Israel Assailed by Black Group

The National Black Political Convention meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas this weekend adopted a resolution condemning those Black Congressmen who voted for $2.2 billion in U.S. aid to Israel “while ignoring the plight of Arab Palestinian refugees,” and called for support of the Arab nations of Africa. This resolution was seen as a victory against the hard-line Black militants who had sought a much stronger resolution accusing Israel of being “major instrument” of a U.S.-dictated “world strategy of monopoly to increase profits and exploit all people.”

The stronger resolution was introduced by the New Jersey delegation. Only three of the 16 Black Congressmen voted against aid to Israel. They were John Conyers of Michigan, Parren Mitchell of Maryland and Ronald V. Dellums of California, all Democrats.

The resolution condemning Israel was the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes fight over the weekend as militants led by Imamu Baraka from Newark, N.J. (formerly known as Leroi Jones), sought to tie in the anti-Israel statement with a general resolution calling for the destruction of “racism, capitalism and imperialism.” Leaders from the New York and Indiana delegations, who sought to water down the resolution to prevent a bitter floor fight, noted their opposition for the record.

They told the 1200 delegates at the convention that there was “considerable opposition” to the more moderate resolution. Although the resolution calling for the destruction of imperialism was adopted by a lopsided majority the resolutions committee had succeeded in throwing out sections of the original draft submitted by the New Jersey delegation accusing Israel of being the major instrument of American world policy.