, director of the Department Bureau for Refugee Programs, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations today that even though the rate of Soviet Jewish immigration had dropped, the department is asking for the same amount as this year “in recognition of the long-term cost incurred by Israel in caring for refugees who have arrived in recent years.”
The Administration is also asking for $72 million as the United States contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Mideast(UNRWA). Vine said that this is an increase of $5 million over the 1982 appropriation in order to “help UNRWA deal with the effects of inflation and a constantly increasing population.”
He noted that UNRWA, “which provides basic services to the nearly two million Palestinian refugees, contributes towards a political atmosphere within the Mideast which is conducive to the long-term peace process.”
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