Evening star., 1950-12-30
Fat U. N. EmpIoye Pay
For DoIing Out Relief
Arouses Arabs Wrath
Group Seen Doing Nothing
To Improve Relations of
Middle East With West
By Dorothy Thompson

ny DOfOTHp HOmpSOn
EN- ROUTE HOME FROM THE
MIDDLE EAST The United Ma
tions is doing nothing to improve
relations between the Middle East
and the West The U. N. appears
a. representative only of the
Americas, the British Common
wealth and Western Europe. Rus
sia and associates are not in the
picture
The chief U. N. activity is dis
pensing relief to nearly 100000 Of
ficlally registered Palestinian
refugees, living in tent cities. This
consists. per person per fortnight,
of IL pounds of flour. about three
cups of dried beans or peas, three
cups of rice. three cups of wheat
and one cup of sugar. Pregnant
women and children get an extra
ration of d cup of skinned milk
per day. When there are fats this
ration is reduced. Occasionally a
family will get a tin of canned
fish. Meat or eggs they never get.
The diet is all starch.
The average Arab villager prob
ably seldom has much more. SAM
tsry conditions are better in most
camps than III most villages. I am
told. But these homeless Pales-
tinian refugees, who include many
persons who have lived at a much
higher standard all hold the U. N.
responsible fol their dispoSsession.
What makes them additionally in
censed is the bureaucratic manner
in which relief is administered
and the preposterous scale of
salaries paid the Western admins
traitors. In fact. wonder at the
incredible docility of Western tax
payers!
S1O-S2O Day Expenses.
u. N. salaries are scaled to nor
NAL home salaries plus a per diem
allowance ranging from $40 to $50
per day. The recipients have cars
at their disposal. pay no income
tax, get cigarettes. liquor ETC.. free
of customs and way below home
prices. The theory is that other
wise no one would serve.
This is nonsense. Many edu-
cational, medical and relief mis-
sions have operated for years in
the Middle East at very modest
salaries. They recruit idealistic
and socially minded persons
anxious to perform devoted serv-
ice, or the Intellectually eager,
welcoming opportunity for new
experiences. The U. N. makes no
such appeal and handing out
other peoples money becomes, for
some, a racket. Why. for instance,
should $40-a-week American
stenographer be taxed to pay
United Nations Relief and Work
Administration typist a taX-free
income of 1922 per week in places
where living costs are considerably
below those in America?
No European UNRWA employe
gets less than $6,365 per year. |
Many of them live on per diem
allowances and save their entire
salaries. On the other hand native
employees, doing the same work,
and often more efficiently, receive
a tiny fraction of the Westerners'
pay. An Arab trained nurse gets
S45 per month and maintenance.
A Swiss nurse gets with allow
ances) S608 per month. or more
than 13 times the Arab nurses
income. A European UNRWA lab
oratory technician gets $700 per
month-more than an American
colonel in regular service and
three times the salary of the chief
surgeon, a distinguished Arab, in
the same hospital!
More Pay Than Governor.
A chieI district relief officer
gets ST. 100 per month, or more
than the Arab governor of the
province.
The salary scales of all private
Western institutions are thrown
way out of balance as result.
An UNRWA stenographer gets
twice the income of starting full
professor at the American Uni
versity of Beirut. The Quakers,
YMCA's, Lutherans, and Cath
olic welfare organizations pay
salaries which enable their people
to live decently but austerely,
and thus WIN immeasurably more
affection and respect than the
U. N. people.
They also attract superior
type of personality. l have met
fine administrators in UNRWA,
but the better they are the more
they are in rebellion against the
whole setup. And whenever one
sees a camp showing little love,
sympathy and comeliness-with
gardens laid out, decent school
set up, and even floorless tents
protected with low walls against
seeping rains-one invariably finds
that some voluntary organization
has taken the lead in doing its
administration.
The economic position of the
Western U. N. employe vis-a-vis
the native makes the U. N. appear
as another outpost of Western
imperialism-the more glaring
when Westerners draw fat pay for
handing out lean charity.
(ReIeased by The Bell Syndicate, Inc)