Arab League

Abstract

According to press reports from Beirut, Lebanon, on August 11 and 18, 1959, representatives of nine Arab states—all the members of the Arab League except Tunisia—were preparing a lengthy reply to the suggestion of Mr. Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, that the Palestine refugees being sheltered by various Arab countries be economically integrated into these countries. Spokesmen for the Arab states declared at the end of a tenday conference that they would unanimously support the refugees' demand to return to their homes in what had become the state of Israel; this was tantamount to rejection of Mr. Hammarskjold's proposal to spend $1.5–$2 billion within the next five years to create productive jobs for about one million refugees living in Arab lands. Although the Secretary-General had asserted that economic integration would not prejudice any rights of the refugees, the Arabs interpreted the plan to mean that the refugees would be permanently resettled among them. Apparently the only part of Mr. Hammarskjold's report that was acceptable to the Arabs was that calling for the continued existence of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the organization administering the relief program for refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Republic.