J.adassah Head Urges ‘dynamic’ U.S. Steps Toward Peace in Mid-east

Mrs. Mortimer Jacobsen, national president of Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization of America, called upon the United States tonight to adopt “a stronger and more dynamic foreign policy geared to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.” She asserted that, so long as present “war trends” are not reversed in the Middle East, the area will remain “a potential threat to peace.”

Mrs. Jacobson voiced that appeal to Washington as she addressed the opening session of Hadassah’s annual mid-winter conference at Hadassah House, More than 200 leaders, representing Hadassah’s 318,000 members throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, are participating in the three-day conference.

“The Middle East. ” Mrs. Jacobson said, “continues to be a powder keg. Terrorist activities are spreading along Israel’s borders, and the United Nations by itself seems unable to quell them, Israel is placed in the position where she is censured for defending herself against the onslaughts of her enemies. And Syria, who instigates terrorist attacks upon Israel, remains uncensured.

“Through the years, we have been gratified by the generous economic aid the United States has provided to the State of Israel. But the greatest need in the Middle East today is peace. We, therefore, urge the United States to undertake a stronger and more dynamic foreign policy geared to the establishment of peace in the Middle East and to the reversal of the present war trends that remain a potential threat to peace so long as they exist.”

In discussing conditions in Israel today, Mrs. Jacobson called upon the American Zionist Movement “to close ranks in an all-out effort to help curb unemployment in Israel.” She urged an increase in the number of tours to Israel, and a stepped-up construction program to help curb unemployment in that country. She said: “It will take at least two years for Israel’s economy to right itself. In the meanwhile, however, we must do all we can to help Israel. ” “At the same time, ” she added, “we must realize that the effectiveness of our aid is contingent in large measure upon a strong Zionist movement — a movement that can handle today’s problems with creative imagination, as it seeks to mobilize American Jewish youth for the purpose of assuming leadership of the Zionist movement in the future.”

CALLS ON SOVIET PREMIER TO MAKE GOOD PROMISE ON JEWISH EMIGRATION

Turning to the situation of the Jews in the Soviet Union, Mrs. Jacobson urged USSR Premier Alexei Kosygin to make good his recent Paris promise to permit Soviet Jews to reunite with their families abroad. Mrs. Jacobson recently returned from the USSR as head of a group of 24 Hadassah leaders visiting that country. Despite Mr. Kosygin’s Paris promise of two months ago, she charged, the Soviet Union is still “placing obstacles in the way of Jews wishing to reunite with their families abroad.” “Jews in Moscow and Riga, who go to passport offices with copies of Soviet newspapers containing Mr. Kosygin’s statement, ” she charged, “are being told that the family reunification program is virtually completed and that applications to leave the USSR from now on will be ‘treated in the same way as before.”

(In London, today, Anglo-Jewish leaders indicated that they had little expectation of being received by Premier Kosygin during his official visit to Britain, which started today. It was disclosed that the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Anglo-Jewish representative body, had no response to its letter to the Soviet Embassy requesting Premier Kosygin to received an Anglo-Jewish delegation to discuss the position of Soviet Jewry.)

Another speaker, at tonight’s session, Dr. Jack Karpas, deputy director-general of the Hadassah Medical Organization, reported that Hadassah is developing plans for an intensive rehabilitation program for patients who have recovered from initial attacks of stroke, cancer and heart dissase.

“Our objective here,” he said, “is to help restore them to useful life. We regard the psycho-social factors of these diseases as important as the diseases themselves. Statistics show that such patients can live for many years but are not necessarily able to do the kind of work they had done before the onset of these illnesses. However, with retraining for other jobs–within the scope of their abilities–they can again become productive members of society. The two important factors involved here are: First, they must accept their health situation, and second, their families must do so.”

In a financial report, Mrs. Max Schenk, national treasurer of Hadassah, said that Hadassah is exerting every effort to reduce costs while maintaining the highest standards of its operations in Israel in the light of the Israel Government’s efforts to “cool off the overheated economy.” She noted that this includes the tightening by Hadassah of staff positions and other operational expenditures.