B’nai B’rith President Hopes U.S. Will Oppose Israel “sell-out”

The hope that the United States would not accede to British Prime Minister Eden’s proposals that Israel cede huge territorial areas to the Arabs in return for peace, was expressed here tonight by Philip M. Klutznick, world president of B’nai B’rith.

Speaking before 1,000 persons at Clinton Manor here, Mr. Klutznick declared that compelling Israel to yield huge chunks of land would be tantamount to a “sell-out” of Israel by the Western Powers, and an “appeasement” of the Communists now encroaching upon the vital Middle East. He pointed out that he appreciated Prime Minister Eden’s concern for peace in the Middle East, but warned that to force Israel to make substantial territorial concessions would only constitute another “Munich” and fail to bring permanent tranquility to the troubled Holy Land.

The B’nai B’rith leader’s address was regarded as an appeal to U.S. Government officials whom Mr. Klutznick felt could not, in all justice to free nations around the world, permit an agreement that would amputate Israel’s territorial sovereignty. Though Mr. Klutznick did not elaborate on his “sell-out” assertions, his words appeared to bear an intimation that Great Britain was seeking to prevail on the United States to join it in a policy to persuade Israel to yield substantial territorial areas in return for a peace settlement.

“Whom do we contemplate appeasing in the Middle East?” he asked. “Egypt? Saudi Arabia? or the Communists? The price proposed has been set in the Kremlin–not in Cairo,” Mr. Klutznick declared. He said he is confident that Secretary of State Dulles would “reject” any “appeasement” of the Communists in the Middle East as contrary to America’s interests in that part of the world and as inconsistent with the policy of the U.S. to maintain a high “moral” level of international diplomacy.

The B’nai B’rith president said he was “completely aware of the complexities of the Middle Eastern problem” but maintained that “a unilateral cession of Israel territory is not giving land to the Arabs, who have plenty – it is a sell-out to the Communists. Asking Israel to pay as a price with soil precious to it because of Russian intervention in the Middle East has an element of immorality which is inconsistent with American purpose and international leadership,” he said.