Jewish Currents 1971- Special Israel Issue by Rokhl Kafrissen

ISSUE ISRAEL SPEGIAL 25THYEAR Sllc ilAY,tg7|

ISRIEL, WHAT il0w? AN EDITORIAL a

us "ll0vEs"

*H[WKS" It ISRAET By V. S. The Riaer Jordan

IS A JEWISH STATE A RACIST STATE? BY SID RESNICK

BLACK UNIOI\ TEADERYISITS ISRABL By LILLIAN ROBERTS

Vol. 25, No. 5 Q75\ May, 1971 EDITORIAL BOARD Lours Henep Contributing Editor Slu Pcvznsn Drup Pr.erl MonnrsU. Scsrppns EiIinr

ISRAEL,WHAT I\OW? AN EDITOfItr.4g-

THE r

CONTENTS IsRaEr, Wn,rr

NowT

An I')litttriul

/ .Siri /ir,.rnir'l,' Is I JErwrsttS'ln'l'li ,r llnr:ls'l' S'l',r'l'r,: B r a t : r t l N r o l l l , u n u l : t t V t s r t ' s l s t t , , r l : t . l,illiun liltlterts I'r H,rt'PtlNI.:tlIN Islt,rl:1. "DovES" vs. "HAwKS" IN Isnaat,

Tur EnrroR's DteRv

L . l l.

W.S.

M.U.S.

IN tns BecrlrNrxc Story by Yaahou llcssittg Pe n rn rs ' C o n u rn I Ns r ou' r ' ru J n w rs rrC o i v rrtu n rrv ' l ' rtn

Max Rosenleld anrl Ouest, Sholem Aleichem

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O rt, I n tp ri tu n r.ts rs Ileview hy llruno Aron

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I lsrrnl;t, oN R n l u u t t s l' . ' o t t r r N

Anot;nu'r'u r , :W o r r r . u l/.1,'..\'.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS To be sure you d.o not mila an ittue, yovr change of address must ba receioeil by ut no later than the l0th ol the month. Changet receioed that will nat takc effeu altar for ano3hcr monih.

April 20 pressurein the AmericanJew.

ish community, outside progressive Jewish circles, to acceptance of every last detail of Israeli policy, although throttling criticism, is not going unchallenged. Two weighty voices have recently been raised in protest. Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrat'h, presi. ent of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform), introducing a symposium on Israel in the UAHC quarterly organ, Dimensions (Fall, 1970), pointed to the wide-ranging discussion of policies in Israel itself and added: "What a contrast is presented by the spectacle of a supinely submissive and self-suppressed American Jewry. Not a peep of protest against a single scintilla of official Israeli foreign policy is permitted by the Jewish llstablishment of America. Let a Philip Klutznick fpast president of B'nai B'rith and former member of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations] offer the mildest possible dissent to the accepted party line of opposition to Four-Power Talks and the entire rnachinery of organized American Jewry brings up its howitzers to demolish not his argument but his very right to argumentation, challenges his loiralty to that cause and country to which he has devoted a lifetime of thought, labor and means." Then Rabbi Eisendrath lashed out at those in the Jewish Establishment who scold as "self-hating" the young American Jews "when they gravely question the moral implications of the far too anger^,ls shibboleth, 'what we Mev. l97l

G^r12

have, we hold,' lvhen they protest against'communal punishment,' ove:' the now a.dmitted use ol nal-rahn" over the bombing of civilians 1]{i matter how accidental, ovet' the (.!!itrich-like denial of the ver\. eristt:ucl of a Palestinian entitl, ou.. the 1.rrcmature an'd most provocafive lesetllement of occupied terriiories, ovel' inadequate initiatives regardins,-;\r;rlr refugees." Similarly, Rabbi Joachirrr Prinz of Newark, N. J., past plesident, Amelican Jewish Congress and now chairman, Governing Council, World Jen ish Congress, is quotecl as follon,s in Look, April 20: "We need tuo cleclarations of in.dependence. Amelican Jewry must aclinowledg,-e Israel as sovereign over itself, not governeci Jrr. U.S. Jews. And Israel must acknonledge the independence and inte--r'iri, of American jewry. Because \\'e are cLr:.ir to Israel, we must not be forced to accept everv move of Israel as prurlcni or acceptable. Israel ntust not Jreconlt the manager of American Jenr1., bul only its own affails." Ralrbi Prinz specifically rejected Prenrier Golrl,r N{eir's applause of the tl.S, rolc irr Vietnam and her false analosv iret,,,eel the situation in In.dochini' urcl tlre Vliddle East. In contrast, we have ihe Zionii.' Organization of America, lrhich secn]:i in:ent on importing the w'orst Anloir.) political ideologists frorn J..r'ael. airrl on_propagating an ultra-right forei3-n policy for the USA in the \4iddle Flasi. Not only did the ZOA irnlrort l{cnahem Beigin. leader of the annerationisri Herut Party in Israel after he harl

t ug. 4,, b e e n f o r c e d o u t o f t l r r ' ( , i r l r i r r r :A b u t h e r v a s i m p o t ' l r : r li t g r r i r r M a r c h 3 0 t o a d . d r e s sa n a n l i S o r i r ' l r r r l l y a d v e r t i s e d i n a h a l f - 1 r a g ci r r l l r r ' , N . l ' . ' l ' i m e s t h a t d a y n i t h t ' l r r 'h c i r r l i r r g" N o S u r r e n d e r t o S o v i r . t l r r r l r r , r ' i u l i s r rT r .h" e a d d e f a m e d l s r a r ' l l , ) r k ' s c r i l r i n gi t t h u s : "Israel. a de lut'to alll oI tlre United S t a l e sa n r l u r r o u l l r r s l o f t l r r f r e e w o r l d , s t a n d s a s a l r a l r i c r l o ( , o r n r u u n i s ti m perialisrrr." T h i s ( l r l r l W a r l e r r r r i n o l ' o g yi s s e l d o r n r r r e t r : f l ' r r c t ' i v c livn Z i o n i s t c i r c l e s . alrhouglr llrc S,ri'ialist Zionists oi Isruel Ilori:orts, or'gar) of Americans f o r l ) r ' o g - r ' c s s i vlrs:l a e l - H a s h o m e r H a t zair" rlirl sa\ crlitorially (Jan.-Feb., 1 9 7 1 , p u l r l i s l r c r li n M a r c h ) t h a t " t h e plea that the Jen'ish state is 'the only bulwark aglirrsl (,omnrunism in rthe Middle liast' anrl the 'only power capable of re.sisfirrg-the Soviet penetration' oI thr: ilreil. ilr'(] <loing neither the cause of Soviet Jen ly or of peace any good. Israel is neither, ancl her war aims were, anrl l)eace aims are. based on self-interestarrd rrot on ]reing a bulwark against anything or anyhody." The fact tha't there is more hawkish than dovish sentirnent in the American Jewish community than in Israel itself constitutes a grave problem for progressive Jews here. Even BenGurion's statement that Israel needs peace with Egypt more than it needs Sharm-el-Sheikh (see p. IS) is either ignored or derided in most of the Yid.dish or English-Jewish press and had no echo in major Jewish organizations. This situation in the USA of course encourages the annexationists in Israel and stimulates some of the public-Israeli map-making that bedevils policies. Instead of saying definitively that it will accepf and implement th; tlN Security Cfuncil Resolution of Nov. 22, 1967 by withdrawing to secure and recognized borders that 4

will be defined in unconditional negotiations through Jarring, the Israeli government permits its cabinet members to make individual pronouncements on what will or will not be given back. The result is that even the historic assertion by Egyptian Premier Anwar Sadat Feb. 15 that he is ready to sign a peace agreement with Israel has not received the positive reception by the Israeli government t'hat might have broken the stalemate. The fact that Sadat surrounded his offer with terms that might be unacceptable does not justify the failure by Israel to respond in such a way that Jarring could have brought both sides to discussions of terms t'hat, no matter how maximal at the beginning, might be reduced on both sides to a common agreement. At this writing, the thaw initiated by Sadat Feb. 15 got a sudden chill April 17 with the federation agreement reached by Egypt, Libya and Syria, the latter two having continually refused to agree to the UN Nov. 22, L967 resolution. Sadat's statement that o'There will be no negotiations or peace agreemen,t with Israel . . ." is a throrvback to the Khartoum, Sudan slcrgan of Sept. l, 1967,, "no negotiations, no peace, r)o recognition." Israel shares.responsibility for this ominous reversron. Ben-Gurion again put the issue sharply April 12 in Tel Aviv at a meeting of the Labor Party Young Guard, stating, "If there will be no peace, another war will have to break qut.'] Will the possibility of reopening the Suez Canai, broachld i" Dec. bi Defense Minister Moshe Davan. then pushed both by Sadat and ihe'State Depqrtnent and elaborated April 20 by Yallon, be realizecl and turn into a first step in a llearr:eagreement? Time is not on [srart'l's side. Ping-pong, a n y 0 n e?

J uwrsu CunRrNrs

ARACIST STATE? STATE ISAJEIIIISI| fsrael as a national state compared with European socialist states

to remain a Jewish TSRAEL'S risht "uft", I state, a peace agreement with its "u"r, Arab neighbors, is being questioned and negated in many quarters, including some left-wing circles and publications. Taking their cue from the Al Fatah, which now maintains it seeks to absor"b Israel into "a democratic, non-sectarian Palestine," certain radicals deem it insufferably parochial and nationalist for the Israeli Jews to want to live as a sovereign people in their own state. The editors of the radical weekly Guardian of New York Feb. 6, quoted Fatah leader the Al approvingly Yasser Arafat who says of the Israelis, o'We are offering them, if they want to stay and live in Palestine, that they stay and live there as Palestinians in 'oequality" is left equality . . ." What to a people, in this case the Jewish people o'f Israel, which is expected to part with its statehood and national sovereignty to live on terms defined by another people ? Is ;the wish of the

Srn Rpsntcr ol lleut Hauen is the autlrar, arlong other things in our pages, ol "Can Radical,sSupport th,e Ara'b T.errorists" in our IuIy-Aug., 1969 issue ancl ot' a reply to Tom Foley on our Middle East position in our lan, 1970 issue. MEv, 1971

T::i ":::::1: thar rsraeri rews a "racist" acter as a Jewish state really concept? Twenty three years ago the international Left fully approved Israel's creation as a leuish state, that is, a state with a majority Jewish population, and specifically cast aside other plans, such as a joint or bi-national Palestinian state, on the ground that the antasonism between the Arabs and Jews- made such plans unworkable. Not only Jewish spokesmen, but the representatives of the Soviet Union and other socialist states at the Llnited Nations acknowledged that a Jewisir state was an absolute necessity for a section of the Jewish people a{ter the experience of the Nazi holocaust and they recognized this could best be accomplished by dividing Palestine into two separate states, rather than insisting on a single or bi-national state. The Soviet position then, which some of the more extremist pro-Arab supporters and even certain communists woul'd now like to forget, was carefully spelled out by Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet representative to the United Nations, in Muy and Nov., discussion of L947. Indeed, any Israel's future rnrri take Gromyko's celebrated and crucial addresses into account. since without them it is ex-

l'i'n:r.l',.doubtful rvhether a state of I '1'xrI r, ould have been created at all. l,', iri:. 1'[ai- I1,, 1917 address, Gromyko uointerlh' recallecl the Nazi massacre ,,l ihc Je*-s i' Ilurope and asserted: "'N-lre{act that not a single Western iiui'opeln state has heen in a position i l . . , . r i r 1 i ' a r r ttehee d e f e n s e o f t h e e l e r l r i r , r , l r ' \ ' r ' i s ^ h to sf the Jervish people {ri' cornPr-'nserte them for the violence llri',,' ha.,e suffered at the hands of ih,- fascist hangmen explains the t':tirotiort ol the Ieus lor th,e creation tf a .:;!ntr:ol th,eir orun. It would, be u ti itts! rtot I o lahe t/tis into account rttrl to deny 1,hs right ol the Jewish t:;'{:i)le to lhe. reali:ation ol such a,n rtl:tiru!iort." (l,'ull text il Jewrsn {l:-ntn:lrs, N"Ta-_v, f94,7.) O" Nov. 26, iir his final speech at the UN Assemhlr. Jrt.fore the vote Nov. 29, 1947, C rornr ko elahorated further on his .,'iri.rs,{)r)s for supporting the plan to nartiiion Palestine into two states. He .-:lirl: "The experience gained from the "hrdv of the Palestinian question . . lras slror.,'nrhat Jews and Arabs are urtaltlr: to lit,e together uithin the l;ortnlaries ol a single state. The Io:lit'al conr:lusion followed that, if ihese tn'o peoples inhabit Palestine, iroth of rvhich have deeply rooted hislrilical ties with the land . . . there is r'!o o.ltt:rnatiue but to cred,te, in the itloce oI one courttt'y, two states 'l'jre I ISSR delegation holds that this rl:iisiorr corresponds to the funda;i: r;nta! ncttional interests of both itcoplr:s . . ." (Italics added.) Who rr ould suqgest today that the '1, ''alr-Islael confliit is less intense i l r e n i t r v a - "2 l i y e a r s a s o ? I t w o u l d :,e:nr [hat the reasons wh"ich prompted ,hi: seliing up of two .eparate states, r,rre Jen.ish- the other Arab, are more '.'r.licltoday than they were 23 years ago u hen, unfortunately, the opposiijon of the Arab reactionary governr'rents prevented the establishment of 6

the Palestinian Arab state provided for in the UN Resolution of L947 and the Jewish state alone came into beine. Would it not be more useful to help- achieve the dual provisions of the 1947 Partition Plan rather than seek a solution in Al Fatah's "democratic, non-sectarian Palestine," which at the present time is unrealistic and also unacceptable to the Israeli people. (See Schappes' answer to Huey Newton, Jnwrsu CuRRrwrs, Feb., I97L, for further analysis of this slogan.) It is apparent that many young radicals, even Jewish radicals, are ambiguous, even embarrassed, when considering Israel as a Jewish state. Such radicals uphold the right of national assertion and national identity of every other people-the Basques, the Welsh, the French Canadians, the American Indians, everyone and everywhere-but Israel a Jewish state? Well. not reallv. Too many radicals adopt a distorted view of the Jewish communitv: the progressive and radical traditions in Jern,ish history are unknown or appear non-existent to them; only the repulsively bourgeois, the politically reactionary, the narrowly nationalist are seen as the essence of Jewish life in the United Srates and this distorted vi, t, is transferred to Israel as well where, if anything, this judgment is even less valid. Israel ought not escape the criticism of progressives on many counts. What is objectionable is that so many radicals see only the defects on the Israeli side and blandly overlook everything repressive and chauvinist on the Arab side, including the fact that the Palestinian commando movernents and such "anti-imperialist" Arab governments as Iraq and Syria are unyielding in their opposition to the very eristence of Israel as a separate state.

