Israel and Her

Neighbors:

Contrasting Views

:

of Eminent

Christian Leader

Commentary,
Page 2

E JEWISH NEWS

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of Jewish Events

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Golda Meir Sees Possibility of
Easing of Middle East Tensions
Resulting from Moscow Shake-Up

Israel Relaxes Military
Control Over Its Arabs;
Refugee Talks Confirmed

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News)

TEL AV
_ IV.—Premier David Ben-Gurion's promise to relax
restrictions on Arab residents was partly implemen* Tuesday
when the Arabs of Galilee were told that they were free to
move into the towns of Acre and Nazareth which were pre-
viously closed to them. The order excludes only tribesmen
along the Lebanese border and the inhabitants of two southern
villages.
The measures to relax military control over the • Israeli
Arabs were announced after a long meeting between Ben-
Gurion and the five Ara-b members of the Knesset who belong to
Mapai and Subordinate parties.
Decisions made at the meeting include: relaxation of re-
strictions governing the movement of Galilee Arabs; shortening
of night curfew hours for the "little triangle" of central Israel;
opening the road to Tel Aviv for Arabs in the triangle; loans
for Arab farmers; water and electricity supply for Arab vil-
lages; agricultural, professional and secondary education for
Arab youth and the stimulation of Arab-Jewish investments in
cooperative enterprises.
The Israeli press Tuesday evening gave considerable promi-
nence to stories that Joshua Palmon, head of the Foreign
Ministry's Middle East division, was returning to Europe pre-
sumably to renew contacts with representatives of the Arab
refugees. However, well-informed political circles asserted
that Palmon's trip, while connected with his official duties,
llad nothing to do with Arab refugee contacts. Earlier reports,
however, confirmed that the refugee talks were taking place.
(Earlier Story on Page 3)
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that while
Israel officials have been having contacts with Arabs during
the past nine years, nothing has happened lately which can
be described as an unusual development. Contacts continue,
the spokesman declared. .(
It is understood that all such contacts concern unofficial
approaches to ascertain what conditions and kind of compen-
sation would best facilitate the absorption of refugees in
the host countries.

VIENNA, (JTA) The shake-up in the Kremlin might mean that better rela-
tions in the Middle East were possible, Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's Foreign Minister,
said at a press conference here prior to her departure from Vienna where she at-
tended the International Socialist Congress.
Mrs. Meir noted that Dmitri Shepilov, who was among the
Soviet leaders just ousted from leadership, was the person who, as
Soviet Foreign Minister, arranged the sale of Soviet arms to Egypt.
She pointed out that the situation in the Middle East could be
stabilized and an Arab-Israel peace achieved, if the Soviet govern-
ment were to send food and agricultural implements to the Arab
countries instead of arms.
(In Washington, a State Department spokesman said that the
Soviet government could prove the peaceful intent of its shake-up
by taking such "practical steps" as easing the Middle East tensions.
In Israel, observers indicated that no major changes in the -Soviet
Middle East policy are likely in the near future as a result of the
Moscow shake-up. However, official Israeli sources refrained from
comment on the Moscow developments.
Shepilov
Mrs. Meir, who was received by Austrian President Adolf
Schaerf during her stay in Vienna, made it clear at the press conference that Israel
is ready at any time and any place to discuss any problems the Arabs want to take
up. She said that while territorial concessions were out of the question, Israel was
prepared to discuss mutual rectification of boundaries with Jordan. With regard to
the problem of the Arab refugees, she pointed out that this problem can best be
solved by settling the refugees in Arab lands where there is a need in manpower,
especially in Iraq.

—

Israel Guessing Over Soviet Political Changes

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—The sensational new shake-up in Moscow left Israel i
leaders guessing whether it meant any changes in Soviet Middle East policy. Al-
though no official comment was made immediately informed sources have felt no
major changes were likely in the Kremlin's current anti-Israel and pro-Arab posi-
tion.
Two factors, one of which cancelled t he other in the belief of observers here,
were listed in support of this assumption. The first was the dismissal of Dmitri
Shepilov, the former Russian foreign minister who negotiated the Czech arms sales
to Egypt and Syria. The second was th e selection of a Moslem representative to

(Continued on Page 3)

Refugee Resettlement in Arab Countries, Admission of
Egyptian Jews to U.S. Proposed in U.S. Senate Measures

