BE IT RESOLVED that this General Council urge the Government of Canada to press the United Nations to make a renewed and determined effort to persuade Israel and the Arab nations to implement the provisions of Resolution 242.

1. WHEREAS the Balfour Declaration of 1917 stated “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine…” (Palestine Royal Commission Report, Cmd. 5479, H.M. Stationary Office, London, 1937, p. 22) and the World Council of Churches stated (through its Central Committee meeting in Canterbury in August 1969, and again at its Consultation on the Palestine Refugee Problem in Cyprus, September 29th-October 4th, 1969) that: “in supporting the establishment of the State of Israel without protecting the rights of the Palestinians, injustice has been done to Palestinian Arabs by the great powers which should be redressed:’ (Palestine Refugees—Aid with Justice, the Report of the Consultation on the Palestine Refugee Problem published by the World Council of Churches 1970, pages 13 and 85); and WHEREAS it has become clear, particularly since 1967, that the Palestinian Arabs, who number two and a half million, including 1.4 million refugees, registered with UNRWA (International Conciliation, September 1970, No. 579, pp. 16, 27), is a major factor to be reckoned with in any acceptable solution of the Palestine problem: BE IT RESOLVED that this General Council urge the Government of Canada to back any action of the United Nations that, while guaranteeing the security of Israel, aims to secure justice and self-determination for the Palestinian Arabs.