Jews, Arabs Can Learn to Live Together, Says Mrs. Dayan, Active in Promoting Amity

Whatever happens in Israel’s political situation, Jews and Arabs will have to live together and now is the time for them to learn how, Mrs. Ruth Dayan told a luncheon meeting of the American Jewish Committee’s Middle East Committee, Mrs. Dayan described the work of Shem’s Sons’ World Pact, an organization devoted to fostering “understanding, cooperation and fraternity” among Arabs and Jews in Israel and “among all sons of Shem wherever they be.” Mrs. Dayan serves as president of the Pact. Pointing out that a whole generation of Israeli Arabs has grown up since the creation of the State of Israel, she indicated that new approaches were needed to deal with these young people, whom she described as “a new intelligentsia.” Indicative of the program of Shem’s Sons’ Pact, she cited such activities as monthly meetings of Arab and Jewish students, with Arab and Jewish teachers presenting lectures alternately; and exchange meetings between women’s clubs in Tel Aviv and women’s clubs in Arab villages.

In addition, Mrs. Dayan also cited an institute at Haifa University to study the relations between Arabs and Jews; talks to Arab student groups in which questions of financial aid to education and adjustment within Israeli society are discussed; and assistance “on the everyday level” to Arab families who request help with their specific problems. Mrs. Dayan made special mention of the work of the AJ Committee’s Israel Office in the area of Arab-Jewish friendship, and noted particularly that AJC’s Israel director, Dr. M. Bernard Resnikoff, had “for the first time, brought together all the 17 voluntary organizations working in the field of Arab-Jewish relations.” Charles Bensley, chairman of the Board of Governors of Haifa University and President of the Israel Education Fund, told the luncheon guests that there is ample evidence of increasingly better relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel. He stated that Haifa University employed 15 Arab instructors on a faculty of 470, had 350 Arab students in a student body that numbered 4,200, and was in the process of building a million dollar dormitory for Arab students.