June 28, 1957 Senator Hubert H. Humphrey on Refugees

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Chairman of the Consultative Subcommittee on Near Eastern, South Asian and African Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

 “The refugee camps have become hotbeds of political intrigues deliberately fomented by Communist and ant-western Arab agitators.  They are breeding grounds of hatred for the United States and sources of political instabil,ity for the countries that harbor them…

 “The fact is that the Arab States have for 10 years used the Palestinian refugees as political hostages in their struggle with Israel.  While Arab delegates in the United Nations have condemned the plight of their brothers in the refugee camps, nothing has been done to assist them in a practical way, lest political leverage over Israel be lost.

 “On the other hand, repatriation of all, or even a large number of refugees, by Israel is no longer possible.  In the first place, Israel has accepted and settled some 900,000 immigrants, many of whom were in fact refugees from Arab States where repressive measures have made their lives intolerable.  Furthermore, surrounded by nations which insist upon exercising rights of belligerency against her, it would be suicidal for Israel to admit a large group of immigrants whose whole indoctrination for the past 10 years has been one of hatred for the Jewish state.  To do so would be to establish a fifth column inside the country.

 “Nevertheless, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion told me that the Government of Israel would be prepared to admit a limited number of refugees who would pledge to become constructive and productive Israeli citizens and not subversives.”

Source: Regional Development for Regional Peace: A New Policy and Program to Counter the Soviet Menace in the Middle East, Washington, DC: Public Affairs Institute, 1957