Rumania today called on both parties in the Middle East dispute to find a solution to the problem by direct negotiations in a quiet atmosphere. The statement was made by Mr. M. Predescu during the four day debate in the special political committee on the Palestine refugee question. He called for a political settlement by resorting to peaceful means by all sides in the dispute. He said that a withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territory should take into account the security of all states in the region.
The British representative, J. H. Lambert, said that he could not share the view that the refugee problem is political by nature. He called on all member states of the U.N. to contribute to UNRWA and said that two governments so far contribute 80 per cent of the UNRWA budget.
He said it is imperative that displaced Arabs should be allowed to return to their homes and those who remain should be allowed to live in peace.
Earlier, the committee agreed to grant hearings to the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group supporting terrorist activities against Israel, and to the so-called Palestine Arab delegation, with the proviso that the hearings would not constitute recognition of the groups by the U.N.
The annual discussion of the refugee problem was opened by Laurence Michelmore, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, who warned that his agency faced a $9 million deficit and urged member nations which have not yet pledged funds for the refugees to do so.
Mr. Michelmore said that taking into account the 14,000 refugees who have returned to the West Bank, there is now in Jordan a total of 577,000 refugees of whom 245,000 are persons who have been displaced since the June war. He said that the number of displaced persons in the UAR from areas occupied by Israel is now estimated to be between 60- and 70,000 and Syrian refugees are said to number 100,000.
The figure on refugees in Jordan quoted by the UNRWA head differed sharply from those given today by Jordanian Ambassador Mohammud el-Farra who claimed that Jordan now holds 964,000 refugees including 719,000 there previously and 245,000 new arrivals since the June war. Mr. El-Farra, in a speech filled with denunciations of Israel, accused that country of expelling Arabs from their homes, destroying villages and torturing and oppressing the Arab inhabitants of Israel.
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