United Nations Secretary-General U Thant told a world conference of Quakers here tonight that he hoped the Security Council would give attention now “to the deep-rooted causes” of the Middle East crisis and “take appropriate measures towards ensuring a durable peace in the region.”
Such efforts, he said, should begin by reaffirmation of the principle enunciated in the U. N. Charter, making it obligatory for all member states “to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.”
Mr. Thant delivered his major address here before the fourth Friends World Conference, a parley convened every 15 years, and held in the United States for the first time in 30 years. About 900 delegates from 34 countries were in his audience. He noted that the Middle East crisis that developed this year “posed one of the gravest threats to the peace of the world that has been experienced since World War II.” “I may say,” he added, “that it continues to be ominous and menacing.”
“The promotion of social progress and better standards of living in larger freedom.” declared Mr. Thant, “is another goal of the Charter that belongs equally to all of mankind. To ignore human suffering is not only to fail in this duty but also to provide fuel for one crisis after another.
“We have seen this happen clearly enough in the Middle East. One of the chronic and underlying causes of the conflict, and one to which no solution has been found for 19 years, is the situation of the Palestine refugees. This problem has not only remained unsolved but has become much graver as a result of recent military conflict. I am glad to say that in the recent meetings of the Security Council and the emergency special session of the General Assembly on the Middle East crisis, there was agreement on the principle of humanitarian assistance for the innocent victims of the conflict.
“There is imperative need for making a fresh search for peace in the Middle East. so that the rights of all countries in the area may be respected, because the various countries are inhabited by human beings, and their rights as nationals of member states are as important as the sovereign rights of the states themselves. If this simple fact were accepted, it would become easier to agree upon solutions which would produce a durable peace in the Middle East and put an end to the cycle of threats and counter-threats leading to actual armed conflict which has three times during the last 20 years produced so much suffering for the unfortunate people involved.”
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.
