An article in the Sept. 19 Daily News Bulletin dealing with the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) Congress held earlier this month in Jerusalem referred incorrectly to its “Arab Program.” It should have stated, correctly, its. “Arad Program.” This program was named after the 15th WUJS Triennial Congress which was held in Arad, Israel in July 1970. The Congress resolved that peace and Zionism are indissolubly linked with the situation of the Palestinian people and that this could no longer be ignored. It was viewed by many as a radical Zionist position, committed to the State of Israel and its survival but critical of the then-Israeli government and its official outlook.
The “Jerusalem Program” which WUJS decided to support at its Congress earlier this month was originally adopted by the 23rd World Zionist Congress in 1951 and reformulated by the 27th Zionist Congress in 1968. This program declared the aims of Zionism as the unity of the Jewish people, the centrality of Israel in its life, the ingathering of the exiles through aliya, the strengthening of the State of Israel, the preservation of the identity of the Jewish people, and the protection of Jewish rights, everywhere.
The WUJS Congress in 1970 adopted the Arad Program because it was felt that the Jerusalem Program was only a minimum program for Zionists and that the Arad Program, while incorporating the basic principles of the Jerusalem Program, went beyond it particularly in calling attention to the situation of the Palestinian people, the situation in the Middle East and Israel’s quest for peace and security.
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.
