The New D.P.s

The truest way to measure what the Palestine war had cost thus far was not by its casualties but by its D.P.s. A war in which one side was fighting to make a home for refugees had created some 400,000 new refugees--the homeless and destitute Arabs and Jews of the disputed parts of Palestine.

About 7,000 of these were Jews. Most of the Arabs were women, children and old men who possessed little now but what they could carry on their backs. Their Arab neighbors had been helping out with relief of a sort. Lebanon, with more than 70,000 refugees, was trying to shelter them in barracks, schools and tents. The border town of Bint-Jebeil (see cut), with a population of 6,000, had put up 5,000 guests. In Transjordan's capital city of Amman, more than a thousand were holed up in the dank underground galleries of the ancient Roman amphitheater. Their ration was a pound of dark bread a day.

Health officials in all affected areas were worrying about epidemics. The death rate was up; it was hard to know how much. Said a Red Cross official: "The only check we really have is the number of requests we get for shrouds." In his area the demand for shrouds had doubled.

The relief contributed by Arab neighbors so far had amounted to about $6,000,000. More than that would be needed. Shortly before his death, U.N. Mediator Count Folke Bernadotte had issued a worldwide appeal to governments and private organizations for help against "a great human disaster." From 14 nations he got specific promises. The U.S. told Bernadotte that private American assistance had amounted to $800,000, that the U.S. Government was thinking over whether it should do something more. If the U.S. came to the rescue, it might restore part of its shattered prestige in the Arab world.

Says Bernadotte's relief adviser, burly, Australian-born Sir Raphael Cilento: "Somebody's got to decide pretty quickly whether they're going to look after these people or let them die." At week's end it looked as if U.N. would get the job. British and U.S. delegates were planning a resolution asking the General Assembly to sponsor an Arab relief program.

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