Focus On Israel
Pag»3-THE NEWS-February, 1963
Refugees: The Double Exodus
By Kenny Gross
It is an indication of the
success of the Arab pro
paganda machine that when
we think of refugees in rela
tion to Israel, we think only
of thousands of homeless
and suffering Arabs. We
overlook the statistics.
Responsible scientific
estimates place the figures
as follows:
Into Israel from Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia, Libya,
Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen,
Aden, Lebanon: 750-800
thousand.
Out of Israel to surroun
ding Arab countries: 550-600
thousand, a surplus in
Israel’s favor of 200 thou
sand. These movements are
comparatively small to
others which took place after
World War II. For example-
between: India and
Pakistan-11 million;
Czechoslovakia and West
and East Germany-3 million;
East Germany and neighbor
ing countries-314 million;
Poland and East Germany
and other countrieS‘6^/i
million; Biafra and Nigeria-2
million; Algeria and France-
1 million; North Korea and
South Korea-1 million;
China and Hong Kong-2
million.
There is one outstanding
difference, however, every
In a recent study, Rudy
Boschwitz of Minnesota has
put the issue of American aid
to Israel in perspective. How
much is Israel really costing
America? Is it worth it? Is
Israel a burden or a bargain?
Senator Boschwitz has
unscrambled the statistics
and penetrated the
bureaucratic jargon to reveal
the following:
The United States lays out
in “foreign aid” to Israel a
sum which amounts to about
4% of what the United States
lays out to Great Britain,
France, Italy and West Ger
many. This year, when Israel
will get about $3 billion,
NATO countries will get $50
to $80 billion — but you
never hear about it. This is
because in the wonderful
world of bureaucracy the
money sent to Israel is called
“foreign aid.” It is quietly
stored away in the defense
budget.
A few more facts: Israel
pays back upwards of one-
half of the American aid it
gets, while NATO pays back
nothing. This year, for exam
ple, Israel will be paying out
$900 million in accumulated
principle and interest on
previous American loans,
which means that the actual
cash outlay to Israel from
America this year will not be
$3 billion, but about $2
billion. Furthermore of that
$2 billion, all of its defense-
related portion will be spent
in the United States, thereby
creating jobs not for Israelis
but for Americans. By con
trast, the money which the
United States spends on
NATO creates jobs for both
American soldiers and for
one million Europeans.
one of the non-Arab coun
tries that received a flood of
refugees did their best to
resettle the new arrivals. All
organized absorption pro
grams, on the other hand in
most of the Arab countries
where the Palestinians mov
ed, strenuous efforts were
made to prevent or limit the
resettlement of refugees.
The reason for this callous
attitude to their brethern
was avowedly political. If
these Arab refugees were to
find jobs and establish
homes, they might lose their
sense of identity as Palesti
nians and their yearning for
their old homes. This would
upset the political advantage
of declaiming the right
(morally) of Israel’s ex
istence and her claims to the
land.
This political aim becomes
very clear when it is realized
that “A fortnight’s (two
weeks) surplus oil revenue
from Saudi Arabia could
provide compensation and
resettlement funds for every
refugee” (Philip Goodhart-
member of British Parlia
ment).
When thinking of Arab
refugees therefore, we must
balance the flight of an even
larger number of Jewish
What is America getting
for the money it sends to
Israel? It gets the latest in
telligence information on the
latest, most advanced Soviet
weaponry. Israel, not
NATO, is supplying the
United States with this in
formation. Israel, not NATO
is keeping the Soviet Union
out of the Middle East — as
convincingly demonstrated
last June by the Israel Air
Force’s utter rout of Soviet
armed Syrian attempts to
overtake Lebanon. And
Israel is doing this with just
a few percentage points of
the aid which America ships
overseas.
What is more, Israel is no
drain on American trade.
While Japan has an $18 to
$20 billion positive trade
balance with the United
States, Israel has a con
sistently negative trade
balance with the U.S. This
means that the money which
America ships to Israel for
economic assistance even
tually finds it way back to
America in the form of
Israeli imports of American
goods.
You hear a lot about Israel
having received around $20
billion in aid from America
in the last 10 years. The
figure is accurate. What you
do not hear is that NATO
will receive about six times
that amount for the next
(1983) fiscal year alone. And
NATO does not pay back,
while Israel pays back about
50% of the aid it receives.
