President Eisenhower, in an annual report to Congress on United States operations in the United Nations, today supported UN handling of the Arab refugee problem and endorsed the United Nations Emergency Force as a contribution to stability. He said the United States would continue to support UNEF “because we firmly believe it constitutes a major bulwark of peace in the Middle East.”
Stating that “the future of approximately 1,000,000 Arab refugees from Palestine” caused concern, Mr. Eisenhower said the UN General Assembly “took several constructive steps in an effort to better the present situation and to find a solution to this pressing problem.”
He said that the General Assembly requested the Palestine Conciliation Commission “to make further efforts to secure the implementation of the Assembly’s decision in 1948 that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and to live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so, and that compensation should be paid for property left behind by those not choosing to return.”
The Eisenhower report noted that the Assembly unanimously extended the mandate of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Arab Refugees from Palestine for three years, with provision for a review at the end of two years. He made reference to the fact that the Assembly urged acceleration of programs to make more of the refugees self-supporting. He noted, also, that the Assembly “asked that irregularities in the distribution of relief rations be stopped.”
Mr. Eisenhower stated that the United States had stressed at the United Nations that a fundamental solution of the Arab refugee problem “must be sought by all available means.” He said the Assembly “made a further significant contribution to stability in the Middle East by voting continued support for the United Nations Emergency Force.” He termed the UNEF patrolling of the Israel-Egyptian frontier “a remarkable demonstration of what international cooperation can do to help keep the peace.”
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