The British Zionist Federation today called on the British Government to “arrest the arms race in the Middle East” by halting the delivery of jet planes and other heavy arms to the Arab states. At the same time, the Zionists, in a statement issued by the honorary officers of the federation, thanked the British delegation at the United Nations for supporting a U. N. resolution which would have appealed to Israel and the Arab states to enter into direct peace negotiations.
The Zionist statement underlined the fact that the weapons supplied the Arab states could more easily be put to use in aggression against Israel than in regional defense. It pointed up the fact that the Arabs have not forsaken their hostility toward the Jewish state, nor have they espoused the cause of democracy in the Middle East. An arms race in the Middle East would endanger Israel’s economic progress and would constitute a threat to regional and world peace, it added.
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