Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Under Secretary Walter Bedell Smith met for over two hours this week-end with a delegation which recommended a course of action considered by Zionists to be flagrantly against the interests of Israel.
The delegation included Dr. Garland Evans Hopkins, executive vice-president of the “American Friends of the Middle East” and “representatives” of the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths who returned recently from a “fact-finding” trip to the Middle East sponsored by Dr. Hopkins’ organizations.
Rabbi Morris Lazaron, a leader of the anti- Zionist American Council for Judaism, was described as the “representative” of Americans of the Jewish faith. The delegation also included Dr. Harold Fey, of the Christian Century, and John Cogley of Commonweal Magazine.
At the completion of the meeting, which was held in Mr. Dulles’ office at the State Department, the delegation outlined to reporters the major recommendations submitted. These recommendations included suggestions that Israel “make restitution of some territory for the resettlement of Arab refugees, pay reparation,” and meet obligations involving compensation.”
The delegation stressed that American aid to Israel and Arab states “henceforth be on an impartial and proportionate basis”–which was explained as meaning that the delegation felt that aid to Israelis and Arabs should be assigned on a per capita basis. However, it was noted by a member of the delegation that economic aid for Israel may be entirely eliminated in the Administration’s new budget.
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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.