Furthermore, Israel is
basically paying its own
way, using American aid
simply to supplement what
is the highest per capita
defense budget in the world.
refugees from Arab lands.
In order to get a more com-
plete picture of the
“Refugee” problem as it
relates to Israel and this
understanding is today im
portant, in the light of the
problems in Samaria, Judea
and Gaza (West Bank) let us
examine the underlying
causes of the double Exodus.
The Jewish refugees left
their homes in Arab coun
tries because a reasonable
life style became impossible.
They had suffered for cen
turies as second class
citizens with no rights, or
very few in some countries,
but with the United Nations
vote in November 1947 for
the recognition of a Jewish
state, the position
deteriorated very rapidly.
Jews were hounded as free
game and their extinction
was clearly the Arab policy.
It was only because of the ex
traordinary measures taken
by world Jewry in financing
and organizing hurried
transport that the Jewish
refugees were able to flee,
leaving behind all their
possessions and capital, to
their new land.
Why did the Arab refugees
leave their homes in
Palestine (to become Israel
while Japan, Italy, France,
and West Germany con
sistently underspend
America not only in absolute
terms but also in the degree
of GNP devoted to defense.
NATO countries are asking
America to do a job which
NATO should be doing a lot
more of itself, while Israel is
simply asking for sup
plementary help.
Consider this, too: Israel
receives only American
money, while NATO receives
American money and men.
When Israel fights Soviet
proxies (such as Syria) in the
Middle East, it is Israeli
soldiers who die, while for
NATO it is American
soldiers who defend Europe.
Take it all around,
American aid to Israel is a
bargain: Israel doesn’t take
much; what it does take it
either spends in America or
pays back to America in
trade; and in return for its
aid to Israel, America gets
an ally which not only talks
but acts to keep the Soviets
out of the Middle East, and
also keeps democarcy alive
in the Middle East. Take it
all around, American aid to
Israel is a bargain.
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in May 1948)? I have no bet
ter way of answering this
than by quotations from
Arab sources.
Our leaders told us “Get
out so that we can get in...”
(Emil G hory-Secretary
General of the Palestine
Arab Higher Committee,
September 6, 1948).
“We left our land on the
strength of false promises by
crooked leaders in the Arab
states. They promised us
that our absence would not
last more than 2 weeks, a
kind of promenade, at the
end of which we would
return” (“Falastin”, Jordan
Daily, May 30,1955).
Iraq’s Prime Minister had
thundered, “We shall smash
the country with our guns,
and destroy and obliterate
every place the Jews will
seek shelter. The Arabs
should conduct their wives
and children to safer areas
till the fighting has died
down” (Niwar A1 Hawari,
Commander of Paramilitary
Arab Youth Organization in
Palestine).
What is the significance of
these sad episodes at this
belated hour? Because in the
general buildup of Arab and
Jewish claims and
grievances, one hears of
compensation. The attitude
of past Israeli governments
has been to discourage
Jewish claims perhaps due
to a simplistic interpretation
of Zionism, which refuses to
allow Jews to see any
diaspora as being “theirs”
even if they lived there for
over 2000 years. Perhaps
they have failed to realize
the tremendous wealth that
was stolen from Jews by
Arab government.
Initial studies have in
dicated that Jewish proper
ty, both communal and
private, confiscated by Arab
governments, totals as much
as 5 times the maximal
claims of Palestinian Arabs
against Israel.
More recently, a new
thesis has been submitted,
whereby Jews from Arab
countries, are entitled to a
share in the resources in
cluding land, water and oil of
the countries which were
theirs before being driven
out. This has been modestly
estimated as 3 percent. The
value of this claim would be
astonishing. The size of pre
sent day Israel is far less
than 3 percent of these Arab
territories. The area of the
Arab proposed self-
determined, Independent
state, to be established in the
West Bank, would be a small
fraction of this 3 percent.
I feel it is time to take
these claims seriously and to
be pressed in international
forums now, before they
would appear to be raised
merely as a defense against
Arab claims, when the Camp
David discussions are
resumed. The mundane
political world would
understand these realities.
In the hard bargaining which
lies ahead, there is no place,
unfortunately, for the claims
of history nor of equity.
What may be understood is
property rights, for this af
fects everyone and is in our
materialistic times, sacred.
?eenspon
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American Aid To Israel —
Tlie Bargain Beliind The Bluster