Three Power Resolution on Middle East
i ts Snag with. Stalling Tactics of Arabs
UNITED NATIONS, (JTA)
Bitter delaying tactics by the
Arab states stalled action by the
United Nations Security Council
on the three-power resolution
submitted to the Council to
settle the Syrian complaint
against Israel over the Bnot
Yaakov hydroelectric project
on the Jordan River.
Efforts of Henry Cabot Lodge,
Jr.. head of the United States
delegation, to secure a vote on
the resolution to permit adjourn-
ment of the Council before
Christmas week failed when the
Lebanese insisted they had not
had time to receive instructions
from their government and were
not in a position to vote.
The resolution, introduced
by the United States and co-
sponsored by Britain and
France, placed full authority
for settlement of the Jordan
River power project dispute in
the hands of Major Gen. Vagn
Bennike, UN Chief of Staff
in Palestine, and instructed
him to report back within 90
days on the measures taken to
solve the dispute.
The resolution gave no in-
structions or made no recom-
mendations to Gen. Bennike on
resumption of work on the Jor-
dan project by Israel beyond the
general provision that he "ex-
plore possibilities of reconciling
the interests involved in this
dispute including rights in the
demilitarized zone and full sat-
isfaction of existing irrigation
rights at all seasons, and to take
such steps as he may deem ap-
propriate to effect a reconcilia-
tion, having in view the develop-
ment of the natural resources
affected in a just and orderly
manner for the general welfare."
The resolution instructed the
chief of staff "to maintain the
demilitarized character of the
zone" and called on both Israel
and Syria "to comply with all
his decisions and requests in the
exercise of his authority under
the armistice agreement." It re-
quested the UN Secretary Gen-
eral to provide experts, particu-
larly hydraulic engineers, to give
Gen. Bennike "the necessary
data for a complete appreciation
of the project in question and
of its effect on the demilitarized
zone.
Statements by the spokes-
men for the three sponsoring
powers in submitting the
resolution assumed almost as
much importance as the reso-
lution itself since the Israeli
representative, Ambassador
Abba S. Eban, stressed that
the resolution and the clarify-
ing speeches had to be con-
sidered as an entity and the
speeches should be considered
as clarification of points in the
resolution.
UN Chief of Staff. He took the
position that development pro-
jects consistent with the armis-
tice agreement which were "in
the general interest" and did not
infringe on the rights of others
should be "encouraged."
In the present case, he insist-
ed; it was for the chief of staff
to decide whether the Jordan
project met these conditions.
Sir Gladwyn Jebb, head of the
British delegation, scolded Is-
rael because the.. issue has had
to come before the Security
Council which was thus required
to face, not the question wheth-
er the canal was in itself a good
and useful project, but "solely
the question of the failure
of one party of the Israel-Syrian
armistice agreement to comply
with a request on the part of
the chairman of the Mixed Arm-
istice Commission."
The British spokesman took
strong issue with the Syrian
position that Syrian consent
was needed for any project in
the demilitarized zone. He said
that he had not been convinced
that the work could not pro-
ceed without the consent of
Syria. The present issue, he
said, was whether the work was
admissable under the armistice
terms "as they stand."
Henrie Hoppenot, spokesman
for France, pointed out that in
recent years; much larger rivers
had not proved to be real mili-
tary. barriers. It .would be "un-
just," he said, if "fate and econ-
omic development" were to be
decided by such "war games"
and if the Jordan were to be
kept flowing, unused, between
two banks more or less desert
because of a lack of agreement.
UN observers stressed three
factors expressed or implicit in a
resolution and the speeches of
the sponsors; first, the Big
Three rejected Syria's claim to
a veto right over the project;
secondly, acknowledgement by
the Big Three that the Israeli
Jordan project is a desirable
project; and thirdly, the impli-
cation that Gen. Bennike's
negotiations will be centered
mainly on securing an under-
standing between himself and
the Israel government.
At a subsequent session, .Am-
bassador Eban told the Council
that continuation of work on
the project would have a bene-
ficial effect on the entire region.
He emphasized that Syria's com-
plaint against this project aimed
at strangling Israel's vital econ-
omic interests.
To deny Syria's complaint
would do no harm to any indi-
vidual in Syria or to Syria's
economic development, he said.
On the other hand, to uphold
the Syrian complaint would
Mean "deadly prejudice" to Is-
rael's capacity for development
and for improvement of its liv-
ing standards, and would trans-
form the armistice agreement-
into something never intended."
Talk Immigration with Canadian MP
rael had not, however, signed
any undertaking to renounce
the legitimate development
projects on which its future
depends. He said he was in a
position to state that, if it had
ever been "hinted or suggest-
ed" in 1949 that agreement to
demilitarize the area meant
renunciation of power and ir-
rigation schemes dependent
on that area, Israel would
never have signed the agree-
ment.
