Canadian Zionists Urge Direct Israel-arab Talks and UN Probe of Jews in Arab Countries

The Federated Zionist Organization of Canada, holding its second national convention here, approved six resolutions on the Middle East and on Soviet Jewry. The organization called for a Mideast peace through direct negotiations between the Arabs and Israel and to back a “united Jerusalem” as the Israeli capital. It called on the Canadian government to support Israel in the UN and in general, and on the French government to revoke its current Mideast policy and “return to its traditional friendly relationship with and its former moral commitment to Israel.” Another resolution urged the UN to investigate immediately the condition of Jews in Arab lands, and to release a report on its findings. Calling for the freedom of emigration of Soviet Jews, the convention recommended that declarations toward this end be made at all cultural and sports events involving Russian participants, and that information on the condition of Soviet Jewry be continuously sought out and publicized. The convention elected Hyman Bessin of Ottawa, industrialist and Jewish community leader, as president and head of the executive board of the organization; Nathan Silver of Toronto, president of the Zionist Revisionist Organization, as first deputy president and Syd Zack of Vancouver, president of the organization’s Pacific region, as second deputy president. Also elected were seven other executives, 15 at-large board members and six regional vice-presidents.