Bnai Zion the American Zionist fraternal order, ended its 70th annual convention here today with a call to President Carter to move the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Paul Safro, of Lawrence, N.Y., who was re-elected to a second one-year term as president, urged Carter to live up to the pledge of the 1976 Democratic Party Convention which said the Embassy should be located in Jerusalem.
The 500 delegates attending the convention at Kutscher’s Country Club also heard Rabbi William Berkowitz, president of the Jewish National Fund and a former president of Bnai Zion, urge the Carter Administration to accept “once and for all” the “rightful” Jewish claim to Jerusalem as a united city and the capital of Israel. He said there must be a campaign to educate the American public about Jerusalem. “We must mount a major campaign of public information and education directed at Jew and non-Jew alike, “he said. Berkowitz also urged American Jews to demonstrate “greater concrete identification” with Jerusalem and suggested that every American Jewish family plant one tree during the next year in Jerusalem.
REP. WOLFF DEFENDS WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS
In an address to the Convention, Friday, Rep. Lester Wolff (D.NY), defended the establishment by Israel of new settlements on the West Bank. He charged that those who are critical of the policy are guilty of “blatant disregard of historical facts and tenets of international law.”Wolff noted that the lands seized by Jordan in 1948, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank, have never been recognized by any country except Britain and Pakistan.” These areas, even to those who do not recognize Israel’s historical claim to Judaea and Samaria, remain unallocated areas of the British Mandate, “he said. Wolff contended that under the British Mandate Israel continues to have the right of settlement until both Israel and the Arab states agree on partition and borders.
Rep. S. William Green (R.NY), addressing the convention last night, urged President Carter “not to force a solution in the Middle East ” that will not only be unacceptable to Israel but also to some Arab states. He said it would be ” fatuous of the President ” to press for a Palestinian state that would be considered a threat by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as well as Israel, ” I hope that the President recognizes that Israel is the best U.S. ally in the Middle East ” and ” the best road to success in the area, ” he stressed.
BROADER ROLE URGED FOR PRESIDENTS CONFERENCE
At the opening session last week, Safro proposed that the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, of which Bnai Zion is a member, “broaden its framework to include domestic issues confronting the Jewish community” in the U.S. instead of dealing exclusively with matters pertaining to Israel’s security. He said that now that Israel is at peace with its most formidable adversary, Egypt, the Presidents Conference should enlarge its scope of activities, to include such problems as the alienation of youth, intermarriage and the inadequdcies of Jewish education.
At the same time, Safro called for a “reorientation of the Zionist program in the U.S. He urged the American Zionist Federation to direct its efforts at ” intensified Jewish education and cultural ” programs for both youth and adults.
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