The tragedy of the Middle East today is that Arab leadership instead of recognizing the advantages for the Arabs to be gained through cooperation with Israel, fights to destroy what Israel has accomplished. This is the opinion of W. P. Kennedy, president of the National Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, who recently returned from a tour of Israel.
The Arab states are a “shadow over Israel, doing everything on their side to increase misunderstanding and tension between Jew and Arab,” Mr. Kennedy reported. “From my observation, I am convinced that the Arabs fear the creation of a new, modern state at their borders which is becoming a challenge and a reproach to their own backwardness. They are more concerned with consolidating their own shaky power by exploiting anti-Israel feeling as a political weapon than to launch a far-reaching program of social reform within their own land.”
The union president offered four suggestions for the free labor movement to assist Israel. He urged them to exert their influence so that Israel is guaranteed against aggression; the Arab states make peace with Israel; Israel continues to receive material assistance to gain self-sufficiency, and that Israel is encouraged to foster relations with Asia and Africa to help them develop a trade union movement.
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.
