Egypt is Seen As Tentatively Moving Toward Co-existence with Israel

“Egypt is showing definite signs of tentatively moving toward co-existence with Israel, but Syria is attempting to move all of the Arab nations against Israel and not toward peace,” Israeli Ambassador Pinchas Eliav told a national academic conference of the American Friends of the Hebrew University at the Fontainebleau Hotel.

Eliav, Israel’s deputy permanent representative at the United Nations, was the keynote speaker at the two-day conclave of more than 500 American and Canadian Jewish leaders. He stated that “Syria has virtually taken over Lebanon as a protectorate and is actually absorbing the Palestinians in its striving to realize its dream of a greater Syria equal to its position in ancient history.” He said that Israel now views its northern and eastern borders with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. “as our main concern. Although there have been some problems, Egypt has been carrying out the second interim agreement in the Sinai.”

Prof. Shlomo Avineri, dean of the Hebrew University faculty of social sciences and newly-appointed director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, presented a comprehensive view of the various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He stressed that “the root cause of this conflict lies in the Arab refusal to accept the legitimacy of the State of Israel, Zionism is the political embodiment of the Jewish right for national liberation and self-determination.”

The Arab attack on Zionism, Avineri continued, is aimed at “the de-legitimization of Israel. The conflict in the Middle East is not about territory or refugees but about the unwillingness of the various Arab states to accept the sovereignty of Israel. So long as this refusal goes on, there is little hope for a true peace in the area.

UN DETERIORATION CITED

Dr. Max M. Kampelman of Washington. D.C., national president of the American Friends and a

Novelist Saul Bellow, professor of English at the University of Chicago, who recently returned from a six-month stay in Jerusalem, received the S.Y. Agnon Gold Medal of the American Friends for his support of the Hebrew University Dr. Leon Kronish, rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom of Miami Beach, Honorary Fellow of the Hebrew University and national campaign co-chairman of the State of Israel Bonds, was presented with the Judah L. Magnes Award. Mrs. Lillian Kronish, president of the Women’s Division of the Greater Miami Chapter of the American Friends received the Torch of Learning Award.

Also honored were more than a dozen new founders of the Hebrew University. Individuals contributing a maximum of $25,000 each are designated as founders, according to Dr. Kampelman.