Fridays October 24, 1947
DETROIT JERISII CIIRONICLL
Page Four
Hope Dawns Anew
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
rublished Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc., 548 Woodward, Detroit 26, Mich., CA. 1090
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Entered u Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879
SEYMOUR TILCIIIN, President
. ROBERT KRAUSE, Business Manager
GEORGE WEISWASSER, Editor-in-Chief
Vol. 49, No. 43
Friday, October 24, 1947 (Cheshvan 10, 5708)
There Is Still Danger
American and Soviet indorsements of the
United Nations Special Committee on Pal-
estine partition proposal are not in them-
selves a guarantee of General Assembly
approval.
There is still danger of defeat, and Zion-
ist leaders should accordingly be making
every effort to see that both powers will
use their influence on other nations to as-
sure the required two-thirds majority when
voting starts.
By abstaiRing from the ballot, many a
nation can vitiate Jewish hopes under a
cloak of innocence. At this writing a dozen
nations have spoken against the plan and
they may induce others to follow suit.
The objections of Yugoslavi, China, Cuba
and Argentina have hardly helped the Jew-
ish cause, though the first two, at a show-
down, may yet back the Jewish State.
If 20 states oppose it, the plan will lose
and Israel will taste gall and wormwood.
If many states abstain, a dozen negative
votes or fewer may be sufficient to upset.
all Jewish plans. We hope that optimism
has not blinded the Zionist leadership to
this grave peril.
Lend a Helping Hand
In our absorption in the needs of our
brethren overseas, let us not forget that
Detroit charities look to all of us equally
for support.
The Red Feather drive of the Community
Chest is aimed at every Detroiter not as
members of any particular group or creed
but as members of a great community in
which we are all integrated and united.
Detroit Jews have given this year in
enormous measure for the relief of their
stricken brothers in Europe, for the up-
building of the Homeland and for the ben-
efit of local Jewish agencies.
We must give still more—not as Jews
this time, but as loyal participants in a
campaign for our own city's needs. We
must not shirk our obligations here be-
cause we have given what has seemed our
utmost in answer to a far more plaintive,
far more desperate plea from other lands.
We have been good Jews. \\'e have con-
tributed fully to Jewish causes.
Now we must be good Detroiters. Let
us lend a helping hand and contribute our
share to our hometown's needs.
Frontiers of the New State
The UNSCOP recommendations cannot
De said to have defined the frontiers of the
proposed Jewish and Arab states equitably
and logically.
There are a few outstanding faults in the
plan which should be corrected without the
need for a complete revision.
The Soviet statement supporting the par-
titioning of Palestine pointed up a flagrant
defect. The division of Palestine "into a
number of separate regions connected at
certain points by narrow corridors cannot
be considered a satisfactory solution", the
Russian spokesman declared.
There is much sense in this observation.
If there must be partition, and Jewry has
acceded to it only at a great sacrifice, the
delineation of the two areas should not be
done in such a manner as to leave states
that reach out in all directions and look
like amoebas on the map.
The several regions with corridors con-
necting them might be the cause of. much
friction between the two populations, one
largely nomadic, and will tend to aggra-
vate latent hostilities.
The cession of western Galilee, bordering
on Christian and potentially friendly Le-
banon; to the Jewish State would eliminate
one of the corridors. In exchange the
Jewish domain would lose the port of Jaffa
with its 100,000 Arabs. It would, not be
DETROIT 26, NKR
wise, however, to connect Jaffa with the
Arab area by another strip of land.
The Soviet statement suggested that the
UN continue work on a "plait for the elim-
ination of. frontiers and on national separa-
tion of Palestine". At first glance this
seems another version of the rejected bi-
national scheme. Just what Russia has in
mind is not clear, however. It will be in-
teresting to hear what concrete proposals
she may have on the simplification of the
projected frontiers.
The Visiting Editor
Is Arab Threat Real?
•
The balance of power among the Arab
states in the Middle East is about as deli-
cate as among the states of western Europe
before the war. Ibn Saud and King Farouk
of Egypt are rivals for leadership in the
Islamic world, each afraid the other is nour-
ishing ambitions for restoration of the
Caliphate.
Ibn Saud established his power by driv-
ing out of Mecca the father of Abdullah,
King of Transjordan; there is a bitter fa-
mily feud between the shrewd desert mon-
arch and the gifted poet, horseman and
chess player Who sits on the throne of
Transjordan.
