A resolution urging the Soviet Union to abandon the impending trials of Jews was adopted today by a substantial majority at the annual conference of the United Nations Association at Loughsborough. The conference, after heated debate, also adopted a resolution on the Middle East which, among other things, called for the establishment of a “secular State of Palestine.” The resolution on Soviet Jewry was submitted by the British section of the World Jewish Congress. In addition to abandonment of the trials, it called for the release of Jews under arrest and permission for them to emigrate. A petition urging the USSR to end discrimination against Jews and to grant them emigration rights was delivered today to the Soviet Embassy by a delegation representing the British Zionist Federation. The delegation, headed by Lord Janner, was received by the Embassy’s political secretary, Leonid Leontiev.
Meanwhile, reports reaching here from Moscow said that 70 Soviet Jews have sent letters to Kremlin leaders protesting the arrest of a large group of Jewish petitioners last Friday at the offices of the Soviet chief prosecutor Roman A. Rudenko. The petitioners were seeking information on the fate of Jewish prisoners awaiting trial on alleged hijack plot charges. The United Nations Association’s resolution on the Middle East proposed the creation of an “economic federation” in the region which could ultimately lead to “political integration and the creation of a secular Palestine State.” Sidney Shipton, chairman of the British Zionist Federation, asked that the second part of the resolution be deleted but his proposal was rejected. An 84-84 tie vote was cast on a resolution to empower United Nations mediator Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring to submit his own independent proposals for a Mideast settlement to the Security Council should his present peace efforts based on Resolution 242 show no progress by June 30. The conference chairman cast the deciding vote to defeat the resolution.
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.
