Senator John F. Kennedy, leading aspirant for Democratic nomination for the office of U.S. President, touched upon the Middle East situation in a programmatic speech which he delivered in the Senate yesterday. He outlined his views on the Arab-Israel conflict and said that the United States must try “to has ten the inevitable Arab acceptance of the permanence of Israel.”
“We must formulate, with both imagination and restraint, a new approach to the Middle East-not pressing our case so hard that the Arabs feel their neutrality and nationalism are threatened, but accepting those forces and seeking to help channel them along constructive lines, while at the same time trying to hasten the inevitable Arab acceptance of the permanence of Israel, “Senator Kennedy said. We must give our support to programs to help people instead of regimes-to work in terms of their problems, not ours-and seek a permanent settlement among. Arabs and Israelis based not on an armed truce but on mutual self-interest.
“Guns and anti-Communist pacts and propaganda and the traditional piecemeal approach are not enough-refugee resettlement and a regional resources development fund in full partnership with the Middle Eastern nations, all are parts of a long-range strategy which is both practical and in the best interests of all concerned, ” he declared.
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