The U.S. International Development Advisory Board called for the reclamation of the Tigris-Euphrates Valleys saying:
“Several millions of acres of potentially fertile land could be irrigated and a new ‘bread basket’ created. Perhaps two to three million persons could be settled on these new farms.
If feasible and carried through – which would require several years at best – the new land could absorb 750,000 Arab refugees from Palestine, at present the gravest source of unrest in the Middle East.”
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