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Morgenthau Meets with Austin in Paris on Palestine Problem; Expresses Discouragement

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Henry Morgenthau, Jr., United Jewish Appeal chairman who arrived here yesterday en route to Israel, today conferred with Warren Austin, chief U.S. delegate to the U.N. After the meeting Morgenthau told a press conference that he was discouraged by the present American attitude toward various aspects of the Palestine problem.

He added that the prospects of an immediate American loan of $100,000,000 to Israel were practically zero. He expressed the hope that the U.N. would swiftly settle the Palestine problem along the lines laid down in last November’s partition decision, warning that if not it risked a complete failure.

He said Israel was operating under a severe strain because it has diverted 100,000 men to the armed forces from productive activity. He praised the settlement of 73,000 immigrants in Israel within nine months and lauded the work of the Joint Distribution Committee in moving tens of thousands of DP’s to Israel.

Israel was important in the Middle East, he said, as a democratic state offering a point of resistance against Communism in that strategic region. He added that Israel’s example in promoting a higher standard of living in the surrounding Arab countries would also offer effective resistance against Communism.

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