•
'History Summons Us to Permanent Peace
—Abba Eban
(Continued from Page 12)
a simple answer to the Soviet representative: That gov-
ernment's record in the stimulation of the arms race, in
the paralysis of the Security Council, in the encourage-
ment throughout the Arab world of unfounded suspicion
concerning Israel's intentions, the constant refusal to
say a single word of criticism at any time of declara-
tions threatening the violent overthrow of Israel's sov-
ereignty and existence — all this gravely undermines
your claims to objectivity.
You come here in our eyes not as a judge or as a
prosecutor, but rather as a legitimate object of inter-
national criticism for the part that you have played in
the somber events which have brought our region to a
point of. explosive tension.
To the charges of aggression I answer that Israel's
resistance at the lowest ebb of its fortunes will resound
across history, together with the uprising of our battered
remnants in the Warsaw Ghetto as a triumphant asser-
tion of human freedom.
We have tried to show that even a small state and a
small people have the right to live. I believe that we shall
not be found alone in the assertion of that right, which
is the very essence of the Charter of the United Nations.
Similarly, the suggestion that everything goes back
to where it was before the fifth of June is totally un-
acceptable. The General Assembly cannot ignore the
fact that the Security Council, where the primary re-
sponsibility lies, has emphatically rejected such a course.
What the Assembly should prescribe is not a formula
for renewed hostilities, but a series of principles for the
construction of a new future in the Middle East. With
the cease fire established, our progress must be not
backward to an armistice regime which has collapsed
under the weight of years and the brunt of hostility.
History summons us forward to permanent peace,
and the peace that we envisage can only be elaborated
in frank and lucid dialogue between Israel and each of
the states.
We dare not be satisfied with intermediate arrange-
ments which are neither war nor peace. Such patchwork
ideas carry within themselves the seeds of future tragedy.
Free from external pressures and interventions,
imbued with a common love for a region which they are
destined to share, the Arab and Israeli nations must now
transcend their conflicts in dedication to a new Mediter-
ranean future in concert with a renascent Europe and
an Africa and Asia emerging at last to their independent
role on the stage of history.
In free negotiation with each of our neighbors we
shall offer durable and just solutions redounding to our
mutual advantage and honor. The Arab states can no
longer be permitted to recognize Israel's existence only
for the purpose of plotting its elimination. They have
come face to face with us in conflict; let them now come
face to face with us in peace.
In peaceful conditions we could build a new region
with communications running from Haifa to Beirut and
Damascus in the north; to Amman and beyond in the
east; and to Cairo in the south.
The opening of these blocked arteries would stimu-
late the life, thought and commerce in the region beyond
any level otherwise conceivable.
Across the southern Negev, communications between
the Nile Valley and the Fertile Crescent could be resumed
without any change in political jurisdiction. The Kingdom
of Jordan, now cut off from its natural maritime outlet,
could freely import and export its goods on the Israeli
coast, on the Red Sea. Cooperative action could expedite
the port developments at Eilat and Aqaba which give
Israel and Aqaba their contact with a resurgent East
Africa and a developing Asia.
and forward-looking policy and not to drag the new future
back into the outworn past.
To the small nations which form the bulk of the
international family, we offer the experience which
teaches us that small communities can best secure their
interests by maximal self-reliance. Nobody ilelps those
who do not help themselves. We ask the small nations.
in the solidarity of our smallness, to help us stand firm
against intimidation and threats such as those by which
we are now assailed.
We ask world opinion, which rallied to us in our
plight, to accompany us faithfully in our new opportunity.
We ask the United Nations, which was prevented
from offering us security in our recent peril, to respect
our independent quest for the peace and security which
are the Charter's higher end.
We are going to do what the Security Council decided
Jerusalem, now united after her tragic division, is
no longer an arena for gun emplacements and barbed
wire. In our nation's long history there have been few
hours more intensely moving than the hour of our re•
union with the Western Wall. A people had come back to
the cradle of its birth. It has renewed its link with the
mystery of its origin and its continuity. How long and
deep are the memories which that reunion evokes.
For 20 years there has not been free access by men
should be done: maintain the cease fire and reject the
course which the Security Council emphatically and
wisely rejected but a few days ago it rejected the
concept of returning to the situation of belligerency out
of which the crisis arose, hack to the old situation.
Now it may seem that Israel stands lonely amongst
numerous and powerful adversaries, but we have faith
in the undying forces of our nation's history which have
so often given the final victory to spirit over matter, to
truth over mere quantity.
Mr. President. the Middle East, tired of wars, is ripe
for a new emergence of human vitality. Let the oppor-
tunity not fall again from our hands.
We ask the great powers to remove our tormented
region from the scope of global rivalries; to summon its
governments to build their common future themselves;
to assist the Middle East, if they will, to develop social
and cultural levels worthy of its past.
We ask the developing countries to support a dynamic
Israel's Foreign Minister Abba Eban and Israel's
UN Ambassador Gideon Rafael are shown listening in-
tently as Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin was assisting
their country in the UN General Assembly debate.
of all faiths to the shrines which they hold in unique
reverence. This access now exists. Israel is resolved to
give effective expression. in cooperation with the world's
great religions, to the immunity and sanctity of all the
holy places.
The prospect of a negotiated peace is less remote
than it may seem. Israel waged her defensive struggle
in pursuit of two objectives — security and peace. Peace
and security, with their judicial, territorial, economic
and demographic implications, can only be built by the
free negotiation, which is the true essence of sovereign
responsibility.
the recent combatants to negotiate the
A call
conditions of
of - their future coexistence is the only con-
structive course which this Assembly could take.
Historic Shavuot Pilgrimage to Wailing Wall
Israel Contacts Arabs' Relatives
Israel will broadcast daily information about Arabs' relatives
in Gaza and Jordan.
Arabs residing in the United States who wish to make contacts
with their relatives in the two areas now occupied by Israel may
submit their requests to the Israel Embassy in Washington or by
contacting the Israel Consulate in Chicago. at 93G N. Michigan Ave.
900 Hebrew University Students
Aid Many Emergency Projects
Making an historic Shavuot pilgrimage to the Wailing Wall, 150,000 Jews flocked to the Old City
of Jerusalem to observe the sacred festival. It was the first time a festival was observed by Jews at
the historic remaining wall of the Temple of Solomon in 20 years. The Wailing Wall has come into
Jewish possession for the first time in 2,000 years.
To Beaches and Back to Normal in Tel Aviv
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Upon the end of the six-day war, Israelis returned to normal life — and
it was back to the beaches in Tel Aviv.
I I
• ""*. •-••
JERUSALEM—Within a few hours of the first indication of an
emergency situation, students of the Hebrew University of Jeru-
salem spontaneously started an operation which is now to an increas-
ing extent helping alleviate the hardships facing the community of
Jerusalem. With the majority of the students mobilized for military
service, those not called up decided to volunteer for various essential
tasks, and some 900 students, mostly girls, are serving in one of
the four relief "divisions" which literally sprang up overnight. In
the Students Union building on the campus, offices which normally
handle day-to-day student affairs, have been put at the disposal
of the students' emergency headquarters. Supervision of the relief
projects is carried out partly by the University and partly by the
students themselves. Heading the project is Dvora Rothstein, acting
chairman of the Hebrew University Students Union (a student of
political science and English), assisted by Rafi Haft (a business
administration student) and liars Markowitz (political science and
English) as well as an executive body of 10 students who are con-
necting threads between supply and demand of student manpower.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 23, 1967-13