The Government of the United States “attaches great value to its firm friendship with Israel and seeks the establishment of an enduring peace in the Middle East, “President Eisenhower emphasized in a message to the 58th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America which opened here today. The convention will last four days.
Addressing his message to Mortimer May, ZOA president, President Eisenhower said: “Our government attaches great value to its firm friendship with Israel and seeks the establishment of an enduring peace in the Middle East. This peace can be achieved only through patient and conciliatory examination of the problems which exist in the area and through the development of understanding among its peoples. We in America can make an important contribution to the cause of peace by urging such consideration and forbearance.”
Other expressions of support came in messages from chairman Paul M. Butler of the Democratic National Committee; Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr. Republican leader of the House of Representatives, and Rep. John W. McCormack, Democratic Majority leader. Mr. Butler expressed the Democratic Party’s policy toward Israel by reaffirming the pro-Israel pledge of the 1952 Democratic platform. He cited the record of the Democratic Party while in office in support of Israel.
Z. O. A. PRESIDENT STRESSES NEED TO ASSURE ISRAEL’S SECURITY
Mr. May, addressing the opening session of the convention, stressed that increased efforts will be made by the ZOA in the direction of helping to assure Israel’s security. We shall continue to urge our government to make the most determined efforts to bring about negotiations between Israel and the Arab states, “the ZOA president said. He reported that the ZOA now has a membership total which exceeds last year’s figures and represents a reversal of the trend of yearly decline which had been in effect since the establishments of the state.”
The ZOA president made a detailed review of the organization in all phases of Zionist endeavor with special emphasis on public relations “recognizing this as the most vital area of the American Zionist activity.” He said that “the steady deterioration of Israel’s position on the international scene has made this phase of our work an imperative necessity.”
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, addressing the session, said that normalization of East-West relationships could improve the international position of Israel. “If the approaching conference of the Big Powers in Geneva will succeed in reducing tensions and the dangers of an all-out war between the free world and the Communist world the need for wooing the Arab states to line up on one side or the other will be greatly diminished,” he stated.
Dr. Silver said that a pact linking the United States with Israel should be “viewed on its own merits, as an instrumentality for strengthening American interests and the interests of the free world generally, in that strategically vital part of the world, and for restoring the military balance which recent Western policy in that region has tilted in favor of the Arabs.”
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