The World Youth Assembly will continue meeting here tomorrow and Indications are that the Soviet-Arab bloc will intensify its maneuvers to isolate the five-member Israeli delegation and to whip up rancor and hostility among the more than 600 delegates against the Israelis. The Soviet-Arab bloc, which controls the 18-member steering committee, organized a heavy bombardment against the Israeli youths last Thursday when the Assembly convened and has been reported campaigning among the “uncommitted” youth delegations from other countries during the weekend. The efforts by the Soviet. Arab and pro-Soviet-Arab delegations has been to link the Israeli delegation with the “imperialist” United States and Great Britain as “aggressors” against the “anti-imperialist” forces. During a chaotic session yesterday, Ariel Whine of Israel, proposed that the Youth Assembly’s commission on world peace deal with “the role of Soviet Imperialism and neocolonialism in the Middle East”; “oppression of national minorities in the Soviet Union”; “the Just and heroic struggle of the southern Sudan (black population) against Arab imperialism”; “the oppression of Jewish minorities in Syria, Iraq and Egypt”; and “the Soviet rape of Czechoslovakia.” Mr. Whine also proposed the commission should discuss “the failure of the United Nations over 25 years to carry out the obligations of the Charter” and the structure and work of the Security Council and the General Assembly.
A participant from Kuwait declared yesterday that the imperialists had planted a “fascist brigade” in the Arab world which had struck at Arab resources in a series of wars. The Kuwait youth said that the people in the Middle East, like those in Vietnam, Africa and Latin America lived in insecurity under the domination and in the shadow of imperialism shored up by its “lackeys.” A participant from Jordan said she could not see how the East Bank of Jordan could develop when it was subjected to “constant attacks by the Israelis.” In the occupied West Bank, she continued, development was being hampered “by the destruction of houses by the Israelis.” She called for the establishment of a “non-sectarian state of Palestine” as the “only way to secure peace” In the area.
Jeers from the Soviet, Arab and other delegates to the Assembly forced Shalmi Barmor of Israel off the rostrum on Friday soon after he begun to talk about the plight of Soviet Jews. He also made a fruitless effort to propose that Arabs and Israelis get together privately to talk about their differences. However, Jacob Levy, also from Israel, said the Israelis would keep pressing for quiet talks. He said the Israeli delegation had been circulating through meeting rooms putting out hands of welcome and friendship but had gotten no response. Mr. Barmor said that one-third of his people had died in the holocaust and that his people had to participate in three wars to protect their freedom. He declared that hatred of the Jew and blatant anti-Semitism had emerged once more but that it was no longer “the Jew, the communist” or “the Jew, the moneylender” but “the Jew, the Zionist.” He was repeatedly Interrupted on points of order. Mr. Barmor said the youth of Israel was concerned about the plight of the Palestinian refugees but said they were victims of wars of their own making. He pleaded with the Youth Assembly not to be indifferent to the plight of the people of the Middle East.
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.
