`A Village by the Jordan'
";Mrs. Meir Meets Soviet Envoy
z to Protest S hipin,2n,t of Submarines
U)
Friday, July 5, 1957
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—Soviet
; Ambassador Alexander Abra-
mov conferred Monday with Is-
•
raeli Foreign Minister Golda
to( Meir on the matter of Russia's
shipment of submarines to
;T.4 Egypt.
•
No details of the talks were
released from the meeting,
which was called at Mrs. Meir's
request.
(The British Embassy here
denied reports that Britain was
engaged in talks with Egypt on
resumption of diplomatic rela-
tions. An E in b a s s y official
called "equally untrue" reports
that his country would pay
reparations to Egypt for last
November's Suez intervention.)
The talks between Mrs. Meir
and the Soviet Ambassador fol-
lowed Israel's decision to make
a formal protest to the Soviet
government for the explosive
gift of three submarines -to
Nasser.
Israeli circles consider Mos-
cow's action is a subject more
suitable for discussion be
tween Israel and the Western
Powers than between Israel
and the Soviet government,
_ both because Israel alone can-
not hope to influence a major
change in the Soviet policy
and because the presence of
Soviet submarines in the
Middle East is no less a
headache for the Western
Powers than for Israel.
The Israelis see four main
issues involved in the Soviet
arms delivery program:
Continuation of the arms
supplies as a means of inter-
ference in the Middle East; an
attempt to prove to the Arab
states that despite the Eisen-
hower Doctrine and the recent
show of force by the U.S. Sixth
Fleet, the USSR will stand by
the Arabs staunchly; a con-
tinuation of the anti-Israel
policy as part of a program of
maintaining maximum tension
- in the area; and an attempt to
impress the West with the fact
that the USSR must be a party
to any Middle East settlement.
Egypt Defies U.S. Position
on Free Passage for Israel
WASHINGTON, (JTA) —
Egypt has defied a stand taken
by the United States that the
Gulf of Aqaba is an interna-
tional waterway and that Is-
raeli shipping must not be
molested there, or in the Suez
canal.
In a broadcast from Cairo
Aly Sabri, Col. Nasser's chief
political aide, challenged the
U.S. view and said: "If Israeli
ships try to force their way
through the Suez Canal or the
Gulf of Aqaba, we will' pre-
vent them. If Israel attempts
to obtain foreign assistance
in such a move, the outcome
will be the same as the out-
come of the tripartite inva-
sion."
The attitude of the U.S. Gov-
ernment with regard to Israel's
right to use the Gulf of Aqaba
and the Suez Canal was made
known by the State Department
in a note to all Arab nations.
The note rejected the Arab
contention that Egypt is within
its rights to bar Israeli shipping
from the Aqaiya. and Suez wa-
terways. It was a reply to a
demarche delivered by di-
plomats of the 11 countries to
Secretary of State Dulles on
May 24.
The United States reply sup-
ported Israel's rights to passage
through the Suez Canal and
said this country does not be-
lieve Egypt has any rightful
claim to bar Israeli shipping
under a "self-defense" provi-
sion of Article 51 of the United
Nations Charter which Egypt
has been citing.
On the Aqaba matter, the U.S.
note also supported Israel and
reiterated that American ships
would use the waterway in the
course of normal commerce and
join with others to secure gen-
eral recognition of this right.
The note was addressed to
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon,
a
Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Ye-
men. It . was delivered through
diplomatic channels.
On the broad question of in-
nocent transit into the gulf, the
note cited Egypt's own state-
ment of Jan. 28, 1950, assuring
that Egyptian occupation of
Tiran and Sanafir, the two is-
lands at the mouth of the gulf,
would in no way interfere with
free passage.
According to the U.S. note,
Israel's transit rights existed be-
fore the Sinai war.
The United States called for
solution of differences in ac-
cordance with the spirit of the
United Nations and said this
Israel Dooms MAC
Asks Direct Talks .
