The Democratic 1964 Platform Committee today drafted and submitted to the national convention foreign affairs planks pledging strong support of Israel and deploring Soviet persecution of Jews.
The final platform draft, submitted to the convention opening tomorrow after consideration by the full Platform Committee, pledged to “work for the attainment of peace in the Near East as an urgent goal, using our best efforts to prevent a military unbalance, to encourage arms reductions and the use of national resources for internal development, and to encourage the resettlement of Arab refugees in lands where there is room and opportunity. The problems of political adjustment between Israel and the Arab countries can and must be peacefully resolved and the territorial integrity of every nation respected.”
The platform also pledged to encourage by all peaceful means the growing independence of the captive peoples living under Communism and hasten the day when captive nations will achieve full freedom and self determination. The platform said specifically that “we deplore Communist oppression of Jews and other minorities.”
PLEDGES AID TO ISRAEL ON DESALINATION, STRESSES MID-EAST PEACE
The determination of the United States to aid Israel through nuclear desalination was outlined in another portion of the platform approved today by the committee and submitted to the convention.
A supplement to the platform, entitled “An Accounting of Stewardship,” was also approved unanimously by the Platform Committee. In it the party’s accomplishments were reviewed. The supplement said that the 1960 Democratic plank pledged pursuit of Arab-Israel peace by preventing an arms imbalance, and that this policy brought the Arab States and Israel “closer to peace and stability than at any time since World War II.” (For related story, see Page 4.)
The Platform Committee noted: “In 1960, we urged continued economic assistance to Israel and the Arab peoples to help them raise their living standards. We pledged our best efforts for peace in the Middle East by seeking to prevent an arms race while guarding against the dangers of a military imbalance resulting from Soviet Arms shipments”
“In the period since that pledge was made,” said the new 1964 platform draft, “the Near East has come closer to peace and stability than at any time since World War II.” The draft added: “Economic and technical assistance to Israel and Arab nations continues at a high level, although with more and more emphasis on loans as against grants. The United States is determined to help bring the revolution in the technology of desalination to the aid of the desert regions.”
IMMIGRATION LAW REFORM URGED; NATIONAL ORIGINS QUOTA SYSTEM HIT
The draft platform reviewed American participation in the United Nations to strengthen that organization’s capacity as peace keeper, citing the continued UN “guard on armistice lines” in the Near East.
Action on immigration reform was requested in another portion of the draft. The committee said: “In 1960; we proposed to ‘adjust our immigration, nationality and refugee policies to eliminate discrimination and to enable members of scattered families abroad to be united with relatives already in our midst. The national origins quota system of limiting immigration contradicts the founding principles of this nation. It is inconsistent with our belief in the rights of man.”
The 1964 view is that “the immigration law amendments proposed by the Administration, and now before Congress, by abolishing the national origins quota system, will eliminate discrimination based upon race and place of birth, and will facilitate the reunion of families.”
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.
