Israeli delegate Arthur Lourie today reiterated in the Special Committee’s debate on Palestine refugees the declared policy of his government “to pay compensation for abandoned Arab land.” He said that it was prepared to do this despite the “boycott and blockade so zealously pursued by the Arab states.”
Mr. Lourie referred to Israel’s unfreezing of the blocked accounts of Arab refugees, an action which elicited the warm commendation of the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission. He charged that the failure of the $250,000,000 resettlement program for the Arab refugees was due to the refusal of the Arab governments to cooperate.
He quoted a Mr. Gallaway, a former member of the UN Relief and Works Agency, as saying “it’s perfectly clear that the Arab nations do not want to solve the Arab refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront against the United Nations, and a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don’t give a damn whether the refugees live or die.”
Mr. Lourie asked the U.S. representative and others who had appealed to Israel to take back the Arab refugees, how Israel could do this, knowing that those Arab refugees intended to subvert the state and explode it from within.
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