Melchett and

Gabrilowitsch:
Analogy in
Loyalties

Read Commentator's'
Column on Page 2

HE

A Weekly

VOLUME 14—NO. 22 2114 Penobscot Bldg.—Phone WO. 5-1155

W
. I S H NE S

el of Jewish Events

Detroit 26, Michigan, February I I, 1949

Plant Trees in

Israel Through

JNF on Hamisha

Asar b'Shevat

Monday, Feb. 14

34 ajes. 22 $3.00 Per Year:, Single Copy, 10c

6 Arab States Accept Peace Bid;
JNF Purchases Million Dunams

Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish. News

Six Arab nations, in addition to Egypt, decided to enter armistice talks
with Israel, a Cairo report to the London JTA office stated on Tuesday.
The report came from a senior Arab official. However, before accepting
Dr. Ralph Bunche's invitation to join the'Rhodes talks, the six Arab nations
first will await the results. of current Egyptian-Israeli negotiations.

Preliminary diScussions between members of the UN Palestine Con-
ciliation Commission and Israel's Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok began
Monday night at Shertok's -residence. Questions discussed included the fate
of Jerusalem, the plight of Arab refugees and Israel's boundaries. Shertok
said that the meeting was held "to acquaint ourselves with problems fac-
ing the Commission."
The Greater Rabbinical Council, supreme religious authority in Israel,
Tuesday expressed "deep gratification" at the many • announcements of

recognition of Israel by various nations. The Rabbinical Council appealed
to the Moslem world to "take the hand" extended by Israel.
"So far our road has been independent of outside influences and will
remain so, therefore no conditions or guarantees concerning the formation
of a coalition government are acceptable to the Mapai," Premier David
Ben Gurion declared at a Labor Party conference. The statement was
interpreted as a reply to conditions demanded by the left-wing Mapam
for participation in a coalition government.
Abraham Harzfeld, agricultural expert of the Jewish National Fund,
disclosed that the JNF has received a letter from the Israeli Government,
- confirming the sale of 1,000,000 dunams (250,000 acres) to JNF. The bill-of-
sale itemized the inclusion of 600,000 dunams in Galilee, parts of the corridor
leading to Jerusalem and the area between Beersheba and Gaza. The re-
maining 400,000 dunams are in the Negev. A third of the money to be
received by the government of Israel from the JNF for the land will be
spent on the establishment of new settlements.

Detroiters Planning

Passover Israel Tour

A Detroit-sponsored tour to
Israel is being planned for the
forthcoming Passover festival.
It is planned that the group
should leave the United States
by plane on March 24, return-
ing on April 24. Arrangements
are being made for guides and
housing in Israel and Kosher
meals on the plane. Initial de-
tails of the proposed tour will
be found on Page 14 in this
issue. Additional information
may be secured by calling The
Jewish News, WO, 5-115.

Detroit to Greet Eliahu Epstein,
Israel's Envoy to U.S., on Feb.28

As a result of the extension of de jure recognition to Israel by
President Truman, Hon. Eliahu Epstein, the Special Israeli Represen-
tative to the U. S., may have the title of full-fledged Ambassador of
Israel to the U. S. when he comes to Detroit on Monday, Feb. 28, to
address the Economic Club on "The Future of Israel."
Under the auspices of the Zionist Council of Detroit, all its affili-
ated organizations and with the cooperation of the Jewish Community
Council and the Jewish Welfare Federation, Mr. Epstein will address
s public meeting of Detroit Jews that night in the main auditorium
of ShaarekZedek.
Sidney Shevitz, Zionist Council president, stated that the follow-
ing affiliated Council organizations are participating in plannng the
welcome for Mr. Epstein:
• Zionist Organization of Detroit, Hadassah, Labor Zionist Organi-
zation, Jewish National Fund and its Women's Auxiliary, Mizrachi
and its affiliated women's groups, Pioneer Women's Organizations,
Habonim, Revisionists, Hashomer Hatzair, Junior Hadassah, Hadassah
Business and Professional Group.
Morris Jacobs and Rabbi Leon Fram, representing the Zionist
Organization, cooperated in arranging for Mr. Epstein's addresses here.

