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Foreign Affairs 10 DECEMBER 1948
gune on in the General Assembly of the United Nations; they were distinguished for length, repetitiveness and violence. I should like to deal with one point which has been mentioned by several speakers -namely the bickering and blackguard- ing which went on in the debates. was implied that this was not confined to the delegates from Communist countries.
It
For several years past delegates to the United Nations have been familiar with attacks from delegates from Communist countries on the institutions, policies and even personalities of the Western demo- cracies. This year, it is true, was notable in that these attacks on occasion drew ex- tremely frank and direct replies from Western delegates, especially from dele- gates from the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom adopted this course after thought and with reluctance. We believe it is better if the meetings are conducted peacefully without polemics. Polemics raise the temperature and hold up the proceedings. They also put the spokes- man for the democracies at something of a disadvantage if they are scrupulous, as they are, about telling the truth and being consistent. For those reasons, in the past we have allowed these attacks to go by
either in silence or with formal acknow- ledgement. But it has not been possible to maintain this attitude. There are times
when silence can be mistaken too easily for lack of conviction and moral courage.
There are times when, in Debate, attack on the ground of one's own choos- ing is the most appropriate and effective method of reply, and it is true that selected and distorted facts constantly and vigorously repeated can confuse the judg- ment, or at least lower the morale, of those who have to hear them. Therefore, as these hon. Members have mentioned in the Debate, there has been an unpre- cedented vigour about the language of United Kingdom delegates at the United Nations Assembly from time to time. I believe that is necessary, and I believe that the reason for it is understood. If a propaganda battle is imposed upon us, we have no alternative but to defend our- selves as best we can.
I come now to the subject of Palestine, and, before dealing with the more general political questions, I would like to say a few words on the subject of the Arab refugees, on which I thought the remarks of the hon. Member for East Aberdeen
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(Mr. Boothby) were most ungenerous. I do not think there is any Government in the world which has done more than His Majesty's Government to try to solve the problem of the Arab refugees, or to bring help to them urgently. The subject has been mentioned by many speakers and it is a tragic and urgent one indeed. There are several different refugee problems in the world today. It used to be said that the refugee problem was the aftermath of a war, but it is not so now. In Greece, in Palestine, in China, in Western Ger- many, the refugee problem is something either new or growing, and not simply the aftermath of a war. Each of the refugee problems has been assisted by a great deal of work done by the international refugee organisation.
The plight of the Arab refugees in and around Palestine is almost certainly the most urgent and desperate problem of all. The hon. Member for West Leicester (Mr.
(Mr. Janner) argued the political point whether they had been driven out by the Jews or not. The Government's attitude is that we should forget questions of politics and regard this primarily as a humanitarian ques- tion, and deal with it on a non-political
basis. We have taken the initiative and we are not ashamed of the work we have done, a full account of which has
already been given to the House. We were the first to raise the question in the Security Council. We advanced £100,000 on our own initiative, and we took the initiative at this Assembly of sponsoring and getting through a resolu- tion on the basis of which Arab relief is now founded. An organisation has now been set up and Governments asked to contribute. We promised £1 million before the resolution was passed, and that sum is now at the disposal of the organisation. The French promised £500,000, and we have a lively hope of a substantial contribution from the United States. Other countries have promised supplies in kind. Supplies are arriving, not through this new initiative, but from a previous one, and the results of the new initiative have yet to be realised. The Arab Governments them- selves have made very great efforts. The position is still extremely grave and extremely tragic.
On the political side of the Palestine. question, I cannot undertake now a broad and comprehensive defence of the