JuwrsHCunnrrvrs

,principal argument _against A Israel is a Jewish state is that the large Jewish population of Israel and thJ encouragement given to J_ewsto immigrate i"nto Isra-el are indicative of th; "racist character" of Israeli sociefy. The unpardonable defect here appears to be that Israel seeks to preseiue its character as a Jewish state and certain radicals, smitten by what thev imagine is a more universal or outlook, regard this as "o.*opoli"tat uniquely parochial. Contrary to the belief of some Marx' ists, historical experience has shown that the effort to preserve the national character o{ particular states is not confined to IJrael but has also been pursued by the Arab states and the iocialist states of Eastern Europe. If attention is now called to this fact it is not for the purpose of glorifying it, but rather to recognize that the factor of national consciousness operates strongly even in socialist states and that ihe millenium when bound' aries and national distinctions become meaningless is still far off. Let us consider the socialist states of Eastern Europe on this score. Though the Marxist propositio-n is that all nitional minoriti-es have the right to enjoy -in national rights in the counwhich they reside, historic tries circumstances persuaded the left-wing forces in Eastern Europe after World War II to separate minority peoples from the dominant national majorities when a history of antagonism made the coexistence of such diverse national groups less likely. In carrying out this concept after World War II all the East EuroPean socialist states expelled f'rom their territories a large minority, the Germans. Actually-13 million Germans left or were expelled from these East European states for being disloyal to their respective countrieJ during the

Mev, 1971

M. YOUNG IR. VHITNEY (luly 31, 1921-March 11, 1971) tTHE tragic, untimely drowning of r Whirney M. Young Jr., executive director of the National Urban League, was mourned nationally as a great loss to the struggle for equality for the black people. On this solemn occasion, we recall the letter he sent Oct. 7, 1970 to someone who protested his signing a A/. Y. Times ad June 29, 1970 in defense of Israel (full text from American Jewish Congress, 15 E. 84 St., N.Y. 10028) : ". . . Another point You raise is the status of Ori-ental Jews within Israel. Before we can charge Israel racism and discrimination with against this majori'ty of its citizens, we must determine whet'her the inequalities that are so obviouslY pfesent are due to the institutional iacism such as is evident in our own country, or to the inevitable distinctions that will be made among People in a dynamic, techn-olotic.ally' briented society. From what I have seen it appears that the disadvantages suffered by the_Oriental popu' lat-ion can be more logically traced to the educational disadvantages they broueht with them from their Moslem blrthplaces, and their reto comPete with sultant inability native and European settlers better prepared for the urban, advanced mY society Israel has become 1969 visit to Israel impressed upon me the fact that Israelis are acutely conscious of the gap affiicting their Oriental population and are takine steps-educational and econonricto close it. . . ." war and for thus, it was felt, Posing a future security problem. At the time,

ihe international Left approved this step and no one will seek to undo it now. However, population transfers did not affect only the Germans in these states. In their effort to reduce national frictions and create more homogeneous 'qourrrrnational states, the socialist ments in Eastern Europe after''World War II moved borders and transferred minority groups from one socialist state to another. For example, in June, 1945 Czechoslovakia ceded to the Soviet Ukraine her easternmost province of CarpathoLTkraine with a population of 850,000 Ukrainians and 27,000 Czechs and Slovaks in this area were allowed to leave for Czechoslovakia. When World War II ended, the territory of Poland was shifted westward into Cermany. Poland relinquished almost half its pre-war area in the east 'to the Soviet Union and was compensated by the allies with a third more territory in the west that had been under German control before the war. Poland and the Soviet Union signed agreements which took their respective na'tionals out of the territories of the opposite side. Thus 5IB;2L9 Ukrainians, Byelorussians. Russians and Lithuanians were transierred from Polish territory into their respective Soviet Republics and I,495,938 Polish residents in the territories acquired by the Soviet Union were repatriated to Poland. (Joseph Schechtman, Postwar Popu,lation Transler in Euro'pe: 19451955, LI. of Pa. Press, Phila., 1962, paâ&#x201A;Ź{es I57. I7I.) After the war Socialist Bulgaria moved to reduce its Turkish minority and allowed 157,000 Turks to leave Bulgaria in 1950-52 to settle in Turkey. Further repatriation of Turks from Bulgaria was resumed in 1967. So strongly ingrained has the Polish character of the new Polish state beo ()

conre that most of the remainins few hundred thousand ethnic Germani still in Poland prefer to leave. Over 250,000 ethnic Germans le{t Poland between 1955 and 1958. After the treaty between Warsaw and Bonn was signed in Dec., 1970, the West German Red Cross announced that an additional 90,000 Germans in Poland will be granted exit permits in the next two years (/Y.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 1970) . 89 per cent I"ror ttow cotrstitute of the Israeli population, and this high percentage is held to its discredit as proof of its alleged "racist character." How does this ethnic composition compare with that of the socialist states of East Europe? As a result of border changes and the population exchanges cited above, these st?tes have acquired largely homogeneous populations, in'than some caseseven more homogeneous that of Israel. The Polish People's Republic now boasts a population of 98 per cent Poles and 2 per cent non-Poles. (One need only glance through the English language magazine, Polish Perspectiues of Wiarsaw, to see the pleased references by Polish population specialists to the "homoseneous character" of the present population of Poland. ) The Socialist Republic o,f Czechoslovakia includes 65 per cent Czechs and 28.9 per cent Slovaks, or about 94, per cent Czechs and Slovaks in this bi-national state. Hungary, another socialist state, consists oI 97 per cent Magyars and only 3 pel cent non-Hungarians. Bulgaria consists of 86 per cent Bulgars and about 14 per cent national minorities. Romania consists of about 88 per cent ethnic Romanians. These states are ple'dged to grant equal citizenship rishts to all their minority qroups and some, like Romania, grant

JswrsHCunnnnrs

extensive cultural rights to their minorities. Yet each of these states is extremelyconsciousof its national character ancl makes zealouseffolts to preserveit. It is curious to note that while certain Marxists never tire of urging Jews to assimilate and disappear, a quite different policy is followed by thesesocialist statesin regard to their kinsmen abroad. Each of these countries has at different times launched campaigns in its respectivediasporas 'to induce its former nationals and their foreign-born children to return to the national fold. (The Armenian Soviet Republic arranged for the repatriation of more than 100,000 Armenians abroad. mainlv in the Middle Eastern countries,' but also many hundreds from the U.S. and Canada, to return to Armenia following World War II.) Each of these socialist statesmaintains extensive societies and issues attractive publications in various languages to keep alive their national heritages among the former nationals and their foreign-born children. The Ukrainian Soviet Republic, for example, maintains an Association for C;ultural Relations with Ukraiuians Abroad and issues the publication, News lrorn the Ukraline, in English.

world" to contribute to this project (.N.Y. Times, Feb. 1). We have cited the foregoing facts at some lengt'h to indicate that even communist governments of socialist states take Jeriously the problem of the national character of their states. These governments have gone to great lengths to reduce national antagonisms within their borders and with their neighbors. However, where minority problems proved too intractable they resorted to the removal or transfer of these minorities to countries where they would be part of the national majority. In our view this historic experience is yet another example of the complexity of the national problem. Marxists do not seek to eliminate nations but they do strive to eliminate antagonisms and frictions between peoples and nations. Yet this appears to involve a much more lenEhy process and more setbacks than had been foreseen by the classical writers of Marxist early in this century. In the meantime it is necessary to deal with these problems as they appear today and not as one might expect to find them a century hence after additional generations have benefitted from socialist and internationalist education and experience. Should not such an approach also apply to Israel The Pol,ish gotsernment is rnost and its people, who have built their assiduous in this effort. It not only state against great odds and by their maintains societies and publications own labor? directed to its nationals abroad but The Palestinian Arab people do ineven grants generous scholarshipsto deed have just claims against Israel American-born studentsof Polish par- which must be settled in negotiations, ents to attend universities in Poland. and their right to self determination Recently, the Polish government made must also be recognized, and not only an appeal for funds to rebuild the by Israel. However, we cannot agree Royal Castle in Warsaw, which it that their rights must presuppose the frankly aimed at Polish national pride. dissolution of the State of Israel or It called upon Poles "in the country that the Jews of Israel become the and abroad" and upon former Warsaw only people in the entire world to residents "in various countries of the surrender their own right to sel{-

Mltv. 1971

determination and to sovereientv. In addition, while it is riorrLcr in principle that Israel agree to the lepatriation or return of sorne nurnbers of Palestinian Arabs, this, too, is a matter which needs to be neeotiated. W'e do not think it is an outrigeously nationalist concept for Israel to wish to retain a Jewish majority.tlie population, and the experience of Eastern European Socialist states noted earlier can serve as a guide in this matter. Israel did no-t come into beine as a result of an im_perialist, Zionist [lot, as the more vulgar "leftists" argue, but as a consequence of the untiimperialist struggle of the Palestinian Jewish community and with the aid and sanction of'the socialist states, which supported "the aspiration of the -the Jews for creation of a state of their own." Israel is the legitimate state of the Jewish people i'ho inhabit it, and this country has the rieht to exist even if it does not have a lJftwing government at this time. Whatever the defects in Israeli societv. thev can best be rectified by its o*tr p"opl", and this includes the'probl",.t of ii.crimination against Arabs in Israel. _ To_ be --sur6, we insist and expect Israel will make a positive contribution to the current peace negotiations being conducted under th; United Nations' auspices. However one may disagree with the Israeli position in regard to these negotiations, it does no_t appear from any of the disclosed official Israel statements that it is making -the enormous land grasping claims that so many pro-Ara6 leftisti -or have imputed to ii, that Israel's insistence on defensible borders or qther_ security arrangements is unfounded. Israel is not only the normal and legitimate state of ils inhabitants. but it has also served as a place of refuge for Jews who sought to anii"r"upe

YIETNAM

PALLOUT

Central Conference of ArnerTHE t ican Rabbis (Refonn) called on Pres. R. M. Nixon April jl to pull out all U.S. militaiy forces from Vietnam by ,the end of this year. CCAR Pres. Roland B. Gittelsohn charged Pres. Nixon with "playing word games with the American people" by escalating the war in the narne of withdrawal- The CCAR Executive Board, referrine to the "unspeakable tragedy" of thE war, declared: "The incredible cost is not only in American lives but in needless death inflicted on the peoples of Vie,tnam, Laos and Cambodia. Only by ending the conflict can American prisoners Lre released and reunited with their families." Semitic persecution. Regrettably we are not out of the woods so far as a recurrence of anti-Semitism is concerned. No one can say with certainty that new outbreaks of anti-Semitism in one or another country are hencefort'h irnpossible or that- Israel need never again be a haven ,for new groups of victimized Jews. There are thus altogether too many "make considerations which the pr;posal of dissolving the State of Israel into something other than a Jewish state unrealistic for a foreseeable historic period. Such a proposal would even add to the existing divisiveness. since the overwhelming- maiority of the Israelis prefer IsraEl to iemain a Jewish state with a Jewish majority population and don't wish to be a minority group with undetermined arrd uncertain rishts -quitein a Palestinian state. Surely -this normal and legitimate desire ought not become an obstacle to achieving peace in the Middle East.

JEwrsH CunReNrs

BLAC|( Ut.|IOl| TEADER I|ISIIS ISRAET Observations and impressions of a militant woman By LILLIAN RO'BERTS f HAD been in Israel two weeks when I I suddenly knew why I felt so great. I was on a street in Tel Aviv when I saw a black man walkins alone with a free and easy stri.de. it re"#"d to me he was free. It hit me all at once that for the past two weeks I had been totally accepted; I was just another person. At some point soon after I came to Israel, I had put down the burden of safeguarding myself against the pain of diJcrimina-iion and irejudice_ that is part of any American black's automatic equipment for dealing with the world. Ii's like a glass scree.nthat you carry in front of-you all the time and you hope the giass is unbreakable. Ngt having to carry that burden was like a beautiful dream. I suddenly

became afraid that, in the one week remaining before we were to leave Israel, something mieht happen to ' spoil that dream.\othing did. There is dignity all oier the place. ^ Whether a pirson washes the floor or cleans thb kitchen or sweeps the street or drives a bus, he knows his work is worthwhile, and everyone respects everyone else for the "part he plays in building the country. I u'as very impressed with kibbutz (communal farm) life-people living together in- a com_munity- and sharin[ the labor, the profits and the responsi-bility for the_ir livelihood. A college professor might be assigned to waitiig on tables or picking pears off a tree-. ln most instances, everyone took his turn, and this brought ibout more of an understanding and app_reciation of LrrrrawRoutrffi man in every aspect of life in that ol District Council J7 ol th.eAmerican community. I think the kibbutzim conFederatio? _of - State, County and tributed to the dignity with which Municipal Employees, AF L-CI'O, and, p e o p l e - i n a n y j o b lre-regarded, betwo ye_arsdgo lerl an important strike cause this concept of c_ommunity living o_tultderpaid hospital workers in New crossed many lives in this small colonv. York. In rnid-I970, she, together with I was disappointed in Jerusalem. others-frorn-her_union,*o{ a guest of Religion was too highly commercialH-istadrut, the Israeli labor o"rganizi- ized there. In the rest of the countrv. tiom, on a three-weektour of"lsrael. i{ you went into a church or templL, (e reprint these impressio,ils, wiilt there would be a box or some oth", her permis.sion, lrom her union,s ,rews- method where you could make a con!?pe!,-_Public Employee Press, Sept. tribution or not, as you wished: in lB, 1970. Jerusalern, ]ou're asked to, "o"irilu-

Mav, 1971.

Of course their vacations are shorter than ours, as their workweek is longer. It's a much poorer country than ours, and they can't afford our standard of Jiv-ing, but with wha,t they have, they believe in bringing dignity to everyone. I would like to see in some of our own future contracts that employees would get an extra lump sum payment when they go on vacation that could be used for their vacation expenses.

a descrip'tion being grr"o ol Cleueland, Oltio, Carl B. St'okes, Mayor ol a diary discouered in the Lodz Ghetto, at Yail Vashem, lerusalem A Christian Arab I met in Jerusalem tions in every church and religious told me that before the Six-Day War site. I know they need money to surthe Jordanian sector of Jerusalem had vive, but many of us found their had water only twice a week, except "hard sell" offensive. for the better hotels for tourists. One goaernof the first things done by Israel Because ol their lormer after the unification of the city -was mental set-up: and because t'hey didn't to see to it that water was piped in necessarily believe in sending their seven days a week for everybo$Y.children - especially the girls - to No matter what the future holds for school, the Aribs in the occupied areas these people, they have seen a more have less education and skills. In Israel, modern way of li{e and they cannot all children, Jewish and Arab, must fail to be influenced by it. attend school up to the age of 14. One of the t'hings I liked very much The Israeli Arabs run their own in terms of the welfare of the workers schools, where courses are taught in is that in every place that is organArabic. Since the Six-Day War in ized by Histadrut, the worker not L967,Israel has had an intensive drive on to get families in the occupied areas only gets a paid vacation, but_ if he spends tha't time at an approved vacato send their children, including the tion resort, the employer will pay_the girls, to free schools. In terms of 'resort the cost of the vacation. This medical care, on the other hand, the is done because vacations are seen as Arabs have needed no prodding. They a positive benefit to both_ employee have flocked to join Histadrui to be and employer, and they don't want its medical and hospital covered by'and workers using their tw_o weeks off to women have program, Arab work someplace else, but to actually walfed miles to have their babies in take a vacation. the Israeli hospitals.

