Delegates to the Workman’s circle biennial convention backed a resolution supporting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ plan for an international Mideast peace conference.
Peres, leader of Israel’s Labor Party, has proposed a non-binding conference that would serve as a framework for direct negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
The conference would also include the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the United States, Soviet Union, China, Great Britain and France.
The fraternal organization’s statement on Israel acknowledges the failure of Arab countries to “sit down and negotiate” with Israel, but supports an international conference if it can, “without imposed dictation, bring the parties to negotiate.”
“We realize that an international conference may not be a complete solution,” read the statement. “Nevertheless, we believe that it could be a beginning of a political solution which would lead to peaceful coexistence between the Jews and the Arabs.”
The convention also adopted resolutions on a variety of domestic and other international concerns, including Soviet Jewry, anti-Semitism and the perpetuation of the Yiddish language and culture.
Delegates also elected a new organization president. Harold Ostroff, manager of the Jewish Forward, will succeed Dr. Barnett Zumoff.
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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.
