Martin Luther King On Israel (1967)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. King have repeatedly stated that the Middle East problem embodies the related questions of security and development. Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is incontestable. At the same time the great powers have the obligation to recognize that the Arab world is in a state of imposed poverty and backwardness that must threaten peace and harmony. Until a concerted and democratic program of assistance is [effected], tensions cannot be relieved. Neither Israel nor its neighbors can live in peace without an underlying basis of economic and social development.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. King have repeatedly stated that the Middle East problem embodies the related questions of security and development. Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is incontestable. At the same time the great powers have the obligation to recognize that the Arab world is in a state of imposed poverty and backwardness that must threaten peace and harmony. Until a concerted and democratic program of assistance is [effected], tensions cannot be relieved. Neither Israel nor its neighbors can live in peace without an underlying basis of economic and social development.