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I think that to, q voortan with children, kibbutz life would be marvelous. Everyone talks about how hard kibbutzniks work, but they forget that a working woman in this country has to go home after work and start cooking dinner. In a kibbutz, when through with work, she's throaglt u:ith work. I did feel that labor and managern-ent were too close. In helping develop the country, Histadrut has developed and owns many industries and runs many cooperatives. While Histadrut as a labor federation has often sanctioned strikes bv a Histadrut affiliate against a Histadrut-owned industry, I'm certain there are unavoidable conflicts of interest. After th9 war, when there is peace again, I think this might create real probl-ems. Not all blacks felt as I did about the lack of discrimination. I met a group of six young black men from the southern U.S. who were studying Israeli cooperatives. They insisted to me that Israel was racist, but could not give me any answers when I tried to pin them down. I felt that their own experiences at horne had so marked them that they were unable to lo_ok at any white people with open minds. - By contrast, I met a group of 21 blacks frorn various African c-ountries who were studying Israeli agricultural methods and institutions. They really liked Israel and were very curiMav, 197I

ON CODDLING CALLEY Scoring Pres. Nixon's intervention in the Calley case, Sen. Adlai Stevenson 3rd (D-Ill.) told 600 at the dinner of the anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith April 6, "It is easier to make a hero of a man who has been tried and found guilty of murder than to accept the fact of an American atrocity and American failure." Nixon, he charged, chose "to ride the crest o,f public passion." ous about me. The discrimlnation they pointed to was the fact that I was t'he only black person in our group of 35 American trade unionists, but that was a criticism of the U.S. and not of Israel. Council R"p. Adele Nobles, another black woman, visited Israel last vear. and she had the same enthusiasm for the country after her visit that I have after mine. I t'hink that American blacks, as we work to build a future that we want to be so different from our past, can find a great deal in Israel's cooperative movement and some of its other institutions that we can adapt to our own needs. Perhaps what increased my feeling for Israel was not just that I found so much to admire in their spirit and in what they had accomplished, but that I also identified with a people who had gone through so much oppression and suffering in Europe for so many centuries, and who in my own lifetime saw six million of their people coldly and systematically murdered. No normal human being could fail to be moved by that, and I think that for me, as a black womane it had special significance. It may have made me take added joy in what I saw these people had accomplished in spite of what they had come through.

sReffiL w!

coBlack Israel uas startled in Feb. with the emergence ol a Panther" group patterned after the U. S. Panthers. Its membership was mostly Jewish )'outh of Asian-African origin, aided by the extreme left wing "pro-Chinese" Ne$, Le{t Matzpen youth group. The Israeli Black Panthers are protesting against discrimination, unemploym_ent and drastically bad hbusing conditions, especially for children of Oriental Jen-s. When t'he leaders applied for a perrnit to demonstrate, they were arrested, but later released.Police refused a permit to demonslrate against the arrests March 3, but a protest march was held nevertheless, and it was peaceful. This time, the demonstration of 300-400 included not only Oriental youth and Matzpen, but also students. professors and several writers, like Amos Kenan. It is generally granted that the youth have genuine grievances. A recent study of poverty in Israel shows that about a quarter-million Israelis live on or below the poverty line, and that poverty is greatest among the largest families, a majority of AsianAfriCan origin.-In 95,000 families with four or more children (14 per cent of all Israeli families), six out of ten children do not have their own bed for sleeping; and in 52 per cent of these families, there are three or more per room. Further, 23 oI every I,000 Israelis of AsianAfrican origin- receive welfare aid, a figure 10 times that of Israeliborn families, and four times that of immigrants from Europe. Only one of I0 children of Asian-African origin finish secondary school, and many drop-outs are chronically unemployed or delinquents. Hou,sing Minister Zeea Sharel Jtorcil in Feb. that the Israel Goa' ernment rvas projecting a building program for East jerusalem and outlying areai of the city in order to preserve its Jervish character. According to a study macle by the Israel Office of the Arnerican Jewish Committee, the governrnent has followed the principle of expropriating "non-arable waste land, for the most part rocky hillsides, and to spare dwellings and agricultural land." Where significant shifts of Arab people w"re involved, as in the- slums behind the Western Wall, com' peniation was paid an.d the displaced -\l,'gr'gresettled in apartments iuperior to theii old dwellings' It is recalled that all Jervs were-ex-pelled from the Old City after Jordan conquered the area in t'he 1948 War of Independence. Italian Foreign Nlinister Atd,o nioro r:isited Israel early in,Mqtch and conferred with high officials, including Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Iltr

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He stressed that he believed Israel desired peace, and affirmed friendship of Italy for Israel. Rornania sign"d u fiu"-y'ear extension of its trade and economic agreenrent with Israel in t'eb.'.. . Nine important American business men visited Israel in March to aid in developing econotnic plans under the auspices of the Israel-Americal Chalnber of Commerce. . . Since the 1967 war, Jews of the world have contributed more than one billion dollars to Israel.

lewish-Arab relations . . . At orlt Sorooowest Bank Arabs cotn. p-rt" daily to Israel to work, earning about $5 a day for unskilled labor, and much higher wages for skilled work. Unskilled labor before the.1967 Wa_rpaid them about $1.50 a day. . . . Mayor Muhammad Ali iaabari of Hebron early_i. March ,rrgld Israel"to allow deported Arabs to teturn to the West Bank ancl protested continuing israeli -Rosenwasser. settletnent on the West Bank. . . . Shnruel Israeii lvatchman kidnapped Dec. 31, 1969 by the Al Fatah, was returned to Israel Feb. 3 in exchange fo_r a Fatah'terrorist captured six years ago. -in 29 families of wanted Arab terrorists are beins held a d-etention camp in the Sinai desert.

l'{gryr briefs . . . orthodox u"ob,l,, are challenging the conoersion of the spouses and children of mixed marriages -ioo of Russian Jews in Vienna on their way to Israel for taking-o1 place fast. In the Knesset debate in Feb. on the issue, Minister Absorption Shalom Cohen charged !!a! lhe religious factions rvere tryi,rg i'o bring Israel back into the Middle Ages. Israel has granted members of th" Baha'i movement the status of a religious community, so that they may now set up communal courts to rule and record in matters of birth. rnarriage, and death-. . . A review of the inter-generation situation in --b""ur." Israel contends that there is no generation gap all Israeiis are closing {alk! to, assure sun'ival. Where chaiges of lack of idealisnr are levelled by the younger against the older [eneration in the U. S., the situation is reversed in Israel, with the older generation remindins the younge_rof their parents' idealistic motivatiotrr] . . . Complaints arE heard in Israel at the refusal of the hroadcasting system there to lengthen radio time for Yiddish, and to institute TV broadcasts in Yid'dish. . . . A doctor on trial in Tel Aviv for performing illegal abortions stated in court that about 30,000 abortions are perfo.med in Israel each year, and that, despite their illegality, the airthorities ignore !h"q. . . . A report from Jerusalem in March states that prostitirtion has become one of the fastest growing "industries" in the country. . . Refusal of rabbis to bury in t'heir cemeteries Jews not formally converted, has caused burial societies to set aside special sections of-cemeteries for those not correctly converted. Mrs. Dalia Kerem, of Petach Tikva, north of Tel Avir', gave birth to quadruplets after takine a fertility drug.

L. H. 15

"D0t|Es" l,s,"}|AUl|l(S" l].|ISRAEI The political party line-up on the eentral issue of peace By V. S. political spectrurn of Israel to THE r an outside o'bserver is a bewildering proliferation of parties, blocs and alignments. The present seventh Knesset (parliament) consists of deputies representing 15 parties. The variety of political organizations is both a carryover from deeply rooted historical divisions among Jews and a reflection of social and class differences existins in modern Israel. The extremely high level o{ Israeli population's involvement the in political life of the country is shown by the 82 per cent eligible voter ;turnout in t'he last elections to the Knesset, Oct. 28. L969. Israeli elections are based on proportional representation, with every party obtaining at least one per cent of the valid votes suaranteed representation. In L969 only three groups, totalling among thern 1.07 per cent of the votes, failed to win seats in the Knesset. Plans to raise the required minimum from one to five per cent, advanced by some of the lea'ders of the Israel Labor Party, are being fought by the smaller political parties. Despite the presence of such a vari-

ety of political viewpoints in a country of slightly more than 3,000,000 people, this visitor in Aug., L970 could not fail to note the remarkable unity that exists on the question o{ guaranteeing the survival of the State of Israel. The virtual unanimity on this question was translated into the heroic efforts that were required to win independence in 1948 and to defend it once more in 1967. However, unanimity ends as soon as the issue becomes how to achieve the peace wirh Israel's neighbors that is a prerequisite for the continued survival. Within Israel there is taking place a rvide-ranging debate on all elernents of a comprehensive Middle East settlernent: withdrawal from occupied territories, recognition of t'he national rights of the Palestinian Arabs, settlement of the refugee problem, secure Israeli borders. It is un;fortunate that the U.S. public media, including the Anglo-Jewish press, do not reflect sufficiently the depth and scope of the discussion in Israel. On the Israeli government level the first step toward a clear-cut differentiation between "hawkish" annexationists 'odovish" peace forces took place W. S. has appeared,in our po)gessirrce and L963 with articles, reaiews and col- Aug. 4, 1970 with the resignation of urnns. He wqs in Isra,el in L948 and the right-wing Gahal ministers, led by Menahem Beigin, in opposition to again in L970.

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Israel's participation in the United Nations negotiitions through Gunnar Jarring. The present Israeli cabinet is a coalition of the Labor Partv. National Religious Party, Mapam and the Independent Liberai Party. These lrarties control a majority of 76 out of the 120 Knesset seats (Gahal has 26). Public opinion polls indicate that at least half of the Israeli population would prefer a smaller Isrief with a Jewish majority and are ready to return most of the occupied territories in exchange for durable peace. However, in Nov., 1970,35 per cent wanted to keep the present cease-fire lines. The primary reason for this sizable annexationist sentiment is the distrust gene_ratedby 23 years of hostility toward Israel by its Arab neigh,bors. The movement of Soviet missiles bv Egypt in violation of the Aug. 7, L970 standstill agreement has pushed a s-ecto1of,Israel public opinion toward the "hawks."

should retain all of the territories occupied in L967. The adventurist position of the "hawks" is illustrated bv the proposal to march on Amman during the Sept., 1970 civil war in Jordan made bv-(forihe Reserve General Ezer Weizman rner Herut Minister of Transport). Another military supporter of the annexationist line is the Reserve General Abraham Yoffe, who, in an interview wlth Maariu Aug. 28,1970 saw no possibilities of peace, but only a choice between wars with 1967 or I9Z0 borders. The "Movement" also has the support of the National List (four Knesset deputies) composed of former members of Rafi who split off in Ig5'Qr. It is ironic and indicatlve of the complexities of Israeli politics that Rafi was originally founded in 1965 to support former Prime Minister David Ben'Gurion in a factional struggle in Mapai (one of t'he three components of the Israel Labor Party. the others being Ahdur Haavoda--Poalei Zion and Rafi). Today Ben-Gurion has disassociated himself from the annexationists and advocates a peace treaty based on the return of oc-upied lands except for East Jerusalem and the Colan Heights.

The mcdn organizer ol the Israeli "hawk" forces is the "Movement Against Withdrawal" (Tahal). The movement's backbone is the ultraright Herut ("Freedom") movemen,t, headed by Menahem Beigin, and the Tahal has attracted to its ranks the right-wing Liberal Party. Herut is the leaders of an older "Movement for inheritor of the ideology of the most Creater Israel," which even before chauvinist reactionary wing- of the the L967 war advocated the expansion Zionist movement, which includes of Israel to its biblical borders. This movement has the support of a number lmong_ its predecessors the Irgun Zvei Leumi of the ill-famed Deit of bankers, industrialists and big merYassin massacre, one of t'he most chants as well as the two largest cirserious blemishes on Israel's record. culation afternoon dailies in" Israel. Among Beigin's competitors in the Maariu and Yediot Aharonot Even "Movement," vying for the honors of though the latter editorially supports the most uncompromising extreme the annexationist views, it does, howpositions, are former leaders of the ter- ever, provide space in its columns for rorist Stern gang and the Free Center expressions of differing opinions, in(a L967 split off from Herui). The cluding those of the Israeli left. basic position of the "Movement There are three religious parties Against Withdrawal" is that Israel in Israel. The National Religious Party

Mev, 1971

BEN.GARIOIUSPEAKS FO'R PEACE AI{D SECURITY JN an interview with John McCook Roots not long after the death of -E- Egyptian Pres. Gamal Abdel Nasser Sept. 28, 1970, and published here in the Saturday Reuiew, ApriI 3, L9'7L, former Premier David Ben-Gurion declared: "Peace, real peace, is now the great necessity for us. It is worth almost any sacrifice. To get it, lve must return to the borders before 1967. Irf I were still Prime Minister, I would announce that we are prepared to give back all the territory occupiecl in the Six-Day War except East Jerusalem and the Golan HeightsJerusalem for history's sake, the Colan for security. . . . o'f am a realist and see things as they are. When I think of the future of Israel, I only consider the country before the Six-Day War. We must return to L967. We should give all gains back, except Jerusalem and the Golan, and these we should negotiate about. Sinai? Sharm el Sheikh? Gaza? The West Bank? Let them go. Peace is more important than real estate. Wb don't nee.d the territory. With proper irrigation we now have enough land right here in the Negev to care for all the Jews in the world-if they come. And they certainly rvill not all come. No, we don't require m,ore land. "As for security, militarily defensible borders, rvhile desirable, cannot by themselves guarantee our future. Real peace with our Arab neighbors-mutual trust and frierrdsh-ip-that is the only true security. Of course, these frontiers I have indicated would be, from our point of view, far from ideal. But a bad peace is better than a good war. . . . "Remember, this land ,belongs to trvo peoples-the Arabs of Palestine and the Jews of the world. . . . In every conflict, there comes a tirne when to settle is more important than to get everything you want. And the time has come to settle. . The moment has come for peace and we must seize it. One reason I feel so strongly about the need for bold steps now tolvard a settlernent is that I am certain eventual Arab-Israeli cooperation is inevitable. In fact, an Arab-Israeli alliance. Geography and history r.nake it so. The Arabs of the Middle Ages were the most civilized race in the world. They have nruch to give us, and I believe rve in turn have rnuch to give ,them. o'History has pt'oved the absur,ility of recarding traditional e1mities as eternal. Nations which have been at each other's throats today may 'fall on each other's necks tomorrow. Look at France ancl Germany. . . ."

has 12 seats in the Knesset and is represented in the cabinet. The NRP was formed in 1956 by the union of Mizrahi and its labor wing, Hapoel Hamizrachi. Since the death in 1970 of its leader and Minister of Interior Moshe H. Shapiro, there has been an

ongoing struggle rvithin the party between those who advocate an alliance u''ith Herut and the "hawks," and the motlerates, who wish to continue the party's traditional alignment with the Labor Party. The two Orthodox parties, Agudar

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Israel (four seats) and Poalei Agudat Israel (Ortho'dox labor--trvo seats), tlre Chief Rabbinate and the Army Itabbinate support the "harvkislt" position. With a vely few exceptions the l,abor Party has disassociated itself from the extremist circles. Within the government, Labor Foreign Affairs N{inister Abba Eban and Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir represent the "dovish" posirion. The former Ahdut I{aavoda leader and Deputy Prirne Minister Yiedal *be Allon has stated that Israel must ready to make "painful" decisions in the process of peace negotiations. Prime Minister Golda Meir and her close associate Nlinister without Portf olio Israel Galili have been taking relatively rigid position-.. The {ormer Rafi faction of the Labor Party is represented in the government by Minister without Portfolio Shimon Peres, Labor Minister Joseph Almogi and, most prorninently, by the Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan. In the beginning of 1970 this group, in aliiance with the Gahal ministers, was responsible for the decision to undertake the deep penetration raids into Egypt, with their inevitable and horrifying civilian casualties, which eventually led to t'he introduction of Soviet missiles. After the departure o{ the Gahal group from the cabinet, it was primarily Dayan that pushed the Israeli government to rvithdraw temporarily from the Jarring talks after the standstill violations. Yet neither Dayan nor his former Rafi colleagues have ever taken a position for complete retention of the occupied territories. It was Dayan who in Dec., 1970 raised the proposal for the reopening of the Suez Canal, which at this writing appears to be the possible first step in breaking the negotiating logjarn. One clue to Dayan's motivation may be found in

