Hammarskjold Addresses American Jewish Committee; Lauds Kibbutzim

Emphasizing that “the work for peace must be animated by tolerance, “United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold tonight urged member states of the United Nations “to practice tolerance” and help to solve “the under lying problems now making the Middle East such a troubled area.” He voiced his plea at a dinner of the American Jewish Committee marking the opening of a five-day observance of the 50th anniversary of the organization. This was the first time he spoke at a Jewish gathering.

“I had last year the privilege of visiting a couple of kibbutzim in Israel,” Mr. Hammarskjold said, “and of talking to people coming from many lands who were devoting their lives to these courageous experiments in practical and total democracy. I looked upon them as fellow workers in an ‘experiment in progress.’ Through such experiments alone can progress be achieved. I also remember experiences of experiments in community development in India. There I met the same enthusiasm, the same devotion, the same idealism as in the kibbutzim.

“Yet, how different a situation it was! In one case there were people, stepping out of their Western societies of highly organized and specialized industrial life in order to create new collectives, pioneering in the building up of a strong economic life on a barren soil. In the other case, communities which, although living in a rich land, so far had remained poor for the lack of the revolutionary development carried to fruition by Western individualism, but the members of which now devoted all their energy toward taking the giant step into the economic and social world of today.

“In both cases we meet a realization in practice of basic human rights,” the UN Secretary General said. “The difference, however, indicates the diversity of the problem and this calls for great flexibility in our approach and in the choice of the ways in which the various societies may become integrated into a world community. The underlying problems now making the Middle East such a troubled area, should be understood partly in the terms of which these two experiments in community development may serve as illustrations. They lend special weight to the undertaking of the member nations in the Charter “to practice tolerance.”

SAYS PEACE IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT RECOGNITION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Mr. Hammarskjold stressed the fact that “lasting peace is not possible without recognition of fundamental human rights” and that “human rights cannot reach their full development unless there is peace.” He lauded the American Jewish Committee for the “significant contribution” it has made to the work of the United Nations for the advancement and protection of human rights.

“The United Nations has for years struggled with the problem how to translate the Declaration of Human Rights into the text of an international convention or conventions,” he said. “It is not surprising that in a world with very different cultural traditions, and among countries showing very different degrees of advancement of social institutions, such a translation has proved difficult. But the failure so far to reach agreement over the whole field should not lead us to believe that the work to realize the fundamental human rights has come to a standstill. The decisive fact in the end will not be the translation of principles into the text of an international convention, but the transformation of society through growing recognition of the principles in the life of the peoples.”

Dealing with the experiences in the United Nations over the past few months, Mr. Hammarskjold stated: “We may differ amongst ourselves as to the wisdom of this or that particular stand and we may have doubts about the end result of this or that step. But I think we all can agree on the value and historical importance of certain developments. First of all, it proved possible in an emergency to create for the first time a truly international force. This force, although modest in size and, for constitutional reasons, also modest in aim, broke new ground which inevitably will count in future efforts to preserve peace and promote justice” He also cited the fact that the United Nations carried through a major field operation like the clearance of the Suez Canal.

Other speakers at the dinner included Senator Herbert H. Lehman; Irving M. Engel, president of the American Jewish Committee; Justice Joseph M. Proskauer; Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission; and Samuel D. Leidesdorf, honorary vice-president of the American Jewish Committee.