Delegates to the seventh convention of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations adopted a resolution today calling on Israel and the Arab states to begin direct negotiations “with a view to ending the hostilities, fixing definitive and secure boundaries, and obtaining an equitable peace.”
The resolution appealed to the United States Government “and all other democracies to provide Israel with the opportunity to acquire the arms needed for its security which is being threatened by the vast Soviet re-arming of the most bellicose Arab nations.”
The resolution further urged that the United States give no economic or military assistance to any combatant government in the Middle East “which refuses to enter into negotiations for a permanent peace settlement without which there can be no economic progress or well-being for any nation in this pivotal region.”
The resolution “implores” the United Nations and the more industrially developed countries to pledge adequate resources to speed the reconstruction desperately needed to overcome poverty in the Middle East and develop healthy, peaceful democracies there.
The resolution also expressed solidarity with Histadrut, the Israel Labor Federation, “on whom it counts to set the pace in helping the Arab population now under Israeli rule to attain equal economic, social and political treatment.
The resolution referred to the “ominous gravity” of the crisis in the Middle East and warned that continued Arab-Israeli hostilities threatened the peace of the entire world. It condemned the “subversive and aggressive role of Soviet imperialism which has been exploiting the misery and intensifying the antagonisms among the people of the Middle East and arming the aggressors, Egypt and the Syrian regime, in furtherance of its own ultimate aim of world domination.”
The convention, representing 14 million American trades union members, also voiced condemnation of the Soviet rulers “for the latest expansion of their anti-Semitic policies within the USSR with the aim of counteracting the great sympathy for Israel among the Soviet people and strengthening their base of influence in reactionary Arab circles which oppose most virulently peaceful coexistence with Israel.”
The resolution deplored the fact that “despite its efforts, the United Nations has been unable to resolve the armed conflict in the Middle East or the urgently needed settlement of the refugees and other pressing social and economic problems.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