Mev. 1971

the editorial of the Israeli newsletter Tatlnit, Dec. 15, 1970: "Dayan's aspiration to becorne Prinre Minister is rt-roted in pure pragmatism. Three ),ears a{ter the Six Day War, }re feels strongly that it is not enough merely to be the Nlinister of Victory. His intuition tells hirn that the person who will have the ,best chance of becoming Prirne Minister is the one who will be identified in the public mind as t'he Minister of Peace. This could well explain why the Israel sphinx is now talkine*5 like a newborn dove." His April proposal to maintain indefinitely the Israeli Army in Jordan. however, is ominous. The camp ol Israeli'(doues') does not have a single unified ideology. T'he basic asreement is t'hat there can be no militiry solution to the problem of the Middle East, but only a political one and that peace is more irnportant than territories. In this approach the Israeli "doves" support the LI.N. Security Council Resolution of Nov. 22, 1967 as a package whose detailed implementation is to be rvorked out in negotiations between Israel and the Arab States. The rnost organized expression of the Israeli "dove" sentiment is the "Movement for Peace and Security." In it are represente'dindividuals associated rvith the United Workers' Party (Mapam ) , Israel Comrnunist Party (Maki, led by S. Mikunis and Dr. Moshe Sneh) and New Force (Haolarn Hazeh). Mapam is a left-wing Zionist Socialist party drawing its main strengt'h from its widespread network of kibbutzim (collective settlements). In the 1969 elections it formed an alignrnent with the Labor Party which has altoeether 56 seats in the Knesset (Nlapam has seven). Its two cabinet portfolio, Israel rninisters without

Barzilai and Victor Shemtov, are the backbone of the "doves" in the government. Mapam is the only Zionist party with Arab membership. Maki, one of the two Communist Parties in Israel, has one deputy in the Knesset. The second is calle.d (New List), Communist Rakach which is represented by three Knesset deputies elected largely by Arab votes. The two groups split in 1965 over the question of attitudes toward continued Arab hostility to Israel. The differences were exacerbated during the 1967 war, with Maki supporting the war as a defensive measure and Rakach opposing it as an act of aggression. The differences in the world Communist movement on democracy and the position of Jews in the socialist countries, are also refleoted in the two parties, with Rakach generally taking pro-Soviet position, orthodox an while Maki has developed a more independent stand. Haolam Hazeh is centered on a pro-peace sensationalist newspaper of the same name edited by Uri Avneri,

M. K.

1i I

The ''Nloaement Peace and lo, Security," in a proclamation issued I)ec. 6, 1970, called for the return to the Jarring talks and for the Israeli to free itself of the government ". 'spoken program,' that is based on the annexation of extensive territories and constitutes an obstacle to a peace agreement. Genuine security guarantees, demilitarization of territories and modest border modifications, whose sole goal is to insure Israel's borders as they existed before the Six-Day help will preserve Israel's War, security." Another point in the Moveproclamation ment's stresses that Israel's national interests demand a policy of independence and warns against political dependence on the

U.S. In an earlier statement, Oct. 26, 1970, the Movement called on the governntent to invite a representative Palestinian Arab body to take part in the peace talks. Durine the current discussion on the disposition of Sharm-el-sheikh in peace negotiations with Egypt, Moshe Dayan declared Mar. 12 that he would prefer Sharm-el-Sheikh without peace to peace without Sharm-el-Sheikh. The peace Movement promptly countered w-ith a demonstration which included the placard, "Dayan: We Prefer Peace to Sharnr-el-Sheikh." While the question ol withd,rau,al to "secure and recognized boundaries" and definition of what constitutes these boundaries is central in dividing 'odoves," and the Israeli "hawks" it is interrelated with problems of current Israeli policies in the occupied territory, of the rights of the Paiestinians, Israel's relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, and Israel's posture in the Cold War. On all of these issues there are differthe government and ences within among the political groupings. Every attempt by the government to achieve lait accompli situations in the occupied territories has met with the peace vigorous protests from forces. These protests were partially responsible for significantly decreasing the size of the state-sponsored Jewish township in Hebron. Newspaper statements opposing this project were signed by hundreds of prominent Israelis. Sirnilar opposition has been aroused by the more recently an' nounced development plans around Jerusalem, which would settle thousands of Jews in the pre-I967 Jordanian sector of the city. Many voices have been raised against arbitrary police actions, against destruction of Arab homes as "collective punishment"

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and for the repeal of the British emerilency regulations of 1945, which are still being used as the legal hasis for administrative arrests. The official government stance toward Palestinian national rights is that Israel can negotiate only with states and that, therefore, the rights of the West Bank Arabs are a matter to be settled between them and King Hussein's Jordanian regime. There has never been an explicit statement by the Israeli government on the right to self-determination. Premier Golda Meir's opposition to an independent West Bank Arab state (March L2, l97I interview with the London Times) seems to be a denial of that right. The argument that there is only room for two states (Israel and Jordan) on the territory of the former British mandate runs counter to the Israel acceptance of the 1947 UN partition resolution. That resolution envisioned an Arab state, which never came into existence because of the Arab League attack in I94B and annexation of the Wlest Bank by the then state of Transjordan. Maki was the first party to call for the right of self.determination for the Palestinian Arabs (June 23, 1967). Its l6th congress (Oct., 195S) called for an opportunity for the Palestinian people ". . . to establish a peace-seeking nafional democratic representation with whom the Israeli government could enter into negotiations. ." Mapam also recogni"zes the Palestinians' right to self-determination, but only after establishment of peace with Israel. The excessive dependence of the Israeli government on the United States i9 facing growing questioning within the country. Golda Meir's letter to Nixon expressing support for his Vietnam policy speech of Nov. 3, L969 was criticized even by the newspaper

Mev, 1971

Maaria, often a spokesman for the reactionary Greater Israel rnovement. Prominerrr Israeli journalist Amos Kenan on June L7, 1970 published a d_evastatinganalysis of this policy in Haaretz. He stated that the policy is based on the assumption thlt peace with the Arabs is impossible, is intended '0. . . to get the USA to carry out a Vietnamization of the Middle East," and can condemn Israel 'oto the fate of Saigon." Recently the Israeli press has carried stories of hints of possible renewal of contacts between the USSR and Israel. These were welcomed by Yair Kotler in Haaretz Aug. 23, L970 and by former Premier Ben-Gurion in an interview with a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 20, I97L. To complete the picture of the political spectrum in Israel, one has to mention two more groups primarily active on the left among Israeli youth, Matzpen (Israel Socialist Organization) and Siah (Israel New Left). Matzpen is an ultra-leftist Maoist group that split off from the Israeli Communist Party in 1962. Siah split off from Mapam in 1969 in opposition to its decision to align itself with the Labor Party. One would have to be utopian to expect that the deeply rooted problems of the Middle East can be quickly resolved. Yet there is almost a worldwide consensus that the opportunities for resolution were never as good as now. On the other hand, the price of failure and resumed war are almost beyond calculation. At a moment like this it behooves U.S. friends of Israel and world peace to give support to t'he peace movement in Israel and to isolate those forces in the American Jewish and general community that would tie Israel to the Cold War chariot.

r East for oil-profiteering and Cold W'ar anti-Soviet strategic machinafions. This counteractionis based on the USSR's securitineeds. since from the U.S. base in Dharan, Saudi Arabia and from'the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean,missiles can be sent into Soviet territory bordering on the Middle East. And no such danger confronts Miimi or New York from the Sovie'tsquadronin the Mediterranean.Withal, however, Dr. Klieman's advice on the need for a U.S. "accommodation" with the U.S.S.R.is sound and might well ,be taken up by the peace rnovementhere.

o "Solipl nruaia- and- fhe- Illiddlp- [aal:' is a useful little book !y Dr. 4:tot S. Klieman, currently senior lecturer in in,ternational relations at Tel-Aviv University. Issued as Studies rn International Affairs No. 14 of the Washington Center of Foreigrr Policy Research, School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, it is designed for those who seriously discuss and perhaps even shape U.S. policy in the lVliddle East (The Johns Hopkins Pressi Bal,to., I9i0, 113'pages, cloth $6.50, paper $2.45). Although I dissented from much of his ratiocination, I found the last of his conclusions admirable. Describing Soviet post-World War II policy by which it has "secured the status of a full participant in Middle Eastern affairs" (p. 2), Dr. Klieman concludes that "an effective American 4poste might consist of at least three fundamental, interrelated phases. The first . . . aimed at disengaging the Arabs from the Soviet Union . . . The second . . . to force the current Russian advance to a standstill . . . [_by] u more dynamic policy and strengthened naval presence . . . the third and most important phase: striving for an accommodation with the Soviets in an era of negotiation . . . aware that true political stability cann,ot be imposed, the United States an.d the Soviet Union could work instead ton'ard the solution of regional ills through economic development and a sfrengthening of the Arab social fabric . . . for the United States . . . it means accepting the fact that western political primacv in the Arab world has ended Above all, the pursuit of cooperation requires of the United States that it view lecent Soviet penetration of Middle Eastern lands and waters from a Russian historical perspective: (pages 97-99). On as compensatory rat'her than imbalancing. the Israeli issue, Dr. Kliernan also observes that ". . . Soviet interests may be more inclined toward compromise . . . working for a political settlement . . ." (p. 82) because of "the Soviet stake in avoiding a great power confrontation" (p. 78). It is remarkable that Dr. Klieman reaches his conclusion without seeming to be aware of the note sent by the USSR to the USA, Britain and France Feb. 12, L957 proposing just such an accomodation (see our issues of March, 1957, Sept., 1967 and Sept., 1970). Had the USA responded positively to this overture, the 1967 war would have been avoided and the whole Middle Eastern picture would be different today. Our major difference with Dr. Klieman lies in our different frames of reference. Mine is anti-imperialist; his is "power politics," which covers up for imperialism. To rne, S,oviet policy, including its, erroneous one-sidedness with regard to Israel's needs, can best be understood as counteraction to U.S. and o,ther imperialists' penetration into the Middle

Jewrsn CunneNrs

o Jtwn- J,nnn-Sqnn4oqilL Io flalnturtn (oilnqs-

My lecture circuir took me March 5 to a subscriber'sh,omein Brooklyn, where I discussedthe Jewish Question in the USSR with 14 professionals March 12, at the Free Synagogueof Flushing, L. I., I lectured from the pulpit on "The Relevanceof Emma Lazarus: Her Social Commitment," after Sisterhood Sabbath Services conducted by Rabbi Dr. CharlesG. Agin, Cantor Marshall Stone, and Sisterhood Pres. SehnaKahn and severalother able associatesof hers. About 100 attended, most of them repairing to the Social Hall after services for the question and discussionperiod. March 23 I lectured on "Israel and the Middle East" to some B0 persons assembledby the Allerton Emma Lazarus Jewish Women's Club in the Bronx, and had a constmctive discussion. March 3I, bussed out to the William Pa,tersonCollege in Wayne, N. J. to discussthe Middle East with l7 studentsat the International RelationsClub, which had had a Trotskyist speaker on the subject at an earlier session.

o QailI llooiclu-and

U. Eolthalwp

The l,{ational anrl tewish, Questiort in th"e Light ol Reality by Paul Novick, editor of the left-wing Yiddish daily Morgen Freiheit, is a valuable pamphlet on a vital subject (48 pages, 50 cents, from Xlorgen I'reiheit, 35 E. 12 St., N. Y. f0003). The pamphlet contains two addresses on the subject delivered in T969 and 1970 before left-wing r-rrganizatiottsin Yildclish, and a 1964 polemic with a Soviet writer in rhe X[orgen Freiheir. Since 1956 and the Khrushchev report to the Soviet 20th party congress, Novick has been outstanding in a valiant band in the international left, including such figures as Dr. Moshe Sneh in Israel and Dr. Haim Sloves in F'rance, who have sought squarely to face what had gone wrong with the application of the Leninist approach to the Jewish question in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern European socialist states. The three articles now translated are among many Novick has written on the subject in his daily task of enlightenment and, it may be added, in his daily defense against misrepresentation and slander of his efforts by the very dogmatists he is evaluating and criticizing. Unquestionably, there is no more effective voice in the international arena for a review of the Jewish question than Novick's. Although t'hey are somewhat repetitious and'diffuse in their organizal.ion, the lectures are bold and insightful in their attempt to rescue the l-eninist approach to the national and Jewish questions from its ossified 'gross, practitioners and dogmatic misinterprelers. Novick points to the

Mav. 1971

coercively assimilationist approacho'that prevailed in the early period of the Socialist movement" and that is sfill dominant in the ideology of the international left, despite all that has happened since the Bolshwik Revolution and World War II. Calling'attention to Lenin's practise after 1917, which pragmatically contradicted or developedhis earlier assimilationistprinciples, Novick calls insistently for tho reconstruction of Soviet Jewish cultural life on the basis of a creative Leninist approach. In passing, although he is himself a veteran antiZionist, Novick defends Zionism against the unprincipled attacks that see it as a 'oconspiracy"invented by the imperialists. As if to exemplify what Novick meant by the latter point, Prau'd,eFeb. lB-19 published two articles by V. Bolshakov, "Anti-sovietism-a Zionist Profession" (circulated to the press here by the Soviet Mission to the United Nations and publishedin a supplementto IVloscowlYews,March 13) conceivedin dogma and deliveredin vituperation.The main danger in the world, it would seem,is "the international Zionist corporationr" which, among other things, seems to have been mainly r-esponsible for the Spring, 1968 development of socialism-with-a-human-Jace in Czechoslovakia. To us non-Zionists,this ,typeof unprincipled, primitive anti-Zionism should have been buried with HitlCr. Novick helps us understand the harm it does to keep it alive-harm in feeding the Cold War, in alienating Jews everywhere,frorn socialism.in impelling Soviet Jews to desire to emigrate to Israel (although his articles predate that latest development).

