Jewish Group Says North Vietnamese Responded Favorably to Trees Project

The first delegation of American Jews who met last month in Paris with representatives of the North Vietnamese leadership to get their reaction to the “Trees for Vietnam” project, has returned to the US. The project is aimed at ending the war and collecting funds for “ecological reparations” to North Vietnam for damage resulting from American bombing raids on that country. According to spokesmen for the group, the tree was chosen as an appropriate symbol because of the Biblical injunction against the destruction of trees in time of war.

The delegation consisted of Rabbi Michael Robinson, national chairman of the Jewish Peace Fellowship and a member of the Social Action Commission of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Mitchell Smith, a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia; Mitchell Krucoff, president of the Middle Atlantic Federation of Temple Youth; Ruth Robinson, who is active with Temple Sisterhoods; and Mike Tabor, who is coordinator of the “Trees for Vietnam” project.

JEWS WILL BE ASKED FOR FUNDS

They met in Paris with representatives of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation; the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam; the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam; the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; the Overseas Buddhist Association; and the School of Youth for Social Services of South Vietnam.

According to the Jewish delegation, the Vietnamese reacted “very positively” to the trees project. The organizers of the project said the Vietnamese delegations they met agreed to select specific villages where trees are needed and American Jews will be asked to raise funds to re-forest those areas. They said other means of assistance such as medical aid to injured Vietnamese civilians were also discussed in Paris.