Vice-President Alben W. Barkley and Israeli Ambassador Eliahu Elath received honorary degrees tonight at the commencement exercises of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Vice-President Barkley received the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and Ambassador Elath the degree of Doctor of Laws. Degrees were also conferred upon four graduates of the 1949 class.
In his address, Ambassador Elath expressed the belief that “cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors is not only possible, but will be achieved in the future.” Such cooperation, he said, was not possible so long as the Arabs were determined to expel the Jews, and so long as they believed that by military action they would be able to achieve what they had failed to do by political means. “Now Israel is an independent state and can deal with its neighbors on an equal basis,” he added. “After the Arabs have become reconciled to the fact of Israel’s existence, common interests will come into the foreground.”
Emphasizing that Israel and the neighboring Arab countries have many common interests, the Israeli Ambassador said: “In fact, the economy of Israel and that of the Arab states are largely complementary. Israel has to import the majority of its food and raw materials from abroad. Much of those used to come from the neighboring countries of the Middle East. During the period of the Mandatory rule over 95 percent of the total exports of Transjordan, for instance, went to Palestine and the major portion of them was bought by the Jewish community.”
Ambassador Elath also pointed out that Israel’s industries normally have a large market in the Arab countries. He also stressed the fact that the ports of Israel are the main outlet for Transjordan and will, in normal times, play an important role in the export and import trade of Iraq and southern Syria. The electrification of the Arab parts of Palestine and of Transjordan and large-scale irrigation schemes for the Jordan Valley, will benefit Transjordan and Arab Palestine, as well as Israel, he stated.
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