Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-13
Coo Strip

Thousands Of Arab refugees IN
the Cana strip rioted recently
when Israel and Egypt had their
shooting incident" near the city Of
GAIA; and the cries Of the angry
refugees illustrated the mood that
has developed among them In their
seven years Of exile. They shouted
Down with Israeli" Down with
Egypt" Down with the United
etates!" Down with Britain!" and
Down with the United Nations!"
For seven years Of waiting has
reduced three quarters Of q million
Arab refugees to defiant helpless
ness. They are mad at every one.
About 100000 Of the refugees are
damned into the small GAIA strip.
q narrow corridor controlled by
Egypt. hemmed in on one side by
the sea and on the other by Israel.
The strip 10 0 seething mass Of
misery-but varying from the other
refugee areas only in the excessive
overcrowding.
They Are Unique
No other group Of refugees re-
sembleS the Arabs. AL refugees
carry In their hearts the longing
for the land they left behind. But
the million white Russians who
fled after the revolution, the IL mil
lion Greeks who left Turkey in 1922,
the 100000 Turks who left Greece
in the same year and the / mil
lion DPS knew there was no turn
ing back, and they struggled more
or less successfully to be integrated
Into another country.
Only the 10 million East Germans
who fed to the western zone re-
fused for q while to accept the fact
Of German partition. They sat in
Dachau and other former concen-
tration camps, waiting as sullenly
as the Arabs are waiting today for
the moment they could 60 home.
But in time, they too set about
building new life and became part
Of Western Germany.
Only very few Arab refugees
have built a new existence. Their
number has been more than Offset by
newborn children and by those ref
ugees who exhausted their own re-
sources and became dependents.
b When U. N. agencies set up op-
Grafton after the Arab-Israel war.
there were more than 100000 refu-
gees on the rolls. Over the years the
number has even increased slightly.
About half of them are in Jordan,
a third in the narrow GAIA strip
in Egypt and the rest in Lebanon
and Syria. The United Nations Re-
lief and Works Agency feeds them,
shelters them, gives them medical
car, in short, keeps them alive. But
the basic problem of resettlement
remains unSolved.
Cold Misery
I got my first look at Arab refu-
gees In the old walled city Of Jeru-
salem. Six or eight people were
living in each Of the dank stone
Easements Of the former Jewish
quarter. The rooms were dark, small,
without furnishings. except for a
kerosene burner and q pile Of blan-
kets In the corner. You wondered
how 20 many people could stretch
out at once on the floor. Winters
are cold In Jerusalem. and there
was nothing between the bodies
and the floor but q thin blanket,
nothing but human proximity to
provide heat.
The narrow streets outside were
crawling with children, men and
women, begging, Offering themselves
as guides. trying to earn few extra
pennies. Among the jostling crowds.
the donkeys, the smells and noise,
/ made my way to the square where
the monthly food allotments were
distributed. UNRWA officials were
handing out flour, beans, sugar.
margarine, rice and dates. provid-
ing between 1900 and 1.700 Galleries
at the cost Of about 8 cents . day.
Then miles north Of Jerusalem lies
the beautiful resort town Ramallah.
Naarhv arA mora Peftl1eA ennnDS