Mr. Eban pointed out that the
Jordan River was "completely
non-Syrian." There was no
precedent in the history of in-
ternational litigation for a "veto"
such as Syria sought, over a
river that did not touch its bor-
ders.
The Israel diplomat called the
Huleh case a parallel to this
one, and said that if Syria's
claims had been upheld, the
Huleh marshes could not now
be under-going drainage. He
argued that the principles in-
volved in the Huleh case applied
to other development schemes
as well.
Mr. Eban denied an allegation
by Sir Gladwyn Jebb that Israel
had "ignored" Gen. Bennike's
order to suspend work on the
Jordan River project. The Israeli
diplomat quoted from. a letter
by Foreign Minister Moshe
Sharett to the UN truce chief
offering temporary suspension
of the .. work. At no stage, Mr.
Eban underlined, had there been
any difficulty from Israel over
a temporary cessation of work.
• The chief of the Israel delega-
tion said his government was
convinced that the hydroelectric
project, so important to Israel,
was reconcilable with every legi-
timate private interest.
The Syrian delegate, Farid
Zeineddine took great pains to
draw a distinction between the
resolution as presented by the
U.S., Britain and France and
the three speeches of the spon-
sors. He sharply attacked the
United. States, but not by name,
for permitting tax-exempt con-
tributions to Zionists funds. The
Syrian delegate was called to or-
der by the Council chairman
and told to speak on the point
in question.
David Ben-Gurion
An Apostrophe
By N. E. ARONSTAM, M.D.
Ben Touster, (right), president of BIAS, the Hebrew Immi-
grant Aid Society of America, and Jack Shundman, (center), presi-
dent of the Toronto Branch of JIAS, confer with Col. David A.
Croll, QC111P, Jewish member of the Canadian Parliament, follow-
ing the Toronto-JIAS annual meeting, at which Touster was the
principal speaker. Col. Croll assured Touster that the Canadian
government intends to make it as easy as possible for Canadian
friends and relatives to bring their European kin to the Dominion.
Touster told the JIAS meeting that in the post-wax era Canada,
with less than a tenth of the population of the United States, ab-
sorbed about 20 per cent of all the Jews who immigrated to North
America.
Putting Two and Two Together
By RINNA GROSSMAN
An American Jewish Press Feature
It all happened very quietly—
especially in view of the fact
that it happened in a geographic
area where changes of govern-
ment or of leadership are usually
as turbulent as the desert winds.
It was all very un-Middle East-
ern. And organized. And even
efficient.
David Ben-Gurion stopped
being Prime Minister and De-
fense Minister of the State of
Israel—at his own fervent re-
quest—and went off this week
to live in a tiny prefabricated
house in an isolated communal
settlement somewhere in the
Negev wilderness. Moshe Sha-
rett stopped being "just" a
Foreign Minister and assumed
the august and frightening job
of being Israel's premier as
well. Both issued statements
and said nice things about
each other. The man-iri-the-
street in Israel said nice things
about both of them. Life went
on surprisingly as usual. This
is one of the things that
makes it so hard to believe
that Israel is located so very
close to Syria or Egypt or Jor-
dan or even Iran where law
and order are unknown on
such occasions. -
Things will be different in Is-
rael now. Not basically—because
Israel is whatever one and a half
million Jews in Israel and the
dreams of several more in the
Diaspora make it—and not even
the acts of one perkn. But Da-
vid Ben-Gurion is one kind of
man and Moshe Sharett is an-
The Syrian delegate sharply
other and this is a good and
dissented. He asserted that there
suitable moment to put two and
were considerable variations in
two together and try to find out
the statements by the three
how the difference in their per-
delegations and only the resolu-
sonalities can possibly alter Is-
tion itself, not the speeches, was
rael's immediate future.
to be the subject of vote.
Israel had undertaken to
* * *
In introducing the resolution, keep its armed forces out of
cease.
Mr. Lodge stressed the American the dimilitariZed zone, and May the God of Israel grant thee DAVID-BEN GURION—so many
things to so many people. To
viewpoint that final decision in would respect that undertak-
nascent strength
Zionists, whoever they are and
the matter must rest with the ing, Mr. Eban continued. Is- • To labor valiantly once again
wherever they live, he is the man
For Israel Rediviva.
who dreamed a dream and had
had the guts to make it into a
glowing reality—even though all
Report U. S. Favors
the auguries were against him.
