Isiresel Is _Likened to U.S.A. as a Genuine
Democracy: Reports on `Crisis' Belittled
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
TEL AVIV.—An American visitor in Is-
rael needs very little time to realize that
there is less concern here over issues which
have been heralded in the press of the world,
and especially in the United States, as seri-
ous internal crises.
An internal political battle is in progress.
There will be an election here very soon, and
the contending forces will use all means at
their disposal to increase their strength in
the next Knesset. But while there are serious
differences of opinion regarding David Ben-.
Gurion's approval of the sale of mortar shells
USSR'Threats
to Jewry .
Interesting .
Aspects of
Israeli 'Crisis'
.
. Council's
Commendable
Project
Editorials
Page 4
by Israel, there may have been greater ten-
sions about it in Detroit than
in Israel. There are differ-
ences of opinion here over the
issue, but they do not consti-
tute a problem that justifies
labelling it a "crisis."
The fact to remember
about Israel is that it is a de-
mocracy in every sense of the
word. Behind the Iron Cur-
tain. in Cairo, in Damascus Mr. stomovitz
and even in Beirut—the capital of Lebanon
which is the freest of all the lands in the Arab
orbit—it would have been impossible to say
the things Ben-Gurion's opponents have said
about him. They are saying it, and that is
the best indication that Israel remains free
and that her citizens are at liberty to speak
their minds, in a fashion no different from
the freedom we, the citizens of the United
States, possess in our land. We have no hesi-
tation, therefore, in likening Israel to the
United States. It is a democracy to the nth
degree, and that is the major blessing we can
ascribe to Israel on our third visit here.
The - Israelis are beginning to show, a
Continued on Page 32
THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
of Jewish Events
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
VOL. XXXV—No. 20
Printed in a
ioo- 0 Union Shop
17100 W. 7 Mile
Rd —VE
8-9364—Detroit 35, July 17, 1959
Howard
Singer's
Hilarious
Novel .. .
Other Reviews
of Timely
Books
Commentary
Page 2
$5.00 Per Year; Single Copy 15c
Israel Still in Stalemate
on Cabinet Decision
Press for Suez Policy
From Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM—President Itzhak Ben-Zvi received Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion on Wednesday, after completing
talks with delegations of all parties on formation of a new
government. Although no information was immediately forth-
coming from the meeting of the two Israeli leaders. it was
learned that the President asked Ben-Gurion to form a new
government.
The Premier will be seeking to form a new coalition
government until the national elections for the Knesset in
November. If he is unable to do so. however. he would have to
be reconciled to a continuation of the present government,
despite the presence of the four left-wing ministers who voted
against the recent sale of 530.000.000 in Israeli arms to West
Germany.
Observers here were doubtful whether the Prime Minister,
in his present mood. would agree to actually sit in the cabinet
with the four ministers of Achdut Avodah and Mapam. He has
refused to attend Cabinet meetings at which the ministers have
been present since their anti-government vote two weeks ago.
Cabinet Meets on Suez Crisis
A General View of The Eilat Shoreline
• • •
Eilat Now a Resort Town on Fled Sea
By EPHRAIM BENDOR
In its brief modern history. Eilat has
been twice liberated. The first occasion was
in the early months of 1949 when the Israel
Defense Forces moved down the great
desolate place of the central Negev and
planted the Israeli flag by the shores of
the Red Sea. Eilat at that time consisted
of one isolated but which had been aban-
doned by a group of British soldiers who
had been posted there.
The development of Eilat in the first
years after its liberation was a stow process
and only a few adventurous spirits ven-
tured forth to Israel's last frontier.
Several fishermen came down and man-
aged -to earn a livelihood from the sea
.which teems with a variety and abundance
of sub-tropical fish, some of them quite
edible and tasty. A mining camp was estab-
lished near Eilat at the site of King Solo-
mon's copper mines where the black slag
left behind by those ancient smelting
furnaces can still be seen strewn all over
the ground. A few enterprising spirits
established a little factory where th.., many
colorful stones found in this area are
shaped into brooches. necklaces and ear-
rings.
Word gradually filtered up north that the
Gulf of Aqaba was a paradise for skin
diving and water sports. that the sun shone
as brightly in winter as in summer and
that there were awe-inspiring landscapes to
behold. but for most Israelis the shores of
the Gulf of Aqaba remained an unexplored
country. Eilat's sole link with the north
was a narrow pot-holed dirt track over
which only the 'sturdiest vehicles could
maneuver and even then it was an arduous
trip that lasted at least twelve hours. What
made Eilat's prospects even dimmer was
the fact that this harbor town was a dead
end. Egyptian guns barred the entrance to
the Gulf and unless there could be free
passage for vessels to and from Israel Eilat
had no future.
The real liberation of Eilat came in the
wake of the Sinai Campaign in November
1956 when Israel's Defense Forces spiked
the Egyptian guns at Sharem-e-Sheikh, thus
removing the tourniquet that had virtually
been strangling the town. As though by a
pre-arranged signal ships from Africa and
Asia began moving south. Within several
months a pier was ready and harbor in-
stallations completed. A new road was con-
structed and hundreds of families began
moving into Eilat where a building boom
was soon under way.
Even before Eilat's second liberation a
few far-sighted and daring business men
had recognized Eilat's possibilities as a
tourist resort town particularly during the
winter months when there is hardly a rainy
day in these parts and the temperature
hovers steadily in the 70's. Prior to 1956
Continued on Page 32
In the absence of the Premier. the Cabinet met with
Finance Minister Levi Eshkol presiding. Details of United
Nations Secretary General Hammarskjold's negotiations with
President Nasser of the United Arab Republic for passage of
Israeli cargoes through the Suez Canal and on. the fate of the
Danish vessel. the Inge Toft. were outlined ‘-by Dr. Walter
Eytan. director general of the Israel Foreign Ministry. No pub-
lic announcement on the report. however. was revealed.
In Washington. observers expressed the view that Israel
will take no further action on the dynamite-laden issue until
Hammarskjold returns to New York headquarters and Israeli
representatives are able to canvass the situation with him
thoroughly.
'Silent Diplomacy' Not Moving Nasser
The Secretary General's "silent diplomacy." it is believed.
has failed to move Nasser very far from his oft-repeated stand
of not permitting Israeli cargoes through the international
waterway. "regardless of the consequences."
The Egyptian dictator was reported only to have conceded
to Hammarskjold that he would permit passage of cargoes if the
shipments were kept secret and sent on intermediate carriers,
not ships chartered by Israel.
A late report from London. meanwhile. states that Egyp-
tian customs officials at Port Said have started to provide Space
in harbor warehouses for the 5,527 tons of Israel cement on the
Danish ship Inge Toft, detained here since May 21.
The chief clerk at the warehouses said the necessary space
would be made available in a few days and that unloading the
cement would take a full week.
Agents of the Inge Toft. however. were reported as declar-
ing that they had received no instructions from the , charterers
of the ship cancelling prior instructions not to unload any of
the Israel cargo.
Sources at Port Said were quoted as saving that some kind
of a showdown was likely soon in view of the Egyptian prepara-
,
Continued on Page 32