Maurice Rauch, conductor of the JewishPeople'sPhilharmonic Choruso defined the significance of the creative cooperation of the two groups in producing the Ballad. Itche Goldberg then read his translationsinto Yiddish of poems by Langston Hughes and Margaret Walker. Sam Pevzner,the MC, follorved with a reading of a Lila Hassid translation of a poem by Bialik (from our Feb., 1962 issue) and a Yiddish folkstyle lyric by Max Rosenfeld (from our June, 1958 issue). The climax came with Gedalia Sandler's resum6 of the Clubs' achievementsof the year.

o "ftplpotud' artd "Oantfid' ResponseNo. 9, Winter 1970/7I, is an extraordinarily interestingissue ( l2B pages,$1.25-$5 per year, $3 ,for students-from 4I5 South St., W'altham, Mass. 02L54). The contents comprise a symposium on seven questionsprobing what Judaism (or Jewish life, or Jewishness)means today. The responsescame ;from 29 Jews, ranging in age from a collegefreshmanto a92-year-oldsage,including only one woman (and one Israeli). Agreeing fully with none, and disagreeingroundly with t'he American Council for Judaism viewpoint of Allan C. Brownfield and the political conservatismof Rabbi Jacob Neusner, I found particularly stimulating the replies by Eli Asher, Dr. Emil Fackenheim, Mary Gendler,Alan L. Mintz (first editor of. Response),JosephReimer, 'Waskow. Shelley Schreter and Arthur Regrbttably, no progressive Jewish secularist got into the symposium.

o 3m floirt Eoand-Jtwndom.jealirral I

March 13 With Jack Nathan, gladly acceptedthe invitation to be guests at the Annual Freedom Festival of the Joint Board Fur, Leather ind Machine Workers Union, held at the new Local 1199 Martin Luther King Labor Center. First there_was a spirited and entertaining series of Puerto Rican songs-stag_gdby _nine vibrant, graceful, chirmingly costumed young couples, all of them high school or college studlnts born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York. Then came-readingsby Clarice Tgylgr and Alice Childress of a biting script by the lattei, "Some W'ords that Should Be Said," that deftiy guuf black woman's view " Pres. Henry Foner of what's wrong with our society. Finall/, FLM the-1971 FLM Freedom Award io Rep. Herman Badlllo. An presente_rl enjoyable and worthwhile evening

o Silndnh OinneJL uillL lha- "Chrl)i' March 14 As we do each year, sonya and I enjoyed our afternoon with the activists of the Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies.this time at the GITd st. Boys' Clubhouse.Follo_wingup the rriumph of the Battad gl Two Peopl,esat Philharmonic Hall Feb-.6 (see oui April 'oDiary"), the after-dinner program began with Brooks Alexander,husical director of Voices, Inc., explaining how he tries to have his black ensemble find "the samenessin difference" so it can relate to other groups. Then

Jpwlsrr Cunnrxrs

Dauka, which I introduced in our Jan. issue,has come out with Nos. 2 and 3, Jan.-Feb.and March-April (50/ each,900 Hildegard Ave., L. A., Calif. 90024). No. 2 explores an attempt to fuse social idealism with religious life styles here and in Israel, but secularism is ignored. I delightedin Jon Kellerman's "An Israeli Trilogy." No. 3 makespasses at coming to grips with religious Jewish education, but not a, word a,bout the progreisive seculai Jewish schools. The Yemenite Shalom ben Levy complains tellingly about Israeli education as unfair to Oriental Jews, and Lee Weinberg has a harrowing letter from a Los Angeles women's prison.

"AIL itL fhe- Samih/-:'

If I've spent sevenhal{-hourson Tuesdayevenings (Feb. 16,23, March 2, 9, 16,30, April 13) with this entertaining situation-comedyserial, it's becauseI wanted to give it a fair try: is it good for the struggle pro' againstbigotry, or bad? I've read the controversies, and _also_the ducer Norman Lear's defence (ff. y. Times, April Il) that he wants "to hold a mirror up to our prejudices" and "keep us laughing while we face them," so that later they may affect our unconscious.I ask: rvhat'swrong with Archie the Lovable Bigot? If a bigot can b-elovable (not just loied but lovable) then bigotry may be lovable,or harmless, so why. fuss about it, much l_e;sfigh.1it? With. so many bigots in the rnassyrewrng audience,this "humor" is a double-edgedweaPon: M. U. S.

M.Lv, 1971

ilt THEBEGtI$ill{G By YAAKOV HESSIIV(i 6 6r|-IAKE an orange." Mordechai r s,traightened his back and glanced at his grandfather. He blushed and took an orange, but he did not say a word. "You were dreamingr" the old man said. Mordechai was sittine at the far end of the table, and he hJd to bend forward to put down the peel. His heacl was hi'dden botween his narrow shoulders as his body made its crouching-Th" movement. eu"ning sun lit upon the piece of orange in his hand. In the- red light he s_aw the tight skins of tiny vessels.bulging with their _juice. They are going to explode, he thought. For a moment a gush of purple iuice filled his mind completely, but then it subsided and there was nothing for a while. Her image floated up again from nowhere, like a tender- melody. Her white {ace, her mouth, her teeth. Her great rnotionless eyes. He was fascinated by them as he spoke to her. Was it wonderful? He did not know. and there was sornethino stranse in this forgettulness. He thoright he lpoke to her on the way to thJ fields. But her body was clad-in a red dress, and it seemed to be strangely out of piace.

Htrssrlc, now in lerusal,em" Jlarov immigrated to Israet in 1954,, coming lrorn West Berlin, where he grew up on atn air base of the Uni,ted States Anned Forces. He is a .student at the Hebrew Uniuersity.

-t

her, and seernedto hear his own voir.,,. 'Muy I carry your bucket for you /' Her eyes did not look at him. 'It is not heavv.' she said. But his hand'Leld the bucker al_ready, and he felt its full weight orr his arm. He looked up into hei great eyes, and a terrible fear overcame him. The old man, lilted himsell out ol the arm-chair, and Mordechai glancecl up at him as he rose. It took some time before the old man stood erect. ancl all this time his eyes were fixed upon the window. The settins sun seemed immensely huge. It *ui lighting up the fly-sci"rn L, front of the wiidow and a motionless lizard which was crouching there, silently. , "Let us go on the porch and watch the sun," the old man said. - It was very quiet on the porch. The house was at the far end of the settlement and in the west were the open -his fields. It was at the beginning of life in the new country. As Mordechai was looking at the lields and at the sun he felt a sudden gush of rvarmth and happiness. There seemed to be the lingering sound of a melody somervhere, and he listened to it foi a long exhausting moment. He saw-'her, and his eyes followed her. His :eyeswatched hei walking up to a porch, fingering a heavy kev. Shb rrnlocked a door, 5ut whili hii eyes r,r'erestaring _at the empty porch ihe was still bending over fhe liey in the lock. And suddenly there was the sound He saw only her, never himself with

Jewrsn CuRneNrs

of a piano there, and music penetrated lris being. It carried hinr back into firne, flowing like a never-ertding stream. It absorbed him and made him happy. He sank down into the tide of her playing, deeper and deeper, and now he heard the sound of his own playing, years ago. His fingers were searching over the keys of the wooden chest again and he felt the dissonance, the frightful noise, like splinters in his skin. But merriory flashed up like lightning, and was gone. There was only her music now, strong, and sure, and never quivering. It flowe.d, and with the steady movement of a sleeping heart her music filled his being, like an empty vessel. A steep dark line was rising up between the eyes of Mordechai. He stood in the middle of the porch and looked into the huge burning circle 'She is near,' he ahnost of the sun. whispered, as the thought flickered through his min'd. There was a sudden joy in him, and fear. He tried to get away from it, but something huge sprang up in him, and an enormous urge filled him cornpletely. For long seconds he felt a growing power in himself and he was fascinated by it, but his fear was growing too. "You have grown bigger in these two months." He did not hear the voice of his grandfather at first. For a single rnoment, Mordechai's head fell into his hands. He ;turned around and looked at the old man who had taken his seat. "He has been sitting there for vears." Mordechai thouEht. He felt ishamed suddenly. 'oYou looked tall in the evening shadows," the old man said. Mordechai's body was shivering with the cool of the evening. o'I don't like the sunr" he said. The old man was silent for a while. "It would be dark without it'," he

M.tv, 1971

'oyor't said at length, and then, quietly, want to leave already." Mordechai made a quick movement. "Are you angry ?" he asked. The sun was still lingering over the horizon, and the evening shadows were growing very long now. As his grandfather reached out his arm it seemed to be moving through an infinite space.

In Loving Menrory of our belovedFather, Grandfa,therand Great-Grandfather Israel B. Bailin on the tenth anniversaryof his death,April 29,I96L Children and Grandchildren

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patuntt' (ottutt By ITIAX ROSENFELD

THREE LITTLE HEADS (rorShevuos May30-31) By SHOLEIUI ALEICHEM I'IRIEND, if a writer's pen were an [' artist's brush I would presentyou with a painting in honor of Shevuos --a remarkable group: three young, beautiful, splendid heads of three impoverished, tattered, barefoot Jewish children. All three heads are black, curlyhaired; the eyes large, shining, intense, filled with a single question: o'why?" You look at them and you feel as if you yourself were guilty of bringing these three superfluous creatures into t'he world. Abramtchik, Moiseytchik and Dvoyrke: two brothers and their little sister. The Russian-sounding names of the boys were given them by their father, Peysi the Bookbinder, who, if he weren't a little bit afraid of his wife, and such a complete pauper, would have chaneedhis own name to Peter Pe'repliatcf,ik. But under the circumstanceshe stayed with his Yiddish name, hoping for tha,t great day, that happy time, when everything in the world would change, as Bebel says, and as Karl Marx says, and as all wise and good people say. But until those huppy days arrive he must stand on his feet from dawn The translntion lrom the is by Max Rosenfeld.

t/:,j,r;_, r Ld'd'6n

to midnight and cut cardboard and paste together boxes All three, Abramtchik, Moiseytchik and Dvoyrke, were born and raiied in the same place-between the wall and the oven. All three see, everv dav. one and the same thing: their lruppy Daddy, who cuts cardboard and pastes tog_eth_er boxes and sings jolly funes; and their worried, witherid Mom-rr. who cooks and bakes and sweepr "rd cleans all d"y long and is' never finished. Such a heap of boxes their Daddy makes, thousands, which t'hey dream he will one day pile on his head and in bo'th arms and take to the market, and come back with a pocketful of money f9r Mgmmy and bagel and cakes and candy for the children. . . . $_ good Daddy-they had, and a good M^omm_y,too, but an angry one. More often than not you woul-d catch a cuff from her, a j ab in the ribs, a twist of the ear. She hated to have her house looking like a hehdish."' She didn't like it when Abramtchik played -with the cardboard snippings that fell from Daddy's workbench, o, when -Moiseytchik stuck his fingers into the pastepot, or when Dvofrke *H"kdish Titerally means a charity ,,hospital" _for the poor. The closest English equivalent is "a pigsty."

Jrwrsn CuRneurs

baked "bread" out o{ sand and water. Nlommy didn't know, for instance, that young heads are constantlyrvorksouls are constaltly ing, ihat young -reac[ing-where tu? Outreiching, doors! To the ligh"t,to the tvindow, to the window! Onlv one window the house had', a tiny window. And the three heads are il*uy. contending for that one window. What do theY see out that window? A wall. A high, wide, gtelt damp wall. Always an4 eternally.Camp' Even summertime. Doesn't the sun ever enter here? CertainlY it does' Not the sun itself but its light. And then it's a holidaY! All three beautiful heads rush to the ivindow, look out and upward-1t1 a long, narrow strip, like a blue ribbon. "H"yi Look, kids-the sky!" So .uyt Abramtchik. Abramtchik knows. Abramtchik goes to heder' The heder is not verY far; onlY two doors away, really. But what tnarvels Abramtchik. tells ibout it. Abramtchik swears that he saw a whole building made of nothing but windows. Abramtchik swearsthit he saw with his own eyes a tall chimney with smoke float' ing out of it. Abramtchik even swears he"sawa wagon riding without horses' So many ihings Abramtchik knows' For instance,thit a tree grows. True, he has never yet seenhow a tree grows' On their street there are no trees' But he knows that on a tree, fruit grows. That's whY -the blessing foT Fruit is "Boyray pii ho-eytz'-blessed be the fruii of fhe t.ee. Abramtchik knows that cucumbersand onions and garlic grow on the ground. But he io"sn't"kttow why and-how they grow on the ground. For on their street there is no field, no earden, no tree, no grass-not a blad"e. O'n their street are only big grey walls, tall chimneys and wagons Mlv, 1971

without horses.Nothing else.Not even a bird, exceptrarely, when a spalrow blunders in.^But he too is grey, like t h e w a l l. . . One thing, though: a cat. TheYhave their own 6,a4a real live cat. A greY one, of course. The cat is their pride and ioy. With their cat they play for hours. tie a kerchief on her head and call her macheteynssltx-4nfl laugh and laugh and laugh. Until MommY .""., unJ her hand shootsout-a cuff, a jab, a twis't of the ear. Abrarntchik savs MommY is right. With a cat You mustn't play, becausea cal is an unclean thing,'and a devil. Abramtchik knowseverything... Eoen what haPPens Eaerything! up in the sky. lyic-e a Year' Abramt;hik swears"on HoshanaRabo and on the night of Shevuos, the skY sPlits apart. Tru", he himself never saw the sky split-because they l1a-veno- sky on th^eir street. But his friends have seen it. They swear to it, and -theY wouldn't swear to a lie, woulcl theY? What a pity there was no skY -in their street. Only a long blue strip, like a pieceof blue ribbon. What could you se} in a sky like that, excePttwo br three li'ttle stars and maybe the reflection of the moonlight? And in order to convincehis younger brother and sister that the sky really does split apart, Abramtchik tugs at his Mom' mv's skirt. "'Mommy ! Isn't it true tha't todal, Shevuos, it midnight, the sky will split?" ^ "Your head I'll split!" Having receivedthis rebuff from his Mommy, Abrarntchik waits for his Daddy to come home. Daddylhas gone off t; the marketplace with a big bundle of boxes to sell. o'Kids,guesswhat Daddy will bring -Irnorh"r-in-law.

us from the market?" So asks Abramtchik, and the children start suessins. Th"y count_out on rheir fing"ir thing _ that's in the rnaiket "n"r|stalls, everythirrg that the human ele can see and the human heart desire:-bunsand bagel and sweets But nobody guesse-d.And you won't guess eithei, I'm afraid Peysi the Bookbinder this time brought home neither buns nor baeel nor sweets. Grass he brought horie. I big bundle of grass. Od?-looking, long, green. fragrant grass. And all three beautiful heads. Abramtchik, Moiseytchik and Dvoy_ rke, surrounded their Daddv. "Daddy, what is it, what is it?,, "This is greens." "greens?" "What is "Greens fo-r the holiday ! Jews shoul.d have greens for this hoiiday !" "Where does it come from. Daddv!,, "Where it comes from? Hm--. It comes from the market. You buv it.,, So says their Daddy, and he iorrm -grass the _green, fragrant across the freshly-swept floor, atid h" beams, and says to Mommy in his usual cheery mannel: "A gut yonteff to you!" "Mazel-tov, a new hekdisltl His little momzerim,x' will now have somethilg new to mess up the house with!,, The three beautiful heads look ar her, look at their Daddy, look at each other. And when Mommy and Daddy turn away, the three ihildren huil themselves at the floor, faces to the fragrant grass, rvhich is called sreens. and which Jews need for the liolidav of Shevuos, and which you buv in thl market . -*b*rur,lr.

Epromp-a- Sttdtainn

$l to $10a fnonllL !

