Italian Foreign Minister Guiseppe Saragat said today in a speech in Avelino that during the past two weeks “we trembled for the destiny of 2,500,000 men, women and children, not because they were Israelis but because they were human beings.” He said that “we would have trembled equally if they had been Arabs, Negroes or Chinese.”
We also trembled for the holy places and understood the sublime significance of the religious meaning of the holy places. Wherever creatures suffer, wherever a mother and child are endangered, there is a holy place,” he stated. “Now we have to work for peace,” he said, adding that the Italian Government was doing all in its power for that goal but that its effectiveness “depends on the whole people being unified in search of peace and justice.”
The Nenni Socialist party, which has been leading a massive campaign for public support for Israel, declared that requests for frontier corrections necessary for Israel’s security “are easily distinguishable from alleged annexionist aims.” The statement stressed that the party fully trusted “Israel’s moderation and wisdom” in relation to its efforts to assure a peaceful future with the Arab states.
Two Socialist Senators urged Italian Government intervention on the problem of additional refugees created by the Arab-Israel war, particularly the Egyptian troops who fled before the Israeli advance in the Sinai Peninsula and thousands of whom are reported wandering in the desert.
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