ISRAEL


973


  In order to formulate more precisely the nature land extent of this
Government's interest in the refugee problem, and the degree to which
we should participate in effecting a solution, an 'appreciation of the
probable effects of the refugee problem upon our military ,and strategic
interests in the Near East would be of considerable value to the
Department.
  It would be appreci'ated if you would transmit the foregoing to the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the request that such an estimate be pre-
pared for the Department's guidance.
  Sincerely yours,                                 DEAN ACHESON

501.MA Palestine/5-449
  Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and
      African Affairs (Satterthwzaite) to the Secretary of State

SECRET                                 [WASHINGTON,] May 4, 1949.
Subject: Visit of Israeli Ambassador.
Discussion:
  The Israeli Ambassador, Mr. Eliahu Elath, has an appointment with
you at 4:15 this afternoon. He is under instructions from his Govern-
ment to deliver to the Secretary a copy of a statement which has been
prepared for Israeli representatives to make before the ad hoe Com-
mittee of the United Nations General Assembly when the question of
the admission of Israel to the United Nations is discussed by that Com-
mittee. The background of this matter is briefly as follows:
  'One of the most important problems which must be cleared up be-
  fore a lasting peace can be established in Palestine is the question of
the disposition of the more than 700,000 Arab refugees who during the
Palestine conflict fled from their homes in what is now Israeli occupied
territory and are at present living as refugees in Arab Palestine and
the neighboring Arab states. The December 11, 1948, resolution of the
United Nations General Assembly on Palestine resolved that the
refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their
neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.
The Israelis have consistently maintained that the solution of the Arab
refugee problem lies not in repatriation but in resettlement in the Arab
states. Representatives of the Arab states, on the other hand, have in-
sisted that 'a prerequisite to a final peace in Palestine is the acceptance
by Israel of the principle of the repatriation of those Arab refugees
who desire to return to their homes.
   Arab and Israeli representatives are now meeting in Lausanne,
 Switzerland, with the Palestine Conciliation Commission to discuss a