An Arab-Israel peace would pave the way for the Jews and Arabs to create together one of the greatest civilizations of all time, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, told some 2,500 delegates attending the first plenary session last night of the 42nd annual convention of Hadssah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
Reporting evidence of “a groping toward a more constructive nationalism in some parts of the Arab world,” Dr. Goldmann called upon the major powers, including Russia, to give top priority to the initiation of a “serious and determined peace effort.” He stressed that “genuine Arab-Jewish cooperation could convert the Near East into a region of plenty, of potentials utilized, dreams realized and of prophetic principles applied in life.”
The alternative to peace, said Dr. Goldmann, was “disaster for the Middle East and a catastrophe for the world.” Arab nationalism, if properly channeled, he asserted, can become a constructive factor in the contemporary world, even as Israel has become.
Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, Hadassah Zionist Affairs chairman, criticized Britian’s military aid pledge to Jordan, noting that “Britian had no word to say when scholars and farmers were shot down at Ramat Rachel by Jordanians.” She asked: “Does Britain not remember it was only yesterday that Glubb Pasha was unceremoniously booted out of Jordan?” She voiced the hope that the Western Powers would make no further concessions to Egypt, noting that two decades ago the “free world wrote a new definition for the word Munich when it compromised on principles, but could not avoid world war.”
Hadassah president Mrs. Herman Shulman said American Zionism cannot be static but must press forward constantly to new horizons of service and responsibility. She recommended that Hadassah’s 300,000 members urge friends and neighbors to visit Israel and send their children for one year’s study there “to see for themselves the identily of purpose and goals with the U.S.” She urged that Hadassah hold a convention in Jerusalem before 1960. She recommended also that Hadassa integrate within its own ranks the membership of the Junior Hadassah “to assure the permanent development of a vigorous leadership of the American Zionist movement.” The Junior Hadassah, though supported financially by Hadassah, has been an autonomous group of young women aged between 18 and 25, since its founding in 1920.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
