The North American Jewish Student Network adopted by a narrow margin a resolution at the close of its annual convention here yesterday advising Israel to “take the initiative” to find a solution to the Palestine question, including meeting with the PLO under specified conditions. The resolution, passed by a vote of 55-48 after prolonged debate among the 200 delegates from university and college campuses all over the U.S. and Canada who attended the four-day conclave at Case-Western University. stated:
“Whereas there can be no solution to the Middle East conflict without Palestinian recognition of the Jewish right to self-determination and Israel’s recognition of the Palestinians’ right to self determination, we advise Israel to take the initiative to find a solution to the Palestine question including meeting with the PLO when the following conditions are met.
“Z. The PLO publicly announces its acceptance of the State of Israel as a legitimate political entity as presently constituted, 2. the PLO publicly indicates its rejection of all acts of violence and terrorism against civilian populations and the PLO publicly promises to refrain from any actions of this nature.”
The resolution on the PLO was significant in as much as the Palestinian issue presently looms as the most crucial one in Middle East peace negotiations and has created sharp differences of opinion in Israel and within the Israeli government. The draft, adopted here, though hard fought at the plenary session and in prior workshop debates, generated support from both left and right wing delegates.
EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
The delegates attending the convention represented the full political spectrum from left to right-wing and included delegates from Zionist and non-Zionist; religious and secular student groups. There were also about 100 observers. The overall atmospheres was one of support and identification with Israel as expressed in resolutions calling for aliya and volunteers. One resolution, however, expressed serious concern over the social and economic gap between Israel’s Oriental and Western Jewish communities. With regard to the American Jewish scene, the network seemed most disturbed by what it regards as a lack of democracy in American-Jewish life.
Another resolution adopted applauded the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Daniel P. Moynihan, for his “eloquent defense of democracy in the UN and vigorous criticism of the ‘Zionism is racism’ resolutions” and urged him to continue to speak out against Third World and Communist “totalitarianism.”
SOCIAL GAP DEPLORED
A resolution on the social gap in Israel stated: “Be it resolved that the sense of this body is that we believe that the unequal status of a part of the Sephardic community in Israel creates the most serious threat to Israel’s survival as a unified Jewish community.” The resolution called on Israel “to work for equalization of economic and cultural opportunities among rich and poor” and “to re-organize the educational system to provide equal educational opportunities” and to “reflect the cultural diversity of all Israelis.”
The resolution stated further that the Network should “provide educational programs about current social problems in Israel and encourage volunteers to work for underdeveloped communities in Israel.”
The convention contended that Jewish communal life in America is “largely undemocratic” and that the Jewish lay public “is largely ill-informed and misinformed.” It stated that there were “few public hearings on critical questions” and “few genuine elections to communal office.” A resolution adopted stated that the “Network shall cooperate with other individuals, organizations and coalitions in attempts to create a democratically elected accountable body to represent the younger generation of American Jewry and eventually the community as a whole.”
The scope of the convention’s interest was reflected in the numerous workshops and panel discussions held during the four-day conclave. The subjects of these included Jewish feminism; Jewish theater: Jewish education and teaching; the Sephardic community and poverty in Israel; Zionism, the Third World and the UN; building alternative communities; problems of the older generation; kibbutz and aliya. Fredda Smith of Madison. Wisconsin, Was elected chairperson of Network.
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.