HEJE\ryISH

NV LOS AIVGELES o The JeH,ish Currents Conrmittee held its annual conference Sun." March ll,, at the Yablon Center.. with 70 persons attending" representing Jervish Cultulal Clubs, iimnra Lazarus Clubs, the yiddisher Kr-rltur-Farband, reading circles and writers' groups. Witli Committee Chainnan Thelma Brenner presidirg, addresses were heard' from Nathan Garfield, president, L. A. Jewish Cultural and Fraternal Clubs, Mrs. Leah Nudell, president, Emma Lazarus Jewish Wo-men's Clubs" Dr. Nathan Hurvitz of the new L. A. Friends of Jewish Currents, and Jay Bender of the Jewish Radical Community, an L.A. youth group. The discussion centered or th* need to reach young people. Plans were de_ veloped to plornote circulation, se_ cure increased funds and expand the Committee. 2_8,,at the Ashgrove, the : Yg"h I-.A. Friends of Jewish Cuirents and the Jewish Radical Communirv jointly sponsored a symposium on "The Jewish Left Vieni Jews in Socialist Countr.ies.,' Attendance was_8590, with more youth than adults. One result was that a diverse group of 1oung people got togelher to.challeng'ethi conii,,g:to Lo"s A,,geles of Rabbi Meir Kihane of the Jewish Defense League. A Ieaflet both in English urrJ yiddirh rras issued, "Tou ard Real Jervish Liber_ ation," declaring that ,.both JDL's philosophy and tactics go against the best interests of uoild JEwry" and pointing out that ..Rabbi Ka_ halre s,^qupportof the Vietnam war, and JDL's use o'f anti-black hvste_ tia, are-di_rectlyopposed to the right of self-detelmination of these peoples."

Juwrsu CunRrwrs

OMMI]NITY On Ciail Liberties o The Anti-Delamatiort League oI B'nai B'rith adopted a resolution Feb. 22 protesting infringements upon civil liberties by agencies of the Federal government. Dore Schary. honorary national chairntan of AD'L, in introducing the measure cited as major t'hreati to freedom of thought, speech, dissent and the right of privacy the drives for statutes authorizing preventive detention, police no-knock entry and wiretapping. as well as the devel' opment of computerizecl data banks by government and expanded police and military surveillance of demonstrations and political gatherings. The resolution stated the ADL is opposed to all these violations of the Bill of Rights and that it "must involve itself in opposition to these proposals." .-A Ciuil Liberties Conlerence has been called for all day, Sunday, May 2:\ by the American Comrnittee for Protection of Foreign Born and the Arnerican Assot'iation to Combat F'ascisrn. Racisrn and Anti-Semitism. It u ill he hel.d at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center of Local 1199, Drug and Hospital Ernployees Llnion. _Coop_erating organizations are the Methodist Federation for Social Action and CitiConstitutional zens Committee for Liberties (with others to come). The scope of the Bill of Rights Con{erence will be: " ( 1) to 'discuss oul' common intet'est in reversing the danserous course which the Administration and anti-democratic forces are taking our country t (2) to plan actions to safeguard the Bill of Rights; Mlv,

1971

(3) to discuss proposals to co-unter the growth of the ,tlt.u-tight, racism, anti' Semitism and attacks- on minorities'" While there are a number of civil liberties organizations active in the Defense of tte Bill of Rights this is the first joint effort bY a number. of organizitions to take up the serious atL"ks ac,ainst the civi-l liberties of the Arnericin peoples. Oreanizations are requested to send two i. *nt" delegates or observers, and individuals are invited. Registrais $2'00' tion fees for each participant and registration information For forms rvrite to Bill of Rights Conference Committee, 799 BroadwaY, Roorn 233, N. Y. 10003 or call OR 5-8854' This column adds its voice to the call for participation in this Conference' Syrian

lews

Persecuted

The World Jewish Congress March 17 called upon the UN lluman Rights Cornrnission, meeting in Ceneva, to Eive priority to the item on its agenda iealin*- wifh the right to etnigrate' In a letter to the i'omntission, Dr' Maurice L. Perlzweig, who represented WJC at the meeting, charged that in some Arab states "ihe pitiful and defenseless remnants of once great coln' munities are subiected to brutalities which would be incredible if the facts were not fully attested to by eye-witNESSES.

"The trtost ruthless llersecution is todsy visited on the feiv thousand Jews ,"ho ..-uin in Syria," he added. "They are restnicted in-their movements and are not allowed on the street at night.

They are subject to arbitrary crrâ&#x201A;Źst and to interrogation accompaniedby torture which Jftet results in paralysis or insanitT." . Syrian Jews, said Dr. Perlzweig, "ma,intain a precarious existence in an atmosphereof sustainedhostility, stimulated_by an educational system whose textbooks are disfigured lry the ancient and irrational prejud,ices-ofa vioious anti-Semitism. And by a special refinement of cruelty the Jewish children are compelled io use these textbooks."

Other officers are Rabbi Shepherd Z. Baum, director of the Kashruth Division of the N.Y. State Dept. of Agriculture, vice-chairman, and Miriam B. Gittelson, treasurer.

At the news conference, Dr. Joseph Landis, dean of studies at Queens College and coordinator of Jewish Studies on the Flushing campus, said "hundreds upon hundreds" of students throughout the U.S. were studying Yiddish at college, reflecting the "return of the third generation to its cultural roots" and providing a potential cadre of actors and audiences for Plan lda Kaminska Theatre Yiddish theatre. Ida Kaminska, who has performed A drive for 9100,000to establisha more than 150 stage roles, p,roduced non-profit Ida Kaminska Yiddish Art some 70 plays, translated plays and Theatre was launched March lB at a adapted novels for the stage, and who news conferenceand reception in the was nominated for an Academy Award Greenwich Village townhouse of Mr. for her role in the Oscar-winning film, and Mrs. Theodore Bikel bv the Ida T'he Shop on Main Street, told the Kaminska Theatre Foundation. fnc. press conference she expected that an _ The reperfory group, und", the artistic advisory board would deterdirectorship of the world-renowned mine wit'h her the repertoire of plays Polish actressand former head of the she hopes would make the Yiddish Art Yiddish State Theatre in Wbrsaw. will Theatre a "sh,owcase of Jewish culpresent plays from classical Yiddish ture." The advisory board would inIiterature as well as translations of clude leading Jewiih wr,iters and theworks of major international play- atre personalities. wnights.Perfoimanceswill be in yiaIn addition to Mr. Bikel the Board dish with simultaneous translation of Directors includes a number of peointo English. ple prom,inent in the theatre, literature, At the news conference,Mr. Bikel, arts and Jewish communal life, among the actor and folksinger, said that the them Celia Adler, Jacob Gladstein-, purpose of the Founiation. of which Sam Levenson, Leo Rosten, Sholem he is a director, was "to safeguard a Secunda and Rabbis Robert E. Goldvital and vibrant Yiddish theJre.', burg, Israel Mowshowitz and Edward The GoverningCouncil of the Amer- T. Sandrow. ican Jewish Congress in,itiatedthe forAlso attending the reception were -Friends rnation of the of the Ida Joseph Pupp, director of the N.Y. Kaminska Theatre Foundation and Shakespeare Festival; actors Julie provided its headquarters at the Garfield, Jonathan Burrows and Jacob Stephen_ _W!ry CongressHouse, 15 E. Ben-Ami, dean of the Yiddish stage; 94 St., N. Y. t0O2E.Chairman of the artists (lhaim Gross and Sey,mour Foundation is B. Z. Gold,berg.Julius Rosenthal; Ge.dalia Sandler, leader oI Schatz, director, AJCongres tofumis- the Jewish Cultural Clubs, and Itche -is sion on Jewish Affairs, secretary. Goldberg, editor, Yi.dd,isheKultur. S.P.

Juwlsn CunnsNrs

BooK

REVIEW

THE(IIL IMPERIATISTS BY BRUNO ARON who made this researchpossible.They Magdoff, editor- nor,v o{ are Harry'Reuieit, and the Louis M. Monthl,r Rabinowitz Foundation, which Pro' vided the financial suPPort to make the study possible. This is not a breezY exPos6 o,f the Tanzer has given us a I/[ICHAEL machinations of a world monoPolY. J"V.l professional and scholarly analFor that one should read HarveY ysis of the role and methods of the O'Connors The Empire ol Oil, World emp-hasis oil oligarchy, with special Crisis in Oil, or iome of his ot'her on how they relate to underdeveloped Dr. Tanzer usesthesesources writings. producers conor countries either as and miny more. The structure of the sumers of oil. Yet 6ne does not have book d,ividesit into three parts. The to be a technical expert to read and first is the heart of the book, developunderstand the book and see it in con' the economic base and interrelaing text with other world problems' Dr. tiolnshipsin the industry. The second Tanzer is especially qualified in this experience field because he worked for several part, based on the author's with his company as residentin India, years with Esso Standard Eastern studies in depth the particularization Inc., the Asian-African a'rm of the underStandard Oil Company of New Jersey. of the problem as it affectsone folpa-rt third The country. developed Before that he was a teaching fellow lows in line with the second, but at Harvardo where he received his choosesvarious countries for briefer Ph.D. in Economics in L962. As he examination to see what has happened acknowledges in his book, he and we in China, Mexico, Iraq, Cuba, Brazil are indebied to several old fniends and the Dominican Republic, repreBnuNo ARoN, appedring here lor the senting the gamut of public and private first time, taught economicsat the City e c o n o m l e s . What the book does not do, and this College in [Yew Yo'rk in I9M, toolehis M.A. in Sociq,IWork at Columbia,and, is not said in criticism, since the scope is limited to the political economy of then held, uarious posts in that fi"|d, including that ol disnict director ol international oil in the underdeveloped the B'nai B'rith Youth Organizalion in countries, is to consider how the popuPh,iladelphia. He has been published' lation of many of these countries is affected by the oil industry. With so in th.eJewish Center Worker.

The Political Economy ol International Oil and tlrc Und,erdeaelo'pedCountries, ,by Michael Tanzer. Beacon Press, Boston, 1969, 435 Pages, indexed, $12.50.

Mex, I97I

nluch money being earned by these countries by their oil industry, how are the people kept from a share of the proceeds? One wishes to find the interrelationships between the polirical structures and the economic base in these countries. Lastly, one rvoul.d like to know more as to how the United States maintains dominance in the Nliddle East oil despite what appears to be total support of Israel. One American oil manager in Saudi Arabia has recently said, "I honestly can't think of a pioblern the Arnerican oil companies would have if it wasn't for our Iiraeli policy." By co'incidence, rhe N. Y. Times Jian. 2, I97L, in an article by John M. Lee, reviewed the situation reeard-what ing )Iiddle Eastern oil. Part of Mr. Lee writes confirms the statements of Dr. Tanzer; a few add to them. For example, Mr. Lee maintains that the Middle East, including North African countries, have 70 per cent rather than 60 per cent of thi known reserves of the world. He maintains t'hat the cost of production per barrel in Kuwait is as low as 6c while in the United Srates it is gI.Z5. And it is the $1.75 figure that is used to establish the world price. Little wonder that Mr. Lee reports that "the Arabs are the richest poor people in the world. Tax and royalty income to the Arab countries and Iran should reach about $5.8 billion for 1970 even before allowing for the recent tax increase.', He places the American investment in Middle Eastern oil at $2 billion book value, and a net balance of payrnents of $I.5 billion. Oil has always been a vital part of the Middle Eait. Dr. Tanzer ioesn'l approach his work from the aspect of \liddle Eastern politics, but he'leaves no doubt as to the forces which are ar work. The importance of the area is

obvious because not only is it the largesl; area of oil reservls but even the new fielcls such as Libya, which have been recentll' found. add to these reserves. I)r. Tanzer says that Nliddle East crucle oil costs from a third to a fifth of the price of Venezuelan oil, and I have quoted N{r. Lee's figures previously Dr. Tarrzer categorizes energy as the f ourth factor of production, along rvith lard, labor and capital. He indicates that oil is the world's sreatest monopoly arrd one must surmlse that international agreernents bind the nrany conrpanies, large and srnall, into a gigantic cartel. He indicates that the poorest countries pay the highest price for their oil. There are seven major companies in the world. These, known as the seven sisters, include Sta.ndard Oil of New Jersey, Royal Dutch Shell, Mobil. Texas Oil, Gulf Oil" Standard Oil of California and British Petroleum. Thus five of the seven are American companies. Among the smaller cornpanies, who numbel between 20 and 30, some two-thirds are Arnerican. So one can see rvho is dominant. One of the rnore valuable sections of the book dernonstrates how the United States dominates the Board and policies of such international bodies as the World Bank and the International Nlonetary Fund. It is not surprising. therefore, that when a country seeks financial aid to develop either oil resources or refining, no such assistancehas been forthcomine fronr any of these bodies. There are any number of significant stories in this book-how the United States got rid of Premier Dr. Mossadegh in Iran and at the same time took over British interests, hon Castro beat the oil morropoll' and how Inclia failed to bear it, how the fall of Sukarno helped the oil companies-and rnany, many more stories.

Juwrsn CuRnnnrs

Aside frorn a brief reference to the role of oil tankers using the Suez Canal an<i its relation to the Middle East War in L956, there is no mention of Israel or how it is involved in the area. Yet the book leads one to the conclusion that oil is so dominant and pervasive, a supergovernrnent iI you will, that the Middle East is its crown jewel and will not be given up without a fight. Therefore international poli' tics must be more concerned with the Arab countries and rvith rnaintaining a stability that is under their control than with peace, or justice or the place of Israel in the Middle East. The Soviet Union enters into Dr. Tanzer's analysis at various points, but is not considered in a counter position. The author points out that the Soviet Union started rvooing the underdeveloped countries with oil after the Banduns Conference in 1955. It started out on the basis of barter of oil for raw materials, and lvent on to assist in exploration and clevelopment. At the close, Dr. Tanzer calls for the cooperation of all underdeveloped countries, both the producers and the and with the consumers, through I]nited Nations for their own future. This is an excellent book for the scholar and also for one who wishes to learn about the oil companies and their policies. Written simply qncl well, it is there{ore rvell rvorth reading. In Loving Memory Of o u r B e l o v e dH u s b a n d , Faiher and Granfather, Leo G. Wqle Died Mar. 27, 1970 C h i c a g o ,l l l . His idealsand fighting spirit will live with us forever. Cforo Wole qnd Fomily Chicago

Mev, 197I

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OI]R 74TH JEWISH CURRENTS LIFB SUBSCRIPTION husband' In honor of tt B2nd birthday, in January, 9f my beloved sup' staunch u " Is.e-r,--ul Subscriptio". Lif"' $i00'};;; {r;;,'T;;;t;;r grown has Hebrew, and viddish porter of progre..i"" l"*ish cu_lturein of Jrwrsn Cunnnurs to Jewish culture in io value the conti[riti"" English. I fully agree wit'h his estimation

Readers' Forum on Israel

E;8;:i'ii":Ivi| tw'i,inzg

As we did in our Sep't., 1967 issue, we are rnaking this space auailable to those ol our read,ers who dissent lrorn one or anofrh,eraspect ot' our policy on Isranl. Far this issue, therelore, Letters from Readers is transformed, ir*o this Readers' Forum on Israel.-Ed.

