An appeal to the United States Government to take the lead, inside and outside the United Nations, to bring about a basic settlement of the Middle East problem was voiced here today by Senator Herbert H. Lehman, in a Thanksgiving address delivered at the B’nai Jeshurun Congregation. Sen. Lehman emphasized that such a settlement must include provisions to achieve the following purposes.
“1. The threat of the security of Western Europe resulting from the Soviet penetration of the Middle East must be neutralized and ended. Soviet Russia must not be permitted to menace Western Europe in its vital access to its oil supplies, nor to imperil the Mediterranean lifeline of Western Europe.
“2. The Soviet shipments of arms to the Middle Eastern countries must be halted and a stable military balance reestablished in the area.
“3. The use of the Suez Canal must be guaranteed freely to all nations, under such supervision as will assure free access to all.
“4. The Egyptian blockade of Israel, with its strangulating economic effects, must be completely lifted.
“5. The provocative acts of war against Israel by Egypt, Jordan and Syria–the campaign of murder, pillage and sabotage by organized bands of hit-and-run raiders–must be ended.
“6. Egypt, the other Arab nations, and Russia must be convinced that Israel is in the Middle East to stay through a pledge of Israel’s security and territorial integrity by the UN and/or the united force of the free world. Israel must be rescued from isolation and intimidation.
“7. The Arab nations must be assured of their territorial integrity, and must be given further assurance of economic assistance for the area as whole as well as for individual parts of it.
“8. A solution of the Arab refugee problem must be undertaken. The Western powers, including the United States, must contribute financially to such a solution.
“9. Direct negotiations between Israel and her Arab neighbors, for the settlement of outstanding questions between them, including the problem of the Arab refugees, must be induced. I believe they can be induced and successfully undertaken, once the Arab states have come to accept Israel as a permanent neighbor, beyond the hope of destruction.
“10. War must be waged in the Middle East–but war against poverty, disease and ignorance, rather than against Israel.
“This ten-point program, if subscribed to by our government, would, in my judgment, result in actions and agreements leading to a true and lasting peace Sen. Lehman stated. “It is not an easy course to follow. But as the situation is perilous in the extreme, the solution is necessarily hard to achieve. It can be achieved. It must be achieved.”
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