The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted today to cut the United States allocation for the aid of the Arab refugees being helped by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees by $700, 000 during the next year. The U.S.A. has been paying 70 percent of UNRWA’s expenses consistently since the aid group was established by the U.N. 1950, spending on UNRWA to date a total of $351, 000,000. Since 1962, Washington’s contribution to UNRWA has amounted to $24, 700, 000 each year.
The proposal to cut the UNRWA allocation was made by Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat, who criticized the failure of the Arab governments where UNRWA operates its refugee camps to aid the rectification of the UNRWA ration rolls. The rolls, he said, are swollen with false claimants and claims on behalf of refugees who died. The UNRWA rolls now list alleged refugees numbering more than 1, 200, 000 persons, aided in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Farbstein also called the committee’s attention to the fact that the Palestine Liberation Organization, anti-Israel fighting arm of the Arab League, has been sending some of its members for training in Communist China on behalf of a “liberation war” against Israel. UNRWA-aided refugees in the PLO continue to receive help from the U.N. organization.
PLO TO SEND TROOPS TO FIGHT U.S. FORCES IN SOUTH VIETNAM
While the House committee was discussing U.S. aid to UNRWA and the link of the PLO to Communist China, reports were received here from the Middle East News Agency, in Cairo, about a PLO decision to send its troops to North Vietnam to fight as guerillas against the U.S. forces in South Vietnam. The announcement in Cairo was made by Ahmed Shukairy, chairman of the PLO, who said that the troops would, by serving with North Vietnam, be able “to study in actual surroundings the methods of guerilla warfare which will be used in the inevitable war to liberate Palestine.”
The news about PLO’s decision was announced in the House of Representatives, as soon as it was received by Rep. Seymour Halpern, New York Republican. He demanded that the U.S. sever all aid to countries like Egypt and Syria that permit their territories to be used by military forces “intended for commitment on the Communist side in Vietnam.” The main FLO forces are being trained in Egypt and Syria.
Rep, William Fitts Ryan, New York Democrat, then proposed that a ban on aid to Egypt under the “Food for Freedom” Bill previously voted then secretly removed at the request of the Administration, be restored. By voice vote, the House passed Mr. Ryan’s proposal.
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