Zionist Leader Says Mideast Peace More Remote Now Than a Year Ago

Leaders of the Zionist Organization of America were told this weekend that the chances of peace in the Middle East are further away than a year ago and that there is “no chance for peace in the very near future.” Ehud Avriel, chairman of the Actions Committee (General Council) of the World Zionist Organization, added that in spite of the victory of the Six-Day War, the Arabs and their Soviet “sponsors” had not learned to live in peace with Israel. But Mr. Avriel told the more than 100 leaders of the ZOA that Israel now has better strategic borders and that a new war will be “in the middle of Arab countries and not in Jewish villages or towns.” Mr. Avriel called on the ZOA to aid Israel in bringing even more American students to the Jewish state. “We believe,” he said, “Israel must find new avenues to make it easier for Jews to come to Israel.”

Jacques Torczyner, president of the ZOA, commenting on President Nixon’s decision not to send jets to Israel, said he “regretted” the President’s decision. Mr. Torczyner, however, added that he believed the President’s decision was not final and that it would “be corrected” after the administration reappraises the role of the Soviet Union in the Middle East, including their supplying of SAM-3 missiles and military personnel to Egypt. Joseph Saphir, Israel’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, told the conference that “Israel’s economy is now on the verge of a new entry into a new era of industrial development.” He said this new industrial development “gives investors from developed countries the opportunity for profitable investment based on the relative advantage of the Israeli economy, especially that of manpower in fields of highly sophisticated production, as in science-based industry.” Mr. Saphir noted that “everything connected with war is unfortunate,” but because of incentives in strictly military fields, “there is also a direct result in the transmission of some new products into civilian markets, such as electronics and aviation.” He said that a joint venture by American investors and Israeli participants has the best chance of success.