On lsrael, Black Panthers.. . Contradictions are so rife in the Middle East that the dialectics of reality in that area resemble a phantasmagoria.To mention 'but two such contradictions: there were more Arab casualties in the 10-day civil war between Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization than in the three wars between Israel and the Arab states; and no support in the Third World or among the socialist states is given to Israel's struggle to maintain its national independence. W'riting as humanists in The Search Io, Peace the American Friends Service Committee places the blame for the present crisis on the moral failure of Western Christianity, the realpolitik of the Big Powers, rivalries among the Arab states and the am'bivalenceof Israeli policy and a hortatory Zionist ideology that contributes to the fears and insecurities of the Palestinian Arabs which erupts in terrorist activities. The Friends appeal to the conscienceoI the contending forces and urge a massive mobilization of political, economic and moral resourceson all sides to bring peace to the area. Writing as a Marxist in "Nationalism and the Class Struggle in the Arab World" (Monthly Reuiew, July-Aug., 1970), A. E. Kodsy at-

tributes the present crisis to an immature revolutionary struggle of the masses against the political and economic exploitation of a mercantile class with interlocking commercial interests throughout th; area and with ties to foreign imperialist powers. He calls for an intensified class struggle to overthrow the ruling class and expel the imperialist presence and bring socialism to the Middle East. Can the editors of Jrwrsn Cunnpurs synthesize these views ? Not unrelated to the question raised above are some recent developments in the Black Panther Party. In an article in the April 25 issue of Black Panther, "Will Racism or International Proletarian Conquer?", Revolution the writer states the interests of the "Zionists" Judge Hoffman, William Kunstler and Jerry Rubin were opposed to those of Bobby Seale! A delegation of Black Panthers, meeting with the PLO recently in Jordan, pledged its all-out support to the struggle against Israel. Leading spokesmen of the Jewish community have interpreted these activities as the surfacing of the latent anti-Semitism of the Black Panthers. The syllogism goes as follows: All anti-Zionists are anti-Israel; and all those who are anti-Israel end up as anti-Semites. I do not believe this logic is unassailable. I would like to

JEwrsHCunnsNrs

F^uNtnArnoNsort

not argue about each micro-situationeven tf,e wisest political leadership obviou*lv can err (but their sympathies are -- always on the righ,t side). . i" these critical" daYs, when the stakesare so high it seemsto me tragic that Jews in ihe capitalist countries have so largely been c?Pt-uleg bY a Zionist chau"vinismwhich binds them all those to imperialism-against 'with whom theY should be forces united. The central issue today is the move' ment towards socialism-in many difl"tettt ways, along differing pathsbut allianbe with imperialism cannot nossiblv be an oPtibn. To see the iti"ttd.itip between Golda Meir and East Midille Disagrees on Nixon *"k"t me ashamedto be a Jew' How can we suPport your 'this a Political line with I disagree fundamentally unilY with the to leads attitude io the Middle Eastern situ- which Vietnam? of killers ation. --It is logical t'hat the-capilalist ruling ioa"y the decision of the House of class of l"srael-and their branches in unlimited R"pt"t"'ntatives to authorize ;tid" to Israel was announced'Maybe Britain, USA, s1g.-shsuld lead anti' b"' I communist and anti-Soviet campaigns t r" poiitically unsophisti.c-^1"1, for -as pace'makersfor- imperialism-bul this doing them lmagrne cannot sureli it is our Jewish responsibilityto purpose' any imaginable pr-ogressive movement to exir, .rr""ty part bf the world American the world liberation are behind this, that aims real the of imnerialisrn^ stands as the enemy "o." class interests at the heart itiJ o"oole (vou understandthis prob' io ,ho* the over the Middle East the struggle of I cannot ablv bettet fh"tt I do ! ) and (whilst in Ireland his govwas Nix6"n believe that the Middle East is any explained that they simp-ly ernment different. - -military supply to the I would go further and claim that had to incre-ase Greecewas the only as fascists Ctt"k the Soviet iJnion stands throughout area that would provide that in olu"" we advance socialist the for the world L"r.r, and Nixon stressedt'hat he in' both --fttit desire. tended keeping the Sixth Fleet pre' would macroJevel-I the is on

see you addressyourself to the charge of anti-semitism in the larger context of the "Israeli Question" in a manner U' to thet Polemic Morris ri*ii*t 'oJewish Schappes present-edon the ConQt".iitt " at the SocialistScholars ference' J,Lcr scnur-vr^u New York, SePt.29 fOur Feb. ittrr" carried a discussion bt thr Black Panthers and views exnressed bv Panther leaders on Jews, Zionists uttd l.tu"l. Kodsy's article is now part of a book issuedbY MonthlY ReviewPress,which we hope to review in due time.-Ed'-f

Mav, I97l

dominant in the Mediterranean to safeguard American interests there). It seems to me that while we could easily make mistakes of analysis in 1967 when the situation cerrainly was confused, we are not entitled to continue to make them three years later when political developments have thron'n a blinding light on the whole situation. Cucrr, NrcnrrNcar,r London, England, Oct. 19 On Israel

und Zionism

I am a reader of JswrsH CunRsNrs since its inception and a member of the Emma Lazarus Club, also of the American Jewish Congress. I have always enjoyed reading Jnwtsn CunnnNrs because of its progressive and independent stand; standing up to ,being pushed on t|e right and left today is very courageous on your part. However, I came away from the Dec. 6 concert quite disturbed. There were people behind me in the audience who were accusing you and calling you a Zionist. I am sure they did not hear your position. . . . Last week I heard a woman minister, incidentally the first woman in New

Notice to Former

Members

Jersey to be ordained. She, together with the American Jewish Congress Business and Professional Chaptel of Essex County, my chapter, are working to win a rapport with the Christian community, and talk to them about Israel, as they are misinformed and very unsympathetic to Israel. She gave us an historical and current picture of Israel and also of the refugee problem. She has been in Israel several times and stayed for several months. She had an opportunity to speak to many Arabs, and her opinion -really is that the refugee problem is blown up by the Arab and American oil machine. So, here I sat listening to you and also to the Jewish people behind me in the audience, mutte,ring about your capittlation to Zionism, and I wondered, do these people really know what they are saying, or are they still suffering from leftism ? Arafat's stand is that the Israelis are not a nation and must be deprived of their rights as an independent nation. To the Jews of the diaspora, and the half million Jewish refu[ees from the Arab country, Zionism means statehood_ Book, Land and people together. This I heard from the woman minister, who is very well versed in the Talmud and the history of the

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Jewish people. Her interpretation rs Zionism-is a spirit, not in a religious sense. . . Again let me coutrnend you for- yo-ur ,forthright position, against all the odds. Good luck in your atterrpts. Lrr-r,tn Macr-tecalo Maplewod, N.1., Dec.9 [For our opposition to the ideology of Zionism, see the comment on the letter by Prof. Samuel Bluefarb above. For of Israel, see the m_a_gaour support zine ai a whole. We welcome Mrs. Magliacano's good wishes.-Ed.]

ln Loving MemorY of our dear Broiher and Sister-in-Law Sam qnd Rose Urow Eecky snd Ethel Los Angeles

A Hearfy Mazel--Tov to our Dear Sister Mory Merlin on the marriage of her granddaugther, Debby L.A. Jewish Curents Commitlee

To Pete Seeger Deglr Pete Seege. : Think you haroe a great idea -[see Seeger's Open Letter in our Dec., 197b issuel. I am in favor of Shalom' is a beautiful name. I Salaam-if would vote for it heart, soul and guts, but only under one condition, that Pete Seeger be its King. Should you ever be in Milwaukee, please call a faithful and devoted fan and explain more fully Shalom--Salaam. Without the spirit of Pete Seeger it will be rnore ind more toho aabohu (chaos). Meanwhile, Bo back to the old places and sing more songs. They need You there. Sing for peace and freedotndon't be partisan in your love. Bennv SrNcrn Jewish Cornmunity Center Milwaukee, Wisc., Dec. 11 Abowt the Gaza Area I believe L. H.'s reference in "It Happened in Israel" (Dec., 1970) to the- developing economic integration between Israe-l and the Gaza StriP and its "annexationist implications" comes from a piece in the N.Y. Tirnes, which is no longer a very good source

JuwrsnCunnrNrs Mlv,

1971

WE EXTEND our wctrmesl greetings qnd thqnks to qll of You who crrrdnged such besutilul lsrewell porlies before our leqving for Floridq The FlatbushCulturol Club The Commilfee of Friends of Brooklyn The surprise porty of our Fqmily(4 generqtions) The Editoriql Boqrd qnd Monogement Committee of Jewish Currents ril7e promise to continue our work in our new home. FANNIE qnd SAM BORUN Sflest Palm Beach, Fla. 39

for balanced inforrnation on the Middle East. What the T'intes has omitted are the following: about (r,(XX)-8,000Arab workers fronr the Gaza area work in Israel through the labor exchanges at going rates. This means they are paid the _samewages as Israelis. Unofficially, perhaps twice that number work in Israel and the West Bank at lower wages. They don't register because of the fear of terrorist reprisal, ambivalent feelings toward Israel officials and the bitter mernory of the bloody Egyptian retaliation suffered bv thos'e who had cooperated with Israelis, after Israel was forced to evacuate the area in 1956. The Times also neglects to record the fact that for 17 yeirs, Gaza Arabs _wergpenned up in refugee camps, isolated from Egypt socially a.td economically, treated like a conquered province, unable to find work. Living conditions are improving with the in-troduction of electricity, roads, schools and medical care by Israel. The refugee problem, about which Arab propaganda,has made so much, is gradud[y being liquidated. Fishermen have been provid-ed with new equipment. Improved_ method_s of irrigition and pest control have been intioduced. Lbcal infustry is being encouraged. The political future of the Strip is still problematical, hut one thing is very clear: the inhabitants don'i want to return to Egyptian rule. None Luvrn Philadelphia, Dec. 13 lL. H. Replies: The item about which Nora Levin writes was indeed drawn from the 1[.Y. Times of Oct. 17. L970. To be sure, reporting in the Times has its shortcomings, 6ut much of the information which Nora Levin conveys hgr already appeared in that paper. Howwer, the comment on "annexationist implications" did not appear in the article mentioned. Thls

.:omment was added to the item because the peace forces in Israel are critical of some official policies re, garding the occupied lands, such as moves to integrate these lands economically too closely to Israel, since they make peace negotiations much Inore difficult. These forces maintain that highest priority in policy should be maximum easement of the path to peace negotiations. It seems to me that Nora Levin's view that the refugee problem in the Gaza Strip is being "gradually liquidated" is too optimistic. I am unaware of the basis for her contention. Although econornic conditions on the Strip are improving, this does not mean that the socio-political status of the refugees is any nearer to settlement. Only a peace treaty can do that. And I wish I knew on what authority she says that "the inhabitants of the Strip don't want to return to Egyptian rule." A mild occupation policy is of course better than a harsh occupation policy. But does not Miss Levin- overlook the fact that occupation is bound to arouse resistance? It is interesting to note the observations of Warren Hurwitz, an American Jewish student at Brandeis who spent his junior year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalern and wrote the following in genesis 2, a Boston youth publication, in Nov., 1970: "The lenience and inconspicuousness of Israeli occupiers in the day-today life of the West Bank has made a modus uiu,endi possible. But the tranquility apparent to the visitor belies the fact that the average West Bank Arab dislikes or distrusls the Israeli, and, though_ politically passive, sympathizes with Arab resistance movements. One doubts whether an imqrov-ed_standard of living can assuage the feelings of the proud Arab on tf,e W'est Bank who, though he rarely

Jrwrsn CuRnnnrs

certain elements of it par'ticularly disturbing. Firsi, the document is confusing and ambiguous as to whom*PreciselYin Isiael it condemns as "block'ing the settlement and way to a political peace." The Menachem Beigin eleinents are categorically condemned as "overt annexationists." Fine. But the "'partial' annexationists" are also condemned: who are they? Earlier, the statement had uPheld the Israel Government's basic interpretation of the Seurity Council Resolution of Nov. 22, 1967. Under that interpretation, Israel would withdraw from territories occupied in June' 1967 to "secure and recognized boundaries" (simultaneous with rocognition by its Soaiet Role? neighbors of Israel's right to exist and a silutio.t to the refugJe problem-all Please allow me a question pertainirrg to the Statement by Progressive to be agreed upon through negoti' Jewish Leaders in the Jan., I97l issue a t i o n ) . "Annexation" is a pejorative term; tit'Ied, "For the Security of Israel! For !" East Middle the progressive leiders statement's the but Peace in a Secure own language supports partial annexI fully agree with every word_in that ation, too, insofar as "secure and recstatement, but one omission disturbs osnized b'oundaries" would invariably me. Yes, America has her own imPerial- si b"yottd the pre-June 1967 frontiers, ind u. Israel would thus emerge from ist interests there. Is the Sovie't Union for Nasserlove any peace settlement with more territhere because of her ism or hate of Judaism? No. She is toiv ihan it had before the June War. Is ihis unreasonable? Is it counter to t'here for her own interests of power the Security Council Resolution? No' against U. S. power. Then whY omit her? It gives the impression that the Yet, by tte logic of the leaders statement, would continued Israeli control Soviet Union is there-selfless, pure. over, say, the Golan Height-s, not conIs that true? Rose HvmaN stitute "partial annexation"? Moreover, the Security Council Reso' lution in question does not call for New York, Feb. 3 Israeli with?rawal from all territori6s, but rather "from territories occupied" On the Dec. 7 Staternent as a result of the June War. The British sponsor o{ the resolution, as you A formal statetnent by some leaders recali specifically declined a "correcof the progressive Jewish community, tion" *hi"h would have required Ison the subject of Peace in the Middle rael to withdraw from all territories. East, was published in the Jan., 1971 Surely, to endorse the Israeli -position issue. Althbugh I agree with many of for withdrawal to secure and recogthe ideas in that document, I do find

sees a sign of the Israeli occupier, knows that that occupier is there. No matter how much their lives are improved as a result of the occupation, the Arabs there will not and cannot accept Israeli rule indefinitely. For the Israeli occupation is a psychological insult to these people; it represents the loss of a war and of a land; antt lnore important, it represents to them their own failure to keep pace with the march of progress." That is why we support the just, national aspirations of the Palestinian Arabs to self-determination, including, if thev wish. a state of their own, side by side with the Jewish State of Israel.

