Ncrac Calls for Overhaul of American Mideast Policy

Delegates to the national plenary session of the National Community Relations Advisory Council asked today for an overhaul of American policy in the Middle East to deal with “the underlying causes of conflict rather than recurring surface symptoms.”

A policy statement adopted at the conclusion of NCRAC’s four-day meeting here advocated American diplomatic moves to encourage an arms embargo by the great powers, provide food shipments and other American aid to Arab lands conditioned on “an end to belligerency,” halt military training programs for Arab officers whose nations reject peace negotiations, assist Israel’s economic development and initiate positive steps to resolve the Arab refugee problem.

In their Middle East statement, the 300 delegates, who represent 9 national Jewish organizations and 80 local community councils, declared that a revitalized foreign policy in the crisis area requires “abandonment of the kind of even-handedness that fails to distinguish between those who seek the annihilation of their neighbors and those who seek peace.” U.S. policy must also recognize the limitations of the United Nations in resolving Middle East disputes, the NCRAC declaration said. It termed the United Nations “a fragile basis for guaranteeing peace and security” in the area.

The United States was also urged to “contribute strong, clear and unambiguous action” in support of direct peace negotiations, and advance vigorously a Middle East development program based on “the concept of an open pluralistic region.”

A symposium on the reactions of American Jews to the Middle East crisis concluded that the “spontaneity and solidarity” which swept through the community had created new momentums for strengthening Jewish life. The three organization presidents featured at the symposium — Morris B. Abram, of the American Jewish Committee, Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld of the American Jewish Congress and Dr. William A. Wexler of B’nai B’rith — generally agreed that the emotional peaks reached during the crisis had generated a psychological identity with Israel never before equaled in the community’s history.

Analyzing the involvement of local community organizations during the critical period. Isaiah Minkoff, executive vice-chairman of NCRAC, stressed that much of the spontaneous outburst of support for Israel would have been dissipated “without the established presence of a structured community to direct and funnel all of the energy and effort that exploded at the time.”

A consensus of community relations experts, basing their findings on social science studies and first-hand investigations in cities torn by racial disorders, disclosed at the session, that there was no evidence that the growing polarization of racial antagonisms in the country was making Negroes more anti-Semitic than other non-Jews. A policy statement adopted by the session held that “Negroes generally harbor fewer anti-Jewish prejudices than whites in the same economic status.” The statement cautioned Jews to avoid “mistakenly labeling social protests as anti-Semitism and to deal with anti-Semitic expressions of social protests without exaggerating their true dimensions.”