A call for peace now through direct Arab-Israel talks has been issued here today by the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs.
In a special report, the committee urges that peace talks be made a first priority of our Near East policy. The report declares that no gain will be achieved by trying to turn the clock back and restoring the conditions of tension which existed on the frontiers of Israel for many years. The committee calls for the following six-point program of action:
“1. The time has come to press for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states to substitute peace treaties for armistice agreements.
“2. Our government must be ready to offer its good offices to help these negotiations, but no peace can endure if it is imposed. It must be freely negotiated by the nations which are most directly concerned.
“3. American aid must be employed as an instrument for peace. Emphasis must be shifted from weapons to technical assistance and economic development.”
“4. American aid should go to those who are ready to cooperate with as and with their neighbors in regional development in such projects as the Johnston Plan for the development of the Jordan River Valley.
“5. The UN must insure that international shipping is guaranteed the right to unobstructed passage through the Suez Canal and that all discrimination against Israel shipping come to an end forthwith.
“6. A vigorous effort must be made to solve the problem of the Arab refugees in the Arab states. Their homelessness has been too long prolonged, their misery deepened by the refusal of the Arab states to accept resettlement as the humane solution.”
The American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs conducts public action bearing upon relations with governmental authorities in an effort to maintain and improve friendship and good-will between the United States and Israel.
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