A demand that Israel adopt a policy of “non-identification” with the major power blocs of the world was voiced here today in a resolution adopted at a national convention of the Achdut Avodah. left-wing Socialist Party of Israel. The three-day convention which concluded in the early hours today, also opposed Israel’s joining any military alliance or foreign treaty organization.
At the same time, the party, dubbed “radical, but democratic” by one of its leaders, demanded that the Cabinet plan action to defend Israel from any infringement of its territorial integrity growing out of recent developments in the Gaza Strip, or from stationing of Iraqi troops on Israel’s border with Jordan. The convention conditionally welcomed the two Arab mergers–if they favor peace with Israel. Another resolution demanded action to guarantee the unhampered use of the Suez Canal by Israeli shipping.
On the domestic scene, the Achdut Avodah demanded the abolition of military government in the Arab populated areas of Israel, called for an additional year of military service to be spent in agricultural border villages, and struck out at Premier David Ben Gurion’s suggestions for a two-party system in Israel.
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