British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, addressing the U.S. Congress today on the international situation paid tribute to Israel but emphasized that the Jewish state must seek conciliation with the Arab countries.
“From the days of the Balfour Declaration,” Mr. Churchill said, “I have desired that Jews should have a national home, and I have worked to that end. I rejoice to pay my tribe here to the achievements of those who founded the Israel State, who have defended themselves with tenacity and who offer asylum to a great number of Jewish refugees. I hope that with their aid they may convert deserts into gardens. But if they are to enjoy peace and prosperity, they must strive to renew and preserve their friendly relations with the Arab world, without which widespread misery might follow all.
“Britain’s power to influence the Middle East and guard it from aggression is far less today, now that we have laid. aside our imperial responsibility for India and its armies,” the Prime Minister continued. He warned that dangers in the Middle East “are no less great than those the United States has stemmed in Korea.”
ADVOCATES MIDDLE EAST COMMAND; EMPHASIZES CHANGES IN AREA
In another portion of his speech the Prime Minister said; “In the Middle East enormous changes have also taken place since I was last in power in my own country. When the war ended, the Western nations were respected and predominant throughout these ancient lands, and there were quite a lot of people who had a good word to say about Great Britain. Today it is a somber and confusing scene. Yet there is still some sunshine as well as shadow.”
Of the Middle East Command, Churchill said: “It is no longer for us alone to bear the whole burden of maintaining the freedom of the famous waterway of the S###z Canal. That has become an international rather than a national responsibility. I welcomed the statesmanlike conception of a four power approach to Egypt announced by the late British Government, in which Britain, the United States, France and Turkey may share with Egypt in the protection of the world interests involved, among which Egypt’s own interests are paramount.
“Such a policy is urgent,” Churchill emphasized. “Britain is maintaining over 50,000 troops in the Suez Canal zone, who again might be well employed elsewhere, not for national vain-glory or self-seeking advantage, but in the common interests of all nations. We do not seek to be the masters of Egypt. We are there, only as the servants and guardians of the commerce of the world. It would enormously aid us in our task if even token forces of the other partners in the Four; Power proposal were stationed in the Canal Zone as a symbol of the unity of purpose which inspires us.”
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.
