Concrete recommendations for the settlement of the Arab refugee problem were advanced here today in connection with the World Refugee Year, which goes into effect on July 1, under a mandate from the United Nations General Assembly. The recommendations were outlined in a report presented at a press conference by Elfan Rees, chairman of the executive committee of the International Committee for the World Refugee Year. They suggested:
1. To accept as “practical” and “hopeful” the offer which Israel made in the United Nations last year to compensate the Arab refugees under certain conditions.
2. As part of the over-all settlement of the refugee problem in the Middle East, account must be taken of property abandoned in Arab lands by 400,000 Jews who “have been forced to leave their homes in Iraq, Yemen and North Africa” for settlement in Israel.
3. To consider the repatriation of the Arab refugees to Israel as “physically and politically impossible, and culturally undesirable.”
4. Israel should admit some Arab refugees, “under international control, on a quota basis, over a period of years.”
5. The world “should be ready to support Israel financially in its compensation plan. “
6. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Arab Refugees from Palestine change its title to “Works and Relief Agency,” so as to emphasize the need of rehabilitation of the refugees through work, rather than through relief activities. UNRWA’s man date expires June 30, 1960, and the United Nations must decide at the next General Assembly whether to continue aiding the Arab refugees and how to perform that task beyond 1960.
Among participants in the press conference at which Dr. Rees’ report was issued was also James P. Rice, executive director of United Hias Service. Mr. Rice lauded America’s contribution to World Refugee Year, citing plans for fresh congressional action in regard to immigration. He pointed to the recent White House conference on the refugee problem, where proposals were voiced for active American participation in WRY. Mr. Rice stated that a number of other countries in the Western Hemisphere are aiding WRY. He announced that, in Brazil, active work is being carried on by a committee appointed by the President of Brazil, on which one of the members is the Brazilian representative of Hias.
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