Mlv,

1971

nize.d,borders, but in the same statement [o condemn the "partial annexationists" in very unspecific terms-is contradictory and confusing. This is not to say thai the broad spectrum of views within Israel on the subject of "defensible borders" does not complicate the peace prospects. There is quite a differ-ence bei.weenthe "minimalists" (return all but SharmEl-Sheikh, Gaza, Jerusalem. Golan Heights . . .) and the Beigin "maximalists" (keep everything) .-Numerous confusing op,tions "in between" are thus kept ,open. Hopefully, negotiations between the parties concerned ca., ,esolve the confusions. However, the leaders statement's own contradictory and imbiguous language on this point only makes the confuslon more acute. My second reservation about the statement concerns its one-sided blindness to Soviet actions and policies in the Middle East. The statement is sratuitously critical of the U. S. GovErnment and not at all critical of the Soviet Govelnln6nf-even thoush the latter's actions and policies havi been far more damaging to peace and to Israel. It is true ,that Washington is not supporting Israel 100 per cent due to conflicting pressure from Arab clients, oil interests, and a new neo-isolationist mood in this country. _ In_my view, U. S. policy in the Middle East represents ln imperfect and not always intelligent attempt to "balance off" an emotional-ideological tie to Israel against economic and strategic ties rvith the Arab States. Hence, the U. S. offers credits and now sells arms to Israel, at the same time that it supplies Jordan and Saudi Arabia, tries _to improve relations with Egypt, and backs off frorn full support of israel's_political positions (".g., the Rogers Plan). To note this U. S. ambivalence is one thing. It is altogether another

thing-and it constitutes unhelpful exaggeration-to conclude flatly that "it is clear that Washinqton hai its own interests in mind anJnot t'he interests of Israel." No two countries have completely parallel core interests. But where there is a legitimate prospect that U. S. Government policy may act to strengthen Israel and t'he chances for a just peace, then one's role should be to try realistically to accomplish this goal. It's easy for one to sit back and say -as the statement does-'6lsrael cannot and must not rely on Washineton." That comment, however, simpliitically ignores the necessary distinction between complete identification of interests and policies between'the U. S. and Israel (unlikely and scarcely desirable) and trusting mutual reliance in pursuit of common, legitimate goals. The latter goal is not only desirable, it is also likely. Besides, if Israel cannot turn to the U. S. for some help and assistance in these difficult times, when the U. N. falters, to whom else shall it turn? France? Britain? Or perhaps to Israel's trusty "friend," the Soviet Union? If it is valid to speak of "Western imperialisln"-1hs1 Big Power drive to influence events and policies in other parts of the world-is it not even more valid to speak of Soviet imperialism in the Middle East? How else does one interpret Soviet policies in that area? Purely as an innocent "defensive reaction to Western imperialism" ? Come norv. Is the U.S.S.R. unselfishlv. or even at all, supporting the Arabs in any "fight for national liberation for freedom from imperialism and feudal oppression," as the statement suggests? Or is the Soviet Union not using t'hese countries, willv nillv-as the Western Powers haue .o often fl6ns-1s further its own national policies? The Soviet interest in oil and warm

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water ports is no more shocking in itself than similar Westeln In1g1gs15but at the heady risk of Israel's destruction? At least American policy is two-faced and relativelv subtle. complicated by ties with both Israel and the Arab countries. Soviet policy, particularly since the U.S.S.R. veto of a 1954 Security Council resolution which would have declared the Suez Canal open to ships from Israel and all countries, has been virulently and onesidedly anti-Israel. It is revolting and shocking enough for Soviet propaganda to equate Israel with Nazi Germany. But. further. if the Arab States had won the June War, the 21/2 million Jews thus exterminated would have been betrayed with MIGs and Soviet rockets and machine guns. With such "friends," does Israel need any "enemies" such as the U. S. ? How long can one go on citing Cromyko's l94B U. N. speech, as if nothing fundamental has changed since then? Somehow. Nahum Goldmannts occasional cornments to the contrary notwithstanding, it is hard to see how this pattern and these facts make the Soviet Union a "friend" of Israel. The most recent manifestation of recent Soviet anti-Israel policy was of course the U.S.S.R.'s nefarious collaboration with Egypt last summer and fall in stealthily violating the standstill ceasefire of Aug. 7, 6y the introduction and forward movement of SAM-2 and SAM-3 missiles into the cease-fire zone. (The N. Y. Times Feb. 6, l97L reports that, thanks to Russian "assistance," Egypt norv has the capability to cross the Suez Canal, to demolish the Bar-Lev Line, to neutralize Israeli air superiority, and, presum. ably, to invade the Israeli heartland itself. ) Apparently this momentous Soviet intrusion, which tipped the entire military balance in the area until the U. S. M.l,v, 1971

agreed in September to resupply Israel, was not considered important enough to be mentioned by the authors of the statement, except briefly, where the ceasefire violations are finally noted as "serious matters." But t'hey are maddeningly, revealingly called "the violations of the standstill ceasefire regulations by Egypt" (emphasis added). Of course, Egypt bears some responsibility. They were the ones who invited the Soviets to violate t'he ceasefire with their SAMs and MIGs. But it is pure blindness and wish{ul thinkeven predoming to blame only-or inantly-Egypt for the violations. At international law, and in any realistic political appraisal, the Soviet Union is responsible. To omit mention of the Soviet component of these violations is tantamount to criticizing only the Thieu-Ky regime for the war in Vietnam, and omittinq mention of the United States. Just as the U. S. bears moral and legal responsibility for the war in Southeast Asia, ostensibly conducted to "defend" South Viaggresetnam against "Communist sion," so the Soviet Union bears decisive moral and legal responsibility for the recent aggravation of the ArabIsraeli conflict, in which it has inserted itself to "defend" the Arabs against the red herring of "ZionistNazi agression." The criminal Soviet actions and policy constitute a major obstacle to peace. To whitewash the Soviets and their ceasefire violations serves no useful purpose. The Soviet Union's assurances that it strll supports Israel's right to exit may comfort the authors of the statement. But I believe that more dispassionate observers will agree that such assurancesin practice amount to very little, in the light of Soviet provision (."Ireer" o,f course) of billions of dollars worth of weapons and 10-15,000 missile-manners and MIC pilots to the

Arab cause-a depth of commitment which the U.S.S.R. never approached even for North Vietnam, and which the U. S. "imperialists" have done for no country in the Middle East. Let's be realistic. I should think t'hat the sorry story of recent Soviet involvement in the Middle East, to the detriment of Israel and peace, along with the pervasive anti-Semitism revealed bv the recent Leningrad trials and accompanying "anti-Zionist" campaign, would suffice to remove the ideological blinders and wishful thinking with which friends of socialism sometimes appraise Soviet actions and struggle to defend them. Perhaps the statement's authors believe that if they omit fundamental criticism of the Soviet Union. thev will retain "influence" with the U.S.S.R. But this is illusory, not to say vain. Certainly, clear-headed, even-handed

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honesty is the best policy, the best route to peace in the Middle East, and to detente between the U. S. and Devro J. Gour,o U.S.S.R. Assistant Professor of Political Science Chico State Collesre Chico, Catif., Feb. 1l IVIore on the Staternent Concerning the statement o{ the progressive Jewish leaders (Jun. issue), I would like to make the following comments: l. It gives the overall impression of a concern for Israel primarily and not the welfare of the people in the Mideast-both Jews and Arabs. 2. While you mention tangentially that you have some disagreement with the Israeli government, there is no stated criticism o{ the governmentits {ailure to take initiatives for peace all this time, its treatment of the Israeli Arabso etc. In this sense the statement is much milder than the statement of the peace movement in Israel and that of the Arnerican Friends Service Cornmittee. 3. The fact is that Israel is an occupying power. The.longer it stays the more oppressive it will become. It should have taken steps to a partial wit'hdrawal a long time ago. Reference to this should have been made in the statement. It rnav be riskv-but isn't it more important to risk for peace than to continue risking for war ? 4. There is no discussion in the magazine on actions to colonize areas in the occupied territory. These actions have been condemned by the peace forces in Israel. 5. I believe there is a need to evaluate objectively Israel's attitude to the U. N. and its behavior in the current negotiations. Chicago, Feb. 25 Er,t PrcnpNy

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The People's Peace. Treaty idea (see this column, April issue) acquired a Jawish dimension March 28 when 20 Jewish radicals met in Washington, D.C. at the Religious Action Center of the lJnion of American Hebrew Congregations (Refolm) and formed a National Committee to conduct a "Jewish Campaign for the People's Peace Treaty" (lB0S Wyoming Ave., N.W., Wash., D.C., 202-452-1982).Present were Rabbis Everett Gendler and Louis Feldman, Mike Tabor, now organizer for the Community of \{icah Collective in Washington., Bob Loeb, rlirector of the Jewish Draft Information and Counseling Center sponsored by the Chicago Board of Rabbis, and other Jewish activists. [t was decided to develop local committees to implement the Treaty by such methods as geiing signatures of Jews for the Treaty and by establishing a "Trees for Vietnam Fund," since the American Association for the Advancement of Science reports that de' foliants used by U.S. troops have destroyed 25 per cent of the forests in South Vietnam alone. For further information, write to the address above. The Labor Uniaersity Alliance initiated by Nobel Prize winner and peace activist George Wald of Harvard (see our Jan., 1971 editorial) is growing and by Feb. l0 it held a founding convention with the participation of the Teamsters, Amalgamated Clothittg Workers, United Electrical Workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers, Distributive Workers, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and United F'ederation of Teachers. A national conference is to be held this spring, at which there will be planned, among other things, according to Prof. Wald, "a day in which the labor unions alone will speak for peace, a sort of labor-for-peace day.'o A "Passoaer" progrant airned at comaerting Jews to Protestantism was withdrawn April 1 by WOR-TV in New York when the N.Y. Board of Rabbis, the Synagogue C'ouucil of America and the Anti-Defamation

League of B'nai B'rith called to the attention of Michael McCormick, station manager, that the broadcast, produced by the American Board of Missions to the Jews, disguised its missionary intent in the form of a documentary. The three pieces of matzo in the Seder were said in the scheduled TV' broadcast to "represent Father, Son ancl Holy Spirit." April 2 the broadcast was also withdrawn by stations in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Washingtono F'hoenix, Ariz., Los Angeles anc{ Chicago. In Miami the broadcast will carry a disclaimer by Jewish spokesmenthat the program represents a Christian missionary view. In withdrawing it, Mr. McCormick explained that "it would be offensive to a great number of people." The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 30 approved by l0-4 the United Nations Genocide Convention, adopted Dec. 9, 1948, making it an international crime to attempt the destruction of entire national, e'thnic, racial or religious groups. The treaty now goes to the LI.S. Senate, where a twothirds vote is required for ratification. The Convention has already been ratified by 75 nations. The last Congress refused to act o,n the recommendation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (which then voted l02 in favor) . An active supporting campaign is needed. Actors Feb. 14 The Hebrew Union unanimously elected to an Honorary Life Membership the great Polish-Yiddish actress, Ida Kanr.inska, now an emigrr.3in the USA. Fol the drive to raise $100.000 to establish the Kaminska Yiddish Art Theater, seep. 32. A hung jury ended a trial March 3O ol Rabbi Meir Kahane, head of the Jewish Defense League, David Levine, lB, and Abralram Mullam, 22 in N.Y.C'. Criminal Court on charges of criminal conspiracy, harassmer.rt,criminal trespassand criminal mischief at a demonstration Dec., 1969 at Tass offices. April 26 was set for the re-trial.

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t/,5.5ri: ln. Kishineao Moldaaia, early this )cirr tlrc lot'al amateur dramatic ensemble 1 ' t , r ' l , r l r r r r : r l , \ tG . e r s h e n s o n ' sc o m e d y , H e r sltt'lt' Ostopolier. . . . In Riga, Latvia, early llri: year there was a small exhibition of p i r i r r l i r r g sb y J o s e p h K u s k o v s k y , R i g a a r t i s t rrlr,, lratl ernigrated to Israel in 1969,where lrr: rlir:tl in 1970. . . . 250,000 Soviet Jews are lcalrrirrg Hebrew by listening to language instruction on Israeli broadcasts, according to l)rof . Aryeh Tartakower, Ieader of the Worltl Jewish Congress and chairman of the World Federation for Hebrew Language \Lenaruheu, Tel Aviv, Feb. l0). . . . Early in -N'Iarch,Tass reported from Moscow that nearly 50 sheets of unpublished manuscripts ,by the ]3th century Hebrew poet, Yosef ben 'l'anhum, have been {ound in a Leningrad library. Lvov in West Ukraine (formerly Lemberg, Poland) has a street named A Oullup l'tilI l'clt, It)-Zl ol the ilesire after the Jewish communist martyr, Napht o e r n i g l l r l .t \ . l . ? ' r r r r , ' \, lru. r t ' l r2 l ) r c v e a l t ' t l tali l}otwin, executed there in Aug., 1925 t h a t i r r l l r i t : r i r r ,l l l r c r r ' r ' t t lt v i t t t l e rl lo l e a v t ' , for assassinating the police informer, Cechi n I r t t g r r , t r ,, l . l l r c r ( ' t ' t t t .i t t \ \ ' e s t ( i e r l r r a n y nowski. Luouskaya Prauda late last year pub2 7 p t : r t ' r ' r r l .( , r . r ' r ' r ' .! 2 p c r r : r ' r t l ,l " i r t l a r r r l 9 lished a poem, "Botwin's Shot," by the local l 7,Nt'llterlarrrls p e r c ( ' n l . 5 r r r ' , l r t tl l t . l l r r r z . i 1 'l'ltr: 1roet, Mikola Romanchenko. It is recalled r l t t c s l i o n l c t t l . a s k e t l s l l l I \ 16 an,l lrrr that in Poland in 1968, during the "antis o . r ' r t , ' t l , w , t u l t l I l t ' , ' l . \ ' , t t t Zionist" witch-hunt, Botwin's niune was rewas,"ll' t,,tt t ' o t t t t l r / y l i k e t o * , r t r t r l" r ' t l l l i r r l t t t o l l t t r moved from the Jewish leatherwork co-operr erelltc W h a t c o r r r r rt r/ " I S ' \ r r r r r .l ' \ r r s l r l l i iw ative in Silesia because, as a local Commuf a v o r i l r , r ' ' u t t l ti , ' . , r l r l r : silt t u li o t t . nist party official charged, "the name of Naphtali Botwin evokes Jewish nationalistFrance: I)uring ,ht' tttrtttttenutration ol . March 23, at the chauvinist feelings"! ( l o t t l n r u n e l l t r l l ' a t ' i s 1 ( X ) r l r r r n t r i t t ' t \ i t t ' \ , , 1 ' the main Moscow synagogue, the first national ( M a r < ' l r l l l \ l r r r : l t ) , i t t v a s l t : t ' a l l e rtl h a t t h e gathering of rabbis and congregational lead* sa s v e r y ers was held, with some 60 congregations n u m l r t l ' , , 1 . lr . r l i r l r r ' , r l t t t t t t t n a t l l w ( t h e l r a v i n g a t t r a c t e c l . ' t t t n t t t t t r : l r r ' l largr', represented (N.Y. Times, March 24) . Moss r r p l ) o r l o f r l r ' o l t r l i o t t u t ' i c so f v a r i o u s n a t i o n - cow Rabrbi Y. L. Levin presided. The resoluH u n g a r i a n J e w , toin adopted declared: "we decisively reject a l i t i c s . O r r t s t r t r r r l i t rwga s t h e L e o l , ' r ' u r r k r . lt .l r r : ( l o t u t t t u n e p r o c l a i m i n g h i m the claim of international Zionist circles and a t ' i l i z r : r r, , I l " r u n t : e . the rulers of Israel to speak in our name and to defend us aganst non-existent wrongs or restrictions." The Leningrad cantor David The lirxt pnttluction in South Alrica ol Stiskin stated. "Our rnotherland is here." T'hc lllerclunt o'f Venice took place in Port I ' i l i z a l r t t h , A p r i l 6 , b y t h e B r i t i s h p r o d u c e r The same day, 17 religious Jews signed a l , e s l i e l " r r : n c h . w h o a l s o h a s r e c e i v e d a t r a n s - petition, endorsed by 46 other Moscow Jews, lation of the play into Swahili by Tanza- for permission to emigrate to Israel, rejecting Soviet practice, "which inevitably leads nian Pres. Julius Nyere. . . . In London, the to the assimilation of Jews." . . . March 27 Itoyal Shakespeare Com,pany production in Moscow a petition was presented to Proevoked tlre London leuish Chronicle headcurator General Roman A. Rudenko comline April 2, "Shylock as devil incarnate." plaining that 20 Jews being held for trial Commenting on its faithfulness to the text, in Leningrad, Riga and Kishinev are being the Chronicle reviewer. David Nathan. conheld beyond the legal nine-months. Of the cluded ". either that it is now felt that 33 persons presenting the petition, 3l were the protective treatment of the post-war years is no longer necessary, or that, conscio,usly a r r e s t e d a n d s e n t e n c e d t o 1 0 - 1 5 d a y s . T w o , the artist Yuri f itov and his wife, were reor not, there is now more awareness of the Arab re{ugee camps than of the German p o r t e r l c o n f i n e r l i n t h e K a c h c h e n k o , M e n t a l death camps and a consequent change c,f H o s y r i t a l ( N . Y . T i , n t e s ,M a r c h 2 8 ) . M.U.S. attitude."

Mev. 1971

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