Israel’s Desire for Peace Emphasized in U.S. by Cabinet Member

Israel’s desire for peace with the neighboring Arab countries was emphasized here today by, Joseph Saphir, Israel Minister of Communications, at a press conference held at the offices of the United Jewish Appeal.

Mr. Saphir said that the fact that Israel has designated an extensive section of a new deep-water port development in Haifa Bay as a free zone to be available for use in the future by its Middle East neighbors “demonstrates better than words Israel’s desire for normal, peaceful relations.”

The Cabinet member, who arrived yesterday from Jerusalem via El Al Airlines, declared that Israel has repaired and kept in good condition its railways leading out of the country north and south, “looking forward to the day when there will again be a normal flow of traffic” on these dead ended lines of communication. “Despite the fact that Israel has been cut off from her Arab neighbors and Middle East trade for nearly six years,” Mr. Saphir stated, “it has made remarkable progress in achieving a growing measure of economic self-sufficiency.”

The momentum of this progress, the Israel Cabinet officer stressed, “can be maintained only if Israel continues to receive full help from its friends abroad.” Large scale funds from the United Jewish Appeal and other sources, including Israel Bonds and friendly governments, he emphasized, “are still needed if Israel is to carry out its current extensive plans aimed at attainment in the foreseeable future of both full immigrant absorption and economic self-sufficiency.”

Taking note of Israel’s sixth anniversary to be marked on May 6, Mr. Saphir pointed out that “Israel, despite real problems, is nevertheless a country full of hope, confidence and the sound of building. Its economy is becoming increasingly stabilized, exports are rising continuously over imports, and new industry, especially from the United States, is finding its way to our shores.”

In the latter connection, Mr. Saphir noted that “while Americans have come to understand that Israel is an outpost of democracy in the Middle East, they are still unaware that more and more Israel represents an outpost of American industrial development and know-how. American firms in Israel, in cooperation with Israel capital, are producing goods which are finding markets in and beyond the Mediterranean basin. ” He pointed out that exports to Turkey alone in 1954, partly of automobiles, will amount to $20, 000,000 as against $7,000,000 in 1953.