U.S. Aid to Israel Must Continue, State Dept, Tells House Committee

The United States will have to give financial aid to Israel for at least two or three more years. Arthur 2. Gardiner, economic operations advisor of the Near Eastern Division of the State Department, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, it was revealed here today when the minutes of the committee’s testimony were made public.

The State Department official said he thought 1953 or 1954 was “too early a date” to consider cutting off aid to Israel. “I think we certainly cannot look for a program of less than two or three years.” he said. “It depends in a large measure on whether a determination is made in Israel to consolidate the present population or whether it is determined necessary to ingather still more Israelis.”

Asked whether the Arabs might not “take” Israel when the U.S. aid program ends, the State Department official said that he discussed this with the Arabs and was reminded that they won the crusades after 200 years. “This thinking in terms of generations,” he declared, “is an error.

“The Israel State,” Mr. Gardiner continued, “is a very effective, well-organized, well-ordered state. They have shown their proficiency in their operations with the British in the war and subsequently. Certainly, nothing could be more desirable than to have those forces of order, determination, skill, and intelligence, harnessed in a team with the resources of Arab world. Our challenge is to try to reconcile these forces now.”

IMPOSSIBLE TO RETURN ARAB REFUGEES TO ISRAEL, OFFICIAL SAYS

Commenting on the possibility of the return of Arab refugees to Israel, Mr. Gardiner said: “As a practical matter, with the immigration that has occurred in Israel, there is room for very, very few. If you wanted to bring them back, you just could not do it; not with all the good will in the world. You could not bring in many hundreds of thousands of Palestinians (Arabs). There is no room for them.”

Declaring that the Arab refugee situation must be considered a “fait accompli” the State Department representative said: “We have no program that looks to anything but stabilization of the Near East. We must look to the stability of Israel. Indeed, we must do some further heart-searching and consider the necessity to appropriate funds to maintain Israel. Certainly it would be another great human tragedy if the Israelis were now driven out.”

Mr. Gardiner reported that the Russians were “fishing” in the “troubled waters” of the Arab refugee problem and that they have made “a lot of converts” to Communism. He noted that “by and large, however, the Arab people do not take kindly to Russian propaganda.”

A prepared statement submitted by Mr. Gardiner on the Arab refugee problem said: “The relief and resettlement of the Palestine refugee is of even more importance to the security of the United States today than it has been in past years. There are numerous reasons for this:

“First, the Anglo-Egyptian dispute over the defense of the Suez Canal, the future status of the Sudan and the recent riots in Cairo have upset the stability of the entire Near East area at a most crucial moment in our efforts to build up the security of the area. Every other situation contributing to the instability ###he area, of which the Palestine refugee problem is one of the most serious, endangers the peace of the free world.

“Second, no real security can be obtained in the Near East until a lasting peace is obtained between Israelis and Arabs. The refugee problem is the principal obstacle to this peace.

“Third, Communist propaganda continues to exploit the plight of the refugees.

“Fourth, the presence of the refugees serves as a constant reminder to the Arab world of what is considered anti-Arab intervention of the West in the Palestine case. The refugee is therefore a symbol about whom all dissidents can rally.”