Developments within the next few weeks will tell whether recent clashes on the Israel-Syrian border were isolated incidents or “a part of a pattern of aggression” by Syria, Yaakov Herzog, Israel Minister in Washington, said tonight, addressing the mid-winter conference dinner of Hadassah, Women’s Zionist Organization.
The Israeli diplomat told the assemblage that if international tensions in the Middle East were abated, “the Israel-Arab problem might be capable of settlement far more easily than is generally imagined.” He noted that “in the measure that the possibility of eliminating Israel by force will recede, the mental climate towards a settlement will develop. Hatred will cease when its futility becomes totally apparent. Greater revolutions than this have taken place in national and international attitudes.”
Mrs. Mortimer Jacobson, national chairman for Zionist affairs, reviewing Middle East developments, called for a strong United States policy of strengthening the Middle Eastern countries which have consistently supported Western interests. She identified them as Israel and Iran. American foreign policy, she said, must not look to Nasser of Egypt as champion of Western interests in the area.
The conference adopted a resolution supporting the Administration’s request for a supplemental appropriation for the Development Loan Fund for foreign aid. The request is now awaiting action in Congress.
The parley also voted to set up a special endowment fund for future expansion and emergency needs, the fund to be based on a special life insurance plan under which individual members of Hadassah would take out $1, 000 life insurance policies with Hadassah named as “irrevocable beneficiary.” The premiums, based on the age of the individual, would be tax-deductible and the policies would be issued without medical examination. Hadassah would be able to make loans against the cash value of the policies in the event of emergency. Dr. Miriam K. Freund, national president, announced that the plan will be initiated immediately on the West Coast.
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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.
