Peace in the Middle East is possible so long as the United States continues to emphasize the possibility of peace, declared Philip M. Klutznick, president of B’nai B’rith, here. The United States must persist against all odds to bring the Arab states and Israel together in the search for a just peace if it is to show itself a true friend of these states, he said.
Mr. Klutznick spoke before 1, 000 guests at a dinner held here in honor of Judge Samuel Weiss, of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. “We are deeply disturbed by the acceptance of the position that peace is not now possible. What is worse, the implication of no peace in our time in the Middle East is an invitation to the continuance of belligerency. Peace in the Middle East is possible so long as we emphasize the possibility of peace and not its impossibility, ” he said.
Referring to the address of Assistant Secretary of State Henry A. Byroade in Philadelphia Saturday night, Mr. Klutznick charged that to interpret Arab policies and actions as mere negativism rather than as a calculated program to obstruct and destroy the prospect of peace is to permit ourselves to be blinded to the realities that exist in the Middle East.
“The great danger of such blindness is that we may open our eyes and find that the conflagration is beyond control. I would urge Mr. Byroade to reconsider his evaluation of the policies and the deeds which he interprets as mere negativism. In such a reconsideration, he might find pause and question the judgment that would make arms–no matter how small the amount–available to a country which in concert with others would breach the peace, ” he said.
The B’nai B’rith president praised Mr. Byroade for removing the ghost of dual loyalty and allegiance when he stated without reservation that there was no divergence between our government and American citizens of the Jewish faith who want to help in the economic development and welfare of the people of the State of Israel. “It is to Mr. Byroade’s everlasting credit that with these words he laid at rest the ghost of dual loyalty and allegiance in the presence of those who have tried to give it life,” he said.
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