No. 213 NAI TSCH/3/S13373/C1
Memorandum for Government by the Department of External Affairs
'Assistance to Palestine Refugees'
Dublin, 16 December 1948
- The Minister for External Affairs has received an urgent request from the Secretary General of the United Nations for a contribution, in kind or in funds, towards the relief of refugees in Palestine. This request is made in accordance with a resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 19th November, 1948, authorising the Secretary General to set up machinery for the administration of this relief scheme and to take an advance of $5 million from the funds of UNO pending the receipt of contributions from Governments. The British Government has promised food or money to the extent of £1 million, provided other nations contribute in like proportion. (On the ratio of our contributions to the expenses of the OEEC, of which Britain pays 31% and we pay .87%, a British contribution of £1 million for relief in Palestine would be matched by a contribution of £28,065 from us.)
- The refugees in need of relief consist of about 333,000 destitute Arab refugees from Jewish-controlled areas in Palestine and about 7,000 Jewish refugees from Arab-controlled areas. 30% of the refugees are children under 5 years of age. 10% are expectant or nursing mothers.
- In response to an appeal made by Prince Bernadotte, the Palestine mediator, the Government decided on the 25th August last to contribute 200 tons of potatoes for the relief of these refugees.1 They were shipped from Dublin on the 13th November.
- The appeal made by the United Nations Organisation has been supported in representations made to the Taoiseach by the United Council of Christian Churches and Religious Communities in Ireland and by the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland. A separate appeal has been received, through the Honorary Consul General at Beirut, on behalf of a body called the Catholic Relief Committee for Palestine, the headquarters of which are at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. This latter appeal seems to be quite independent of the appeal made by the Secretary General of the United Nations. In situations such as that now existing in Palestine, the balance of the argument is in favour of centralising relief work so far as possible in a single organisation, but, if it were decided to make a contribution in reply to the appeal received from the Secretary General of UNO, we could make the contribution with an accompanying request that a proportion of it should be placed at the disposal of the Catholic Relief Committee for Palestine.
- Both potatoes and oats are available in ample supply should the Government decide to make a contribution in kind to the relief of distress among Palestinian refugees. It is understood that, from the point of view of the Department of Agriculture, a contribution of oats, in the form of oatmeal, would be better than one of potatoes. Oatmeal is regarded as one of the most valuable foods for emergency relief purposes, owing to its high nutritional value.
- A contribution in potatoes would cost about £17 a ton c.i.f. Oats in the round would hardly be useful because it is unlikely that adequate oat-milling facilities exist in the Levant. Oatmeal could, however, be made available through the Department of Agriculture at a cost of about £52 a ton c.i.f. A contribution of 1,000 tons of potatoes would, therefore, cost about £17,000, and one of 500 tons of oatmeal (equivalent to 1,000 tons of oats) about £26,000. It is expected that, as things are, there will be savings of about £240,000 on the current year's Vote for Alleviation of Distress Abroad.
- On the basis of the foregoing considerations, the Minister will ask the Government at its next meeting to consider the question what response, if any, should be made to the appeals received for help towards the relief of distress among refugees in Palestine.2
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