Hebrew as It Is Spoken in Israel Today
Israel-Arab Talks
To the State Departments of
the Western World he is an
By SHUSHANNAH SPECTOR and Rabbi JOSEPH ZEITLIN
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — A
enigma. — and an intransigent
Editor's Note: This special American Jewsh Press Feature is another in the
State Department official said
one at that. A man who could
series of easy lessons for self-study of Hebrew. The complete book, "Hebrew
on behalf of Secretary Dulles
be counted on wherever democ-
Made Easy," is available from Miss Shushannah Spector, 904 S. Miami Ave.,
Fla.; 51 .50 a copy.
that the Department hopes
racy or Israel were concerned—
the Israel action invoking the
but upon whom no levers of pub-
Sir, I want everything of do- Va-`ado-ni, 'a-ni ro-zeh 'et
Israel -Jordan armistice
lic _ and
could. be applied. To
ha-kol m
mestic make
agreement to force a face-to-
newspapermen nd to his own
ha'-a-re?
face conference with Jordan
information service, he is a man
Ka-rnah 'o-lah ha-bul-zah?
What is the price of the
"will bring about positive re-
with little understanding and
blouse?
sults."
less appreciation of the role of
"We will contribute to this
the press—and certainly not of
The blouse costs one Israeli Ha-Caul-zah 'o-lah be-lai"
'a-hat
end as best we can," Dur-
Lira
publicity. To the Pentagons—all
ward V. Sandifer, Deputy As-
over the world—he is the man
What does it all amount to? Mah hu' sach ha-kol?
sistant Secretary of State for
who created an army, and a
Zeh ya-lsar
United Nations Affairs, said
It is expensive
tough, efficient little army, out
in a letter to Rep. Samuel N.
of a peculiar vision blended with
Ya-kar yo-ter mi•clai
It is too expensive
Freidel, a Maryland Demo-
a fine sense of what's what in
crat, written on behalf of
the world of today. To scholars,
Hu' mo-cher be-si-to-nut
He sells wholesale
Secretary Dulles.
particularly of the classics, he is
an insatiably curious colleague—
Mosheh, today I bought a Mo-sheh, ha-yom
me-zi-ah
bargain
with profound insight into the
Where are you going from Le--'an ho-loch
20 — DETROIT JEWISH NEWS beauties of distant cultures and
mi-polx?
here?
Friday, December 25, 1953
a special sensitivity about his
nriN tIr 14? t1n91/
For five fruitful and glorious
years •
Thou hast indefatigably lent thy
efforts
In behalf of thy beloved land,
And like the Prophets of old
Thou hast retraced thy steps
Unto the Negev:
There to contemplate, aye, to
dream,
To rest and to gather renewed
vigor
For thy country's Future.
It marks but an interregnum,
Just a pause, but never a sur-
own old-new nation and its
place in history. An astounding,
dogged, once - in-many-decades
kind of person and the State of
Israel might never have been
established without him — and
certainly it would not have sur-
vived its first precarious months.
Israelis—of all and any parties„
are glad that B.G. will not be
far away in the future — and
many think that it is well that
the "Great Change" took place
while he is here to supervise and
watch and comment.
*
MOSHE SHARETT—part and
parcel of the very fabric of Is-
rael. Almost native-born. The
only man ' who could possibly
have been Israel's first foreign
Minister — and not because he
speaks eight languages well and
is infinitely polished and suave—
but because he is a man with a
razor-keen mind, and a sense of
international values — and a
unique ability to grasp a situa-
tion, stare at it for a While and
sum it up—quickly, accurately,
brilliantly. A man with a. better
eye for public relations and a
better ear for publicity. Not a
visionary, nor a bulldog. But a
man who can wisely and well
steer Israel through the next
harassed, awkward years. Per-
haps better, in his own way, than
B.G. whose irascible, impatient
statements often required appli-
cations of elaborate, soothing
treatments afterwards.
* * *
MOSHE S H A R E T T will be
Premier during Israel's adoles-
cent years—as a nation's growth
is measured. Every one took it
for granted. First B.G. and then
Sharett. It could hardly be other-
wise. These two, so very different
from each other, and so comple-
mentary to each other, were in
themselves symbolic of a great
deal, and Israel is fortunate to
have them both at the same
time. B.G. and his wife are now
living on the land. Not exactly
like other settlers, maybe. Any-
how, not yet. But B.G. is happy.
More than •anything else, he
wants to share, somehow, in the
great reclamation of the Negev.
When the Cadillac purred
its readiness to take off—B.G,
had only one thing to say by
way of farewell. He said it
with great feeling "good bye,
Tel-Aviv, send your sons to
colonize the land."
-
Anyhow, the carpers and the
critics had their innings quietly.
The whole thing was over quick-
ly. The big black Cadillac
brought Mr. and Mrs. Ben-
Gurion to Sdeh Boker where they
will live and then drove through
Israel back to Jerusalem . to
drive Mr. Sharett on official bus-
Mess.
No revolutions. No mobs. Noth-
ing much except perhaps a na-
tion-wide sense of relief that
The Change was over. And even
more fortunate that the shift is
only one of personalities and
not politics or parties„