JERUSALEM (JTA)-
Israel will not meet Egypt
within the framework of the
defunct Mixed Armistice
Commission, although Israel
is prepared to send her dele-
gates to meet Egyptian rep-
resentatives to discuss any
subject Egypt cares to raise,
official sources said.
country would take into account
any future decision by the In-
ternational Court of Justice re-
garding the 'Aqaba Gulf.
The note said the U.S. "sup-
ports the continued stationing
of the United Nations Emer-
gency Forces at the Straits of
Tiran believing that the force
contributes importantly to peace
in the area."
On Israel's Suez rights, the
note cited the UN Security
Council resolution of Sept. 1,
1951. It also noted the six
principles of the Security
Council resolution of Oct. 13,
1956, particularly the one re-
affirming "free and open
transit through the canal,
without discrimination, overt
or covert."
Egypt's belligerency rights
were questioned on the matter
of denial of passage to Israeli
shipping.
Goldmann Confers with Nehru
L 0 ND 0 N, (JTA) — D r.
Nahum Goldmann, president of
the Jewish Agency, met during
the weekend with Prime Min-
ister Nehru of India. The two
leaders discussed Middle East
problems.
Ben-Gurion Repeats Hope
for Direct Israel-Egypt Talks
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion, at
a press conference here, gave a
review of Middle East problems
and reiterated Israel's desire to
negotiate peace with Egypt
whenever that nation wishes.
He said Israel was ready to
help solve the refugee problem,
but denied that negotiations on
this matter were in progress.
Ben-Gurion said he saw no
contradiction in Israel's re-
fusal to sit with Egypt in the
Mixed Armistic Commission
while at the same time de-
claring her readiness to ne-
gotiate peace.
He made the point that the
armistice agreement provided
obligations and rights for both
sides and that it was an impos-
sible situation when Israel was
pressured to fulfill her obliga-
tions while Egypt enjoyed
rights of her own choosing.
The Premier repeated pre-
vious assertions that Arab
rulers were using the refugee
problem as a political weapon
against Israel. He said that
since 1948 he had been urging
refugee resettlement in Iraq or
Syria where there was adequate
land and water and man-power
was needed.
When asked how many ref-
ugees Israel was prepared to
take back, assuming the ma-
jority would settle in Arab
countries, Ben-Gurion replied:
"Why discriminate between 90
percent of the refugees who
would resettle among their
brethern under Arab rulers and
the ten percent who according
to this assumption should be
returned to Israel?"
Discussing the Middle East in
relation to the great powers,
the Premier said that Arab-
Israeli peace was attainable
even without the termination of
the Global cold war.
"Although East-West rivalry
increases Middle East tension,
Middle East trouble also serves
as a stimulant for worsening
the global situation," he ob-
served. "The time will come
when the Arab peoples will
understand that they will not
be able to reach real independ-
ence from the great powers on
either side unless they make
peace with Israel."
On the matter of recent bor-
der raids from Syria, Ben-Gur-
ion felt that they might be the
responsibility of local com-
manders only. However, he
added, the responsibility for
them rests with Damascus "or
even somebody higher." Never-
theless, he said, he intends to
assume they are just local in-
cidents.
At the same press conference,
the Israeli Premier praised
West Germany for fulfilling
reparations obligations, and ex-
pressed hope for the establish-
ment of diplomatic relations in
the near future. He noted that
reparations payments were pro-
ceeding normally.
Comedian Jerry Lewis Honored
Comedian Jerry Lewis receives a silver - covered Bible
made in Israel from Abe Stark, chairman of the "Music Under
the Stars" concert held at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, by the
America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and attended by 20,000
persons. Lewis was honored for his "understanding of the
need for deepening the cultural relationships between the
United States and Israel." The Foundation supports more than
40 projects in Israel.
