A proposal that Israel and her Arab neighbors join in a permanent, bold effort to rebuild the Middle East and make it again one of the great cultural centers of civilization, was made tonight by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Jewish Agency, addressing the annual dinner of the American Friends of Hebrew University.
Dr. Goldmann pointed out that Israel’s course in history will be determined by her success in achieving integration as an equal in the family of Middle East nations and attaining her goal to serve as the main source of moral and intellectual stimulation for Jews all over the world. He was presented the Hebrew University Solomon Bublick Public Service Award for 1956 for his “outstanding contribution to the progress and development of the State of Israel.”
The award, consisting of a sterling silver plaque and a check for $1,000, has been given previously to but four eminent personalities in science and government–to former President-Harry S. Truman; to Premier David Ben Gurion of Israel and to the Hebrew University scientists, the late Prof, Eleazer L. Sukenik, archaeologist who recognized the historic importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and to atomic scientist Prof. Giulio Racah, who heads Hebrew University’s Department of Theoretical Physics.
Dr. Goldmann urged Israel to emulate “the consistent ambition of her ancient forebears in striving to be a guide to the morally perplexed and an exemplar to transgressors.” Cautioning that Israel must not channelize her thinking and her energies to military preoccupation, even though a full settlement in the Middle East is not immediately foreseeable, Dr. Goldmann declared: “Even if the guns along the Arab-Israel frontiers should resume their cannonade, the people of Israel must strive to set new goals and create new standards in cultural, spiritual and moral achievements.”
OUTLINES BASIC CONDITIONS TO ARABS AND ISRAEL
Pointing out that Israel’s integration in the Middle East will necessitate a fundamental change of attitude by the Arab people, he said: “It requires a change of heart and mind on the part of millions of individual Arabs in relation to the ineradicable fact of Israel’s being. It requires also that the people of Israel grasp profoundly the pattern of their redemption and that their return to the Middle East is a full and unqualified return to their ancestral base.”
Dr. Goldmann spelled out what he considers the establishment of normal relations between Israel and the Arab states. “It would have to be more than a formal peace treaty,” he stated. “It would have to be the seasoned relationship that results from living under the same sky and in the same climate, burdened by the same problems, seeking the same triumphs. It would be a multifarious relationship expressed in daily commerce and trade, in long-term political cooperation, in a joint and permanent bold effort to rebuild the Middle East and make it, again, as it has been in the past, one of the great cultural centers of civilization.”
The Hebrew University, which now has an enrollment of 100 Arabs and Druze within its student population of 4,000, has a significant contribution to make in the future toward serving all the peoples in the Middle East area, Dr. Goldmann said. It must, he declared, become “in the broadest and fullest sense a great center of learning for all the peoples of the Middle East; for the intellectually elite of all the nations in that region–Israelis, Arabs, Druze, Kurds, Persians and many others.”
Daniel G. Ross, president of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, which is conducting a nationwide campaign to raise funds for rebuilding the Hebrew University on a new $30,000,000 campus at Givat Ram, Jerusalem, presented embossed Certificates of Merit to five national organizations for rendering vital aid to the Hebrew University. Organizations honored were: Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity; American Jewish Physicians’ Committee; Hadassah; National Council of Jewish Women and the Women’s League for Israel.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
