Socialist International Supports Israel, Calls for Negotiated Peace with Arabs

The annual Conference of the Socialist International adopted resolutions here today expressing “full solidarity with the people of Israel who are defending their existence and their liberty against aggression” and demanded an end to all warlike activities in the Middle East so as to lead to “negotiated peace treaties between Israel and the Arab states.” The resolutions also sharply castigated the Soviet Union for continuing to foment strife in the Middle East and for its virulent anti-Jewish propaganda campaign which “has revived fears for the well-being and security of the Jewish population of the USSR.”

The Conference, which heard impassioned speeches by some of the leading figures of the world Socialist movement, adopted the resolutions unanimously after a long, dramatic debate that spread over the full assembly and the resolutions committee. The resolutions were introduced by Dr. S.S. Levenberg of London, who served as chairman and rapporteur of the resolutions committee. They were strongly supported by, among others, Jules Moch, former French Defense Minister and head of the French delegation; Willy Brandt, Foreign Minister of the German Federal Republic; and Guy Mollet, former French Prime Minister, who presided over the session at which the resolutions were adopted.

The Middle East resolution put the Socialist International squarely behind a six-point program which, it declared, must be part of any permanent solution of the Middle Eastern problem. These are “the absolute right of Israel” and all nations in the area to exist as sovereign states; the guarantee to Israel and all nations of free passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Tiran; the establishment of a policy of regional disarmament; international assistance to build a future in the region based on “social justice, democracy and economic development”; a final solution of the refugee problem with international aid and cooperation between the parties concerned; and “guarantees for the maintenance of peace and national security within mutually agreed frontiers.”