Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

501.BB Palestine/7–2748: Telegram

The Acting United States Representative at the United Nations (Jessup) to the Secretary of State

restricted

New York, July 27, 1948—1:55 p. m.

957. Following is text of letter received from Comay (PGI) on subject Arab refugees. We have acknowledged this, requesting we be advised any additional information which PGI representatives here obtain.

“A few days ago, Mr. Reed of your delegation discussed with me the question of Arab refugees. In the light of further information, which has now come to hand from the PGI, its general attitude can be noted as follows:

(a) The Government of Israel must disclaim any responsibility for the creation of this problem. The charge that these Arabs were forcibly driven out by Israel authorities is wholly false; on the contrary, everything possible was done to prevent an exodus which was a direct result of the folly of the Arab states in organizing and launching a war of aggression against Israel. The impulse of the Arab civilian population to migrate from war areas, in order to avoid being involved in the hostilities, was deliberately fostered by Arab leaders for political motives. They did not wish the Arab population to continue to lead a peaceful existence in Jewish areas, and they wished to exploit the exodus as a propaganda weapon in surrounding Arab countries and in the outside world. This inhuman policy has now faced the governments concerned with practical problems for which they must assume full responsibility.

(b) The question of the return of Arab refugees cannot be divorced from its military context. While a state of war continues to exist between Israel and the surrounding Arab states, it would gravely prejudice the security and defense of Israel if its borders were flung open to an unrestricted influx of Arabs from those states, who would be a disruptive element in the maintenance of internal law and order, and a formidable fifth column for external enemies. It must be appreciated that a truce is not peace, but merely an interruption of active warfare, and that the governments which are now pressing for the return of these refugees, in order to relieve themselves of a problem they have created, are in the same breath making it clear that they have not relinquished their bellicose intentions.

(c) While permission to return is at present being granted in individual cases on special compassionate grounds, and subject to security screening, the general question can only be considered as part of a permanent peace settlement with the Arab states.

(d) Such future consideration will take into account the position and treatment of Jewish minorities in the Arab countries.

(e) The Arabs remaining in Israel are assured of equal status, full protection, and due care by the state as regards their social services”.¹

Jessup

1. For the letter of July 30 from Foreign Minister Shertok to Count Bernadotte expressing Israeli inability to agree to the readmission of Arab refugees to Israeli-controlled areas, see SC, 3rd yr., Supplement for August 1948, p. 106.