" All Detroit Jewish organizations are asked to set aside Mon-
day evening, Feb. 28, as a special holiday occasion on which to
welcome to this city Israel's Envoy. The entire conununity is
invited to hear Mr. Epstein's address and provisions will be made
to broadcast it to an overflow audience.

Shelter in Israel

A very vital
prerequisite to the immigration of 180,000 Jews
into- into Israel during 1949 is construction of a
minimum of 50,000 housnig units to shelter the
newcomers. With funds made available by the
$250,000,000 United Jewish Appeal, the Jewish
AgeRcy is now engaged in vast urban and rural
housing and agricultural development projects.
Initial stages in the construction of housing at a
new settlement are shown in the above pictures.
A "bucket brigade" (top) speeds the floW of build-
ing materials, while in another part of the settle-
ment a bulldozer (center) clears the rocky hillside
in preparation for further building. In the midst
of their labors, several of the young settlers (bot-
tom) pause to survey what has already • been ac-
complished. The $250,000,000 United Jewish Ap-
peal supports the worldwide relief, rehabilitation
and resettlement programs of the Joint Distribution
Committee, the United Palestine Appeal and the
United Service for New Americans.

Flag Unfurled;

A large and enthusiastic gath-
ering attended the ceremonies as
Ruth Liebstedter, 17, hoisted the

Blue and White Flag at the Israel
Government Offices in London
when British de facto recognition
of the Jewish State was an-
nounced.

(Story on Page 3)

Born in the Ukraine in 1904, Mr. Epstein, in 1921, at the age of 17,
entered the University of Kiev. Developing an intense interest in
Zionism, he left for the Holy Land in 1925 and worked as a Chalutz
constructing highways, tilling the soil and draining malaria-ridden
marshlands.
■
He entered the Hebrew University in 1927 and specialized in
Arab affairs, traveling occasionally to Transjordan where he lived
among the native Arab population and observed Bedouin life and
customs. He was granted a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1930
at the University of Beirut, Lebanon, and wrote two volumes, "The
Bedouins, Their Life and Their Customs" and "The Population of
Transjordan." He wrote numerous articles on the social and economic
conditions of the Lebanese and other Middle Eastern peoples.
While in Beirut, Mr. Epstein was correspondent for Reuter's
News Agency and was assisted by his able young wife, Palestinian-
born. Sahava Zadel, whom he met as a student at the Hebrew Uni-
versity.
Upon his return to Palestine in 1934, his achievements in Oriental
studies and his knowledge of the Arabs led to his appointment to a
high post in the Middle East Division of the Jewish Agency. He was
sent during the war on many important missions throughout the
Middle East by Moshe Shertok, Israel's Foreign Minister who was
then Chief of the Jewish Agency's Political Department.
In 1945 Mr. Epst-ein was sent to San Francisco as Jewish Agency
observer to the United Nations Conference and later was assigned to
Washington to reorganize the Jewish Agency Office. He worked inde-
fatigably at this task until his appointment as Israel's Special Repre-
sentative shortly after the Declaration of Independence of the Jewish
State, in Tel Aviv, on May 14, 1948.
Mr. Epstein is a member of the Royal Asiatic Society of London
and the Middle East Institute of Washington. In addition to being a
sociologist and his intense interest in Middle Eastern history, customs
and culture, he also is a linguist, speaking Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew,
French, Russian, Yiddish and English. He is a hard worker and it is not
unusual for him to put in a 12 to 14 hour day in his office in the Israel.
Mission on Massachusetts Avenue, in Washington. He is fond of good
music and is keen about movies, especially Westerns, which he finds
relaxing. He neither smokes nor does he drink alcoholic beverages.
His favorite sport is swimming.

