Leaders of the American Zionist movement, who have just returned from Jerusalem, today urged that the implementation of President Eisenhower’s six-point program for a solution of the Middle East crisis be based on a firm guarantee of the existing frontiers of all the states in the Middle East, including Israel. At the same time, they asserted that, while Israel does not oppose the legitimate aspirations of Arab nationalism, her statesmen are deeply concerned with the nascent imperialism personified by Nasser.
The Zionist leaders–Dr. Emanuel Neumann, president of the Zionist Organization of America, and Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council–spoke before several hundred Zionist leaders from all parts of the country assembled at a two-day extraordinary conference of the Zionist Organization of America. They comprised members of the National ZOA executive council, and presidents and other key leaders of ZOA chapters. Jacques Torczyner, administrative vice president of the ZOA, presided.
Dr. Neumann, a member of the Jewish Agency executive, who returned a few days ago from the Jerusalem sessions of that body, declared that “Israel passionately desires peace and seeks no aggrandisement.” He denied reports that “Israel is waiting for the opportune moment to annex part of the fragile Kingdom of Jordan” asserting that “there is no truth whatever in the story.” He predicted that Eisenhower’s economic development program will be rejected by Nasser.
Referring to President Eisenlower’s implied promise of assistance to any Middle Eastern state that is threatened, Dr. Neumann called upon the President to spell out this pledge if “it is to act as a deterrent.” He urged that “President Eisenhower’s implied pledge should be made explicit and operative through firm international guarantees–not implied, but expressed; not informal, bur formal; not private, but public–for all to see and hear. And in the case of Israel, as of other states, it is essential that such guarantees should refer both to her freedom and her territorial integrity.”
Rabbi Miller, chairman of the American Zionist Council, on which are represented all Zionist groups in this country, welcomed President Eisenhower’s constructive proposals for a solution of the Middle East crisis. At the same time, he urged that the implementation of the President’s program be based on a guarantee of the existing frontiers of all the states in the Middle East. “Although Israel was not mentioned in the President’s address,” he said, “it must be borne in mind that country is a natural ally of the West.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
