LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ARAB REFUGEES SIR,—The British offer to the United Nations of a contribution towards the relief of Arab refugees whose plight is due to the situation in Palestine has not beenjnade too soon, and it is sincerely to be hoped that other nations will contribute too. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have been driven by Jewish military and political action from their homes and farms, and have made a pitiful trek to Transjordan, to Syria, to the. Lebanon, to Egypt and even as far afield as to Iraq. 'It is surely ironical that the attempt to solve the Jewish refugee problem in Europe has produced an equally grievous Arab refugee problem in the Orient.
A few weeks ago I was in Amman, the capital of Transjordan, and spent an evening driving round the town with an official of the Ministry of the Interior. The town was packed with these refugee Arabs, crouch- ing in doorways, lying in the gutters, sleeping in the provincial buses, in schools, in hospitals, in the fields—even in the graveyards. Many of their faces were already gaunt with hunger. For years there has been no begging in this town, but at this time one could not walk ten yards down the street without being accosted for alms.
As these words are being written, Transjordan, with a total population of 400,000, is harbouring no less than 70,000 of these Palestinian Arab refugees. Viewed in proportion to the population, this is a most appalling burden, being the equivalent of the sudden influx into England of some eight million people, or into the United States of America of the staggering total of twenty-three million. The problem is not so severe in Egypt or Iraq, as in those countries the numbers of refugees are trivial, and they are economically capable of absorbing them. But Syria and the Lebanon are in much the same case as Transjordan. These countries are quite incapable of coping with the situation which has been forced upon them— a situation which in like proportion would break the back of the wealthiest nation upon earth. They have neither reserves of food nor clothing. There are no forms of organised charity, and even if these existed, there would be no money to pay for the distribution of the bare essentials of life. At the moment these unwilling emigrants are being kept alive by one means only ; the natural traditional sense of hospitality of their Arab hosts. Rich and poor have flung open their doors, and are providing to the best of their ability food and shelter. I myself know of many cases where an Arab Legion soldier is supporting as many as half a dozen refugees.
It was inevitable that, as soon as the British left Palestine, the Jews should attempt to undertake the elimination of the Arab minority from the predominantly Jewish area of Palestine. This they have accomplished with a ruthlessness and efficiency which was born of their fear of a per- manent Fifth Column in their midst. Inflated by their military and political successes, the Jews have now made it clear-that they cannot accede to the Arab demands that these refugees be permitted to return. This attitude is understandable enough, but in it lies the seed of grave danger for the non-Zionist Jewish communities in the Middle East. In the main cities of the Arab countries there reside more than half a million of these Jews. The Muslim has a record of religious tolerance far more exemplary than the Christian ; witness, for example, the Jews of Baghdad, who have lived in perfect harmony with their Arab cousins for over two thousand years. But if the Arab is driven too far—if he feels that the United Nations Organisation is indifferent to the justice of his case—he is capable of venomous retaliation against the unprotected Jewish corn- mtinities who live in his midst.
The United Nations must act, and act quickly, while there is still time. There are only two alternatives: either the Jews in Palestine must be forced to accept the immediate return of the refugee Arabs or the latter must be resettled in the countries to which they have • fled. The evacuation of these three hundred thousand-odd Arabs from the Jewish area of Palestine has left room in their place for the immigration of something in the region of half a million Jews. Never before has such an opportunity been offered to the United Nations. The Jews should be persuaded to modify their territorial demands in view of the extra Lebensraum with which the Arab evacuation has provided them, and for the Arabs a sum should be immediately voted for the resettlement of the refugees in Transjordan, Syria and the Lebanon sufficiently generous to ensure the success of the undertaking. But no delay—no conferences or committees of enquiry. The dispossession of these Arabs and the refusal of the Zionists in Palestine to allow their return are terrible en- couragements to Arab excesses against the Jews resident in their countries. Let the United Nations grasp the nettle before it is too late.—Yours
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