The Middle East problem this week gained in-
creased attention in Washington as a result of several
developments, in Congress and at the White House.
Of major importance are the recommendations,
made in an official report published by the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, that the United States
Government take the initiative in promoting direct
peace talks between Israel and the Arab countries,
that efforts be made for the resettlement of the Pales-
tine Arab refugees in Arab countries and that in-
creased food assistance be given to Israel.
The report, prepared by Senator Hubert H. Hum-
phrey, of Minnesota, chairman of the Senate sub-
committee on the Near East, said that the U. S.
policy in the Near East "has concerned itself too
much with kings and oil, and too little with people
and water." To promote regional stability, he urged
solution of the Arab refugee problem and steps to
bring about Arab-Israel 'rapprochement.
The resettlement of Arab refugees in Arab lands,
the Senator said in his report, is "the only effective
and realistic way of solving the Arab refugee prob-
lem." He called attention to the fact that "half of the
refugees are now under 15 years of age." This, 'he
said, meant that "despite the clamor of professional
refugee leaders for a return to Palestine and the in-
sistence of the Arab governments on repatriation to
their former homes, half of the refugees have in fact
no roots in Palestine at all."
Calling upon the United States to take the initia-
tive in and out of the United Nations "to bring about
a generous and effective solution" of the Arab refu-
gee problem, Sen. Humphrey said Israel should make a
commitment "to accept a limited number of token
repatriates" but the "vast majority" should find new

homes in Arab lands. He mentioned Iraq and Syria.

Sen. Humphrey charged that "the Arab states
have for 10 years used the Palestinian refugees as
political hostages in their struggle with Israel. While
Arab delegates in the United Nations have condemned
the plight of their brothers in the refugee camps,
nothing has been done to assist them in a practical
way, lest political leverage over Israel be lost."
In his view, "repatriation of all, or even a large
number of refugees, by Israel is no longer possible."
He said Israel had accepted many Jewish refugees,
including those forced to flee Arab nations. "Further-
more," he stated, "surrounded by nations which insist
upon exercising rights of belligerency against her, it
would be suicidal for Israel to admit a large group
of immigrants whose whole indoctrination for the
past ten years has been one of hatred for the Jewish
State. To cl,) so would be to establish a fifth column
inside the country."
In demanding that the United States Government
promote Arab-Israel peace talks, Sen. Humphrey said:
"American policy should maintain a constant and un-
relenting leadership for the states of the region to
resolve this conflict once and for all through direct
negotiations." He stressed that "not since 1952 has the
United States" either in or out of the United Nations,
made a determined effort to bring about a peace dis-
cussion betweeY the parties."
In urging increased food assistance to Israel under
Public Law 480, the Minnesota Democrat stated that
Israel is going to need more food assistance "and
deserves to get it, on the basis of its record of self-
improvement." Requests are now pending to obtain
$78,900,000 worth of wheat, feed grains, cotton, cheese,

edible oil, dry milk, butter, tallow, and beans.

Sen. Humphrey reported he was "astonished to
learn that Israel is not included in our military ex-
change program." He said he recommended prompt
correction of this omission. Sen. Humphrey also sug-
gested that Israel could give the United States assist-
ance by providing specialists in development of desert
regions.
At his press conference last week, President Eisen-
hower said, in answer to a question put to him by the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, that the
furnishing of submarines by the Soviet Union to Egypt
is "unhelpful" to the cause of peace and stability in
the Middle East.
Francis 0. Wilcox, Assistant U.S. Secretary of
State for International Affairs, 'addressing a conven-
tion of the American Association of University Women
in Boston, cautioned that "the Middle East remains
a tinder box where rash and ill-considered action
could have serious results."
. Mr. Wilcox reported that there continues to be "a
pall of fear hanging over the heads of the Arab and
Israeli people alike." Everything possible must be
done "to develop a will to peace in the Middle East,"
he said. Without such a will a settlement of long
range problems cannot be achieved, he stressed.
A bill which would permit the entrance into the
United States over a two-year period of 140,000 to
150,000 regular immigrants and refugees who would
otherwise be excluded — including Jewish refugees
from Egypt—has quietly gained the backing of key
Democrats here, including Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate
leader from Texas.
Democratic strategists are now seeking Republican
support for the bill, introduced by Senator John F.
Kennedy; Democrat of Massachusetts.,

