Palestine Exodus
There are now more Arab refugees from Palestine than there are Jewish refugees waiting to get into it. That grim fact seems to have attracted little attention, and if the British delegate had not raised the problem at Lake Success there is no reason to suppose that any of the other delegates, except those from the Arab countries, would have bothered their heads about it. Yet the relief and settle- ment of these unfortunate people is clearly the responsibility of the United Nations who are the sponsors, and the Zionists who are the agents, of the policy which has driven them from their homes. As is pointed out in a letter on another page, there are two ways in which this problem can be dealt with ; either the refugees can be made to return to Jewish-occupied territory, or they can be helped to settle in other Arab lands. The first solution is the juster ; the second the more politic. Syria, Iraq and Transjordan have lands which are under-populated, though capital as much as man-power is needed before they can be developed. Refugees, it is unfortunately true, do not make good pioneering material, and most of those now shelter- ing on the borders of Palestine arc women and children of the poorest classes ; but the alternative of sending them back to Jewish Palestine would only perpetuate a minority problem of the acutest sort. If the policy of resettlement is adopted, and if the countries involved accept it, the United Nations will have to foot the bill, and there is no doubt that a generous contribution should come from the Jewish State. It has all along been realised that if partition came into being, either by agreement or by violence, the Jewish part of Palestine would have to pay a subvention to the Arab areas. There is also urgent need for the usual relief services which a large body of refugees anywhere require ; food, clothing, medical supplies, shelter and so forth. Epidemics are more than likely to break out. It will be a pity if we have to wait for the appearance of cholera or typhus before the United Nations is jogged into appreciating what its Palestine policy has entailed.
