Stevenson Calls on U.S. to Remain Ally of Israel; Warns Against Imposed Peace

A call on the U.S. to remain “the great ally of Israel” was made here last night by Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III of Illinois as he accepted an award from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. “Far more is at stake in Israel than the future of one nation or America’s pride,” Stevenson told the more than 500 guests assembled for the Seminary’s 12th annual convocation dinner. “The honor of a generation is at stake,” he declared. Asserting that while “we need urgently a just and enduring settlement in the Middle East.” Stevenson cautioned against an “imposed” peace. “Such a settlement can only be negotiated by the parties to it,” he declared. “No durable settlement can be imposed on Israel or, for that matter, on the Arab states.” He said, however, that “the terms for peace must require Arab recognition of the sovereignty and territorial sanctity of agreed boundaries for the State of Israel.” The 41-year-old Senator who was elected last November, and Senate veteran Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, were recipients here earlier in the day of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Herbert H. Lehman Ethics Award. The award was conferred by Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Both were cited for “applying the ethical and moral values of Scripture to the everyday decision-making process.”