Two Statements on the Mid-East War

To the Editors:

The renewed eruption into all-out war of the complex conflicts in the Middle East has already resulted in immeasurable human suffering. With each additional day the number of victims increases.

When the battles cease, as we hope they soon will, thousands of lives will have been lost and many thousands more will carry scars for years to come. Yet the political conflict will still be there, unresolved in spite of the battles and the destroyed human lives. It will be there until the people involved search together, cooperatively, for solutions that deal with the deep roots of this conflict, and that recognize the basic human needs and rights of all parties.

Meanwhile there is a vast need for aid to all the civilian victims of this emotion-laden and tragic war, aid designed to ease suffering rather than to provide new resources for the continuation of armed conflict. Such aid must be channelled directly to the victims through an impartial organization committed to the alleviation of human suffering, the rehabilitation of the victims of war, and the promotion of a truly just peace.

We the undersigned hereby establish the MIDDLE EAST EMERGENCY AID FUND for aid to the civilian victims on all sides of this war. The American Friends Service Committee has consented to receive this fund and will administer it impartially in accordance with need, following AFSC’s longstanding tradition. We call on everyone to join us in contributing generously to this emergency fund, and in a search for a just and lasting peace.

Contributions should be mailed directly to American Friends Service Committee, 160 North 15 Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102. Checks should be made out to AFSC-MEEAF. For more information please call or write: David Gil, Heller School, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02154. Telephone (617) 647-2927.

A partial list of sponsors follows:

Boston University, Professor Ruth Brandwein, Professor Irene Gendzeir, Professor Howard Zinn; Brandeis University, Professor Michael Brower, Father Robert Bullock, Professor David G. Gil; Harvard University, Professor Roger Fisher (School of Law), Professor Everett Mendelsohn, Professor George Wald, Professor Peter Wolff (School of Medicine); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Noam Chomsky, Najwa Makhool, Professor Joe Weizenbaum; Tufts University, Professor Seymour Bellin.