Evening star., 1953-02-24
Middle Eust Conference
A. H. M.

It is unfortunate that the Counselor
of the Israeli Embassy wrote in such
a hostile manner February IL, concern
ing Miss Dorothy ThompSon'S deScrip-
ton of the recent first annual confer
ence of the American Friends Of the
Middle East. Her evaluation OF the
conference February 81, believe, was
accurate and fair in every respect.
was present at every session of the
conference as an observer and as one
interested in the relief problems of the
Middle East. Mr.. Levin's description
of the procedures of the conference is
entirely inaccurate. Israel was not
dealt with abusively. In fact, as far as
I can remember, Israel was mentioned
in only three out of some 20 speeches.
At the time was impressed with the
tolerant attitudes of all the speakers,
including those of the representatives
of the many relief agencies.
Unless a gentleman who identified
himself as a representative OF the
Israeli Embassy, and who was intro
duced to me by member OF the Ameri-
can Christian Palestine Committee, was
an imposter, Mr.. Levin should know
better than to state: "The fact is that
Israeli representatives were excluded
from the conference"
fail to understand what Mr.. Levin
wanted to accomplish by his letter. Did
he want to discourage the significant
efforts of AFME to build good will
toward the Middle East?
Albert ]. Schrader.
I regret the misunderstanding that
occasioned Y. Harry Levin, Counselor
of the Israeli Embassy, to attack the
American Friends of the Middle East
in his letter to The Star, February IL.
Mr.. Levin was quite right in correcting
a slight overstatement in the column
by Miss Dorothy Thompson which ap-
peared in the February S Star. Miss
Thompson erred in stating that "the
ambassadors of every Middle Eastern
country" were present at the recently
held first annual conference of the
American Friends of the Middle East.
Three Middle Eastern countries were
not represented: Turkey, Yemen and
Libya. All of the other independent
nations. including Israel, had repre-
sentatives present. Certainly Miss
Thompson intended no untruth, as
am sure Mr.. Levin will be willing to
concede.
The conference in question was not
an international event to which nations
were invited to send representatives. 1t
was an annual conference Of officials
and members of strictly American
organization whose chief interest is
neither the Arab position nor the Israeli
position-nor even the Middle Eastern
position-but rather the American stake
and interest in the Middle East. Some
40 American agencies working in the
Middle East were invited to attend, re-
port and prepare exhibits for the con-
ference. Agencies working in Israel
were included and made reports. Re-
grettably, some of the larger agencies
at work in Israel were not able to send
representatives; but the point Is that
they were invited to do so.
Mr.. Levin writes: 'The fact is that
Israeli representatives were excluded
from the conference by deliberate dis
elimination" Mr.. Levin errS. The fact
is that several days prior to the con-
ference the Israeli Embassy called me
personally and asked about the con-
ference, protesting that no official OF
the Israeli government had been asked
to make an address. pointed out that
no speaker had been asked on the basis
of his official relations, that nationals
of only four out Of more than 20
Middle Eastern countries had been
asked to make addresses: Afghanistan.
Lebanon, Syria and Iran. also pointed
out that this was not an Invitation"
conference but one open to the public.