The Syrian "republic" fears Abdullah's
ambition to establish a greater Syria, unit-
ing that country with Transjordan. This
in turn would be linked by family ties with
Iraq, which might gain access through a
greater Syria to the Mediteranean.
The King of Egypt today is as anxious
to keep the Mesopotamian Kingdom from
an outlet on the Mediterranean as the Phar-
aohs were 3000 years ago; a kingdom which
Stretched from the Mediterranean to the
Persian Gulf would upset the balance of
power in the East and threaten Egypt.
The Christians of the Lebanon are fear-
ful of a greater Syria which might menace
their position; privately many of them pre-
fer to have a Jewish state for an ally and
neighbor to being left in a Moslem sea.
Thus any "invasion" of Palestine by its
neighbors would set them to quarrelling
among themselves. The Jews of Palestine,
if outside'powers do not interfere, can take
care of themselves at home and in the
event of an invasion are far from helpless.
They can put 100,000 men into the field,
and they can deliver some unpleasant sur-
prises within the Arab countries.
A concerted attack on the Jews by the
Arab states would also be an excellent mo-
ment for the Kurds to resume their fight
to free themselves and their ancestral home,
Kurdistan, from the yoke of Iraq and its
neighbors.
The Arab League, which represents the
Moslem ruling class, was brought into be-
ing on invitation of the British; one need
not go too far into the background in Cairo
to see that there are still British strings
attached to it.
It would be naive not to take into account
the possibility that the threatening meet-
ing outside Beirut was arranged on a wink
from the British: "You'd better threaten
us quick before the UN acts."
There is the possibility—which I heard
discussed in Palestine last spring—that the
British, if they do withdraw from Palestine,
may deliberately arm Arab extremists and
egg them on to war upon the Jews.
There is also the question of what Glubb
Pasha, the Englishman who runs the Arab
Legion in Transjordan, would do. Would
'Glubb and his fellow British officers join
in an attack on Palestine on the excuse
that they had to take orders from King
Abdullah?
That is a question for the UN to ask.
I. F. STONE in P.M.
p
IN THE VALLEY*
By
EZRA KORMAN
And net me down In the midst of the t,dI, v." Evekiel XXX VIT, 1.
I stand in silence in the field
Amidst the blooming shrub and tree.
The bright and blue of crystal sky
Hangs over me immovably.
The sun is beaming in my eyes
And plays with shadows calm and broad.
I stood once here upon this soil,
I trod this path, I walked this road.
And now again, as I was then,
I am enchanted by the sight.
My ear is keen. my eye is sharp,
My memory is fresh and light.
I stood ove here upon this soil,
I hear a voice and gather signs.
I do not know how all began.
There hangs the crystal sky and shines,
I do not know how all began,
In silence here alone I stand.
I saw this valley once and field
With blooming trees upon this land.
A thorny bush was burning there
Embraced by glowing steady flame.
And I with flames upon my arms,
Of ashes I arose and came.
Of
ashes I arose and came.
Of bloody centures of strife.
And ought to bless this quiet kid
That brought me back again to life.
I trod again, and start anew.
I look around with open eyes.
Of ancient times, of far descent,
I go thru centuries and rise.
I gather signs and hear a Voice,
And see the marks on tree of time.
I come again in every age,
Descend of dust, of earth and lime.
I go that centuries and go,
And penetrate thru life and death.
Upon this field, beneath these skies,
I trod again the earthen path.
I look around with open eyes
And clearly see the olden sight.
My memory is fresh and sound—
The bush,- untouched, is burning bright.
The flames against the sky grow high
And branches stretch themselves on tree.
Of death comes birth, of seeds—the stem.
I was, I an:, and I shall be.
This poem, originally written In 'Yiddish by Mr.
Editor's note:
Korman, was translated by himself into this English version. Mr. Korman
Is the author of an anthology of Yiddeh women poets (Chicago. 1921).
Ile tiallatett Into Yiddish John Calnworthy's "Strife," Herman Meijer-
man's "Lost Hope" (produced by the Vilna Playhouse) and has recently
published a book of translations of verse of the famous Russian poet
Sergel Yessenin (Detroit. 1916). file book "Sheklyah"—poems of old age
and death —wan published In chicagn. 1932. A new book of Mr. KOr111;.,. 1.
poetry "Signs and Symbols" will be Issued shortly. "In the Is
taken from the new • book.