A friendly gesture by an Israeli toward Lebanon was welcomed at the world congress of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions which ended here yesterday without taking a stand on the Middle East conflict.
The question of representation for the Middle East region was taken up at the session and in order to avoid conflict, the delegate of Histadrut, Israel’s labor federation, proposed that the seat be rotated between Israel and the Arab states. He proposed further that, as a matter of courtesy, the Lebanese representative should take the first turn. His proposal was accepted by the ICFTU executive.
The trade unionists were unable to hammer out a resolution on the Middle East. Arab delegates refused to accept any mention of Arab terrorist activities and the Israelis insisted that a resolution affirm the need for direct negotiations as the only way to attain peace. Instead of enacting a resolution, the congress requested its newly elected executive to discuss the Middle East situation at one of its future meetings.
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