Russell’s Last Message

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32214, 5 February 1970, Page 11

Russell’s Last Message

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

CAIRO, Feb. 4.

Bertrand Russell, in a last message before his death, called for a new world campaign “to help bring justice to the longsuffering people of the Middle East.” The message, dated January 31, was read last night to the international conference of parliamentarians in Cairo.

Lord Russell, who died, aged 97, at his home in North Wales on Monday night, said in the message: “All who want to see an end to bloodshed in the Middle East must ensure that any settlement does not contain the seeds of future conflict.” An essential ingredient to any genuine settlement was the return of Arab refugees to their homelands, he wrote. The tragedy of the people of Palestine was that their country had been given by a foreign Power to another people for the creation of a new State, which resulted in many people being made permanently homeless. “With every new conflict, their numbers have increased,” Lord Russell wrote. “How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty? “We are frequently told that we must sympathise with Israel because of the sufferings of the Jews in Europe at the hands of the Nazis. I

see in this suggestion no reason to perpetuate any suffering. What Israel is doing today cannot be condoned, and to invoke the horrors of the past to justify terror of the present is gross hyprocrisy. “Not only does Israel condemn a vast number of refugees to misery, not only are many Arabs under occupation condemned to military rule, but Israel condemns the Arab nation, only recently emerging from colonial status, to continuing impoverishment as military demands take precedence over national development.” Lord Russell said he believed that Israel’s recent bombing raids deep into Egypt were a profound mis-

calculation, and would not persuade the civilian population to surrender, but would stiffen their resolve to resist. This was the lesson of all aerial bombardments, shown in the American heavy bombing of the Vietnamese and Hitler’s bombing raids of Britain in 1940, which produced a unity and determination among the British people. Lord Russell’s message was described last night by an Egyptian Government spokesman as "an historical document and probably his last will to future generations.” He added: "Humanity has lost one of its great sons.” Quotations from Lord Russell’s books are printed on page 13.