'A Village by the Jordan'
Baratz's 'Story of Degania'
Joseph Baratz as an Officer
in the Jewish Brigade
in World War II
Joseph Baratz on
His Visit in Detroit
Seven Years Ago
Israel's famous village of Degania, whose settlers heroically
repulsed the Syrian army with a few hand-made Molotov
Cocktails in the 1948 War of Independence and thereby
possibly rescued the new state from submission, was established
by ten men and two women in 1911. Today, the settlement has
two sections, Degania Aleph and Degania Beth. It has a thousand
settlers. It is one of Israel's showplaces, having been developed
by the sweat and toil of the pioneers who first took hold of a
parcel of Jewish National Fund land in the Arab village of Urn
Juni and transformed swamps and mud into a garden spot.
The story of Degania is told by one of its founders, Joseph
Baratz, in his book, "A Village by the Jordan," which Sharon
Books (45 E. 17th, N.Y. 3), the publishing firm of the Labor
Zionist Organization of America, has just issued in a second
English edition, the first having been completely exhausted.
"A Village by the Jordan" is not a literary work, but it
must nevertheless be rated among the very great human
documents because of the story it relates Of a struggle by a
handful of people, to build up a new life for themselves and
their oppressed people and to assist in establishing the founda-
tion for an autonomous Jewish State.
*
*
*
-
This book will undoubtedly gain an undying place in the
history of the State of Israel. It is the chronicle of a people
that suffered a great deal in order to gain a foothold on the
soil of their ancestors' ancient homeland. They paid, a heavy
price for their liberties—in lives, in their own health, in the
abandonment of luxuries they could have had elsewhere.
They were Russian and Polish immigrants in the beginning.
Today in Degania: "People have came from everywhere—.
Germans, Romanians, Poles, Persians, Moroccans Iraqis, some
have come as adults, others as children to be trained and have
stayed on .. ."
A great ideal moved the Degania pioneers to action: "We
never intended to have industry—industry isn't for the Jews,
we wanted to be peasants—and we never wanted to employ
labor," Baratz states.
It is in this vein that Joseph Baratz, one of Israel's most
colorful pioneers, describes how he and - his associates came to
work on the land, to be-come farmers to work their fingers to
their bones; how they objected to the employment of Arab' labor
in the early settlements because it was their feeling that the
people who established colonies in Palestine should have worked
the land themselves.
*
*
*
As a young boy just past 1 ,6, Baratz set out for Palestine.
He landed in Jaffa, then went to Rishon LeZion, from there to
Rehovoth, before embarking upon the pioneering venture in
Urn Juni for the establishment of Degania. The great idealist,
Dr. Arthur Ruppin, who later requested that he be buried in
Degania, made it possible for the young idealists to secure JNF
land for their venture.
It was a) struggle from beginning to end. It is no wonder
that some could not stand the strain and committed suicide.
But the strong—Baratz and his remarkable wife, Miriam, Ben-
Gurion, Ben-Zvi, A. G. Gordon and others—carried on the
battle for life so that Israel might live.
At times, the story sounds incredible: the women's insistence
upon their share of hard labor on the farms, the cooperative
spirit, the work-by-day and watch-by-night against the odds of
nomad Arab antagonism and stealth. But the details are inscribed
for all generations 'to know in the remarkable Baratz-Degania
story.
*
*
Baratz's marriage to Miriam was the first in Degania. Their
first child also was Degania's first. The second wedding was
that of the parents of Moshe Dayan, the Commander-in-Chief of
the Israel Army.
"A Village by the Jordan" is a- story not only of struggle,
but also of accomplishment. Baratz tells, for instance, how
Degania improved its poultry: "We began with a few scraggy
little chickens . . • Then we imported white Leghorn—they
are huge birds and they lay over 160 eggs. Now we have
15,000 of them; last year alone we sold more than 110,000 eggs
to Tnuva, used 16,000 in our kitchen and incubated close to
27,00-0—that's well over 150,000 eggs produced in a year!" In
this fashion, a simple farmer, who has emerged a great
man and a courageous pioneer, expresses his pride in ac-
complishment for his people—through labor!
These are just a few details of the remarkable Story of
Degania. Hats off to its pioneers—and to its chief founder, the
author of this book, Joseph Baratz! One must go to Israel
fully to appreciate this remarkable story.