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Michigan
Week
May 15-21

A Weekly Review j

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Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incor

VOLUME XXXVI I—No. 11 noPjointtgori.nsgop 17100 W. 7 W.:le

Events

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Jewish Chronicle

Shocking
Injection of
'Jewish Vote'
Issue in
Foreign Aid
Discussion

Commentary

Page 2

Editorial
Page 4

May 13, 1960 $5.00 Per Year; Single Copy 15c

Senate-House
:ierence Bans
!JAR' Aid. if- Bloekade Continues

it‘

liammarskjold Challenged
by Israel Over Suez Issue

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Israeli circles reiterated that there
had, indeed, been an "understftding" between United Nations
Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold and United Arab Re-
public President Qamal Abdel Nasser about the transit through
the Suez Canal of non-Israeli ships carrying Israeli-originated
cargoes under certain circumstances.
Hammarskjold, at a press conference last Thursday, had as-
serted flatly "there has never been any agreement," declaring
that "all parties"—meaning Israel as well as the UAR—know
there was no "agreement"
Circles here called attention to the difference between the
words "agreement" and "understanding," pointing out that
"agreement" could mean a formal document signed by both
parties. They conceded there may have been no such formal
document, but insisted they were told there was "understand-
ing" on the issue.
They said they "were given to understand" that, after visit-
ing Nasser, Hammarskjold had reason to believe that the UAR
would permit Suez Canal transit for Israel-made goods if such
,goods had been purchased f.o.b. Haifa. The Greek freighter
Astypalea, which the Egyptian authorities halted in the Suez
Canal last December, and which was forced to unload its cargo
in Egypt, had carried Israel goods purchased f.o.b. Haifa.

Separate Fund-Raising for
Six Israeli Causes Planned

Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News

NEW YORK.—Plans for a combined fund-raising campaign
in America on behalf of six Israeli funds for the maintenance
of their economic welfare educational, cultural and religious
institutions in Israel were discussed at a conference Monday.
These institutions were up to now not conducting separate
campaigns in the United States. They were receiving allocations
from the Jewish Agency for Israel from funds derived largely
from the United Jewish Appeal. These allocations will not be
forthcoming to them in 1961 due to new arrangement arrived at
by the Jewish Agency, Inc. The conference laid plans for a
joint campaign in 1961 to provide funds for the important con-
structive undertakings of the Israeli institutions.
Participants in the conference were representatives of the
Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi, Agudath Israel, Poale Agudath Is-
rael, the two World Confederations of the General Zionists and
the Zionist Revisionists of America.

WASHINGTON, (JTA)—A Senate-House Conference committee approved the
Mutual Security aid bill which included a resolution authorizing the President to
withhold such aid from the United Arab Republic, if the Suez blockade against
Israel is continued.
The clause, approved in the Senate.over the strong protests of illnator J. W.
Fulbright, Arkansas Democrat, chairman of the.:senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, had been approved, by the House. Since the Senate and House versions
—which were sparked by the UA.R boycott of the Suez Canal to Israel shipping—
were identical, they were not subject to consideration at the conference.
The conference report was scheduled to go back to the House and if accepted
there, will then go to the Senate. Both Sen. Fulbright and Rep. Thomas E. Morgan
of. Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, have prom-
ised to seek speedy final passage.
Leaders of six American Jewish organizations have expressed "deep resent-
ment" at charges made by Sen. Fulbright in the course of Senate debate on the
foreign aid bill last week. Their sentiments were expressed in a letter to the Sen-
ator, signed by Jewish War Veterans of U.S.A., Union of Orthodox Jewish Con-
gregations of America, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jewish Labor
Committee, United Synagogue of America and American Jewish Congress.

World Bank President Willing to Mediate Disputes

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Expressing a willingness to act as a mediator with re-
gard to any of the economic disputes between Israel and the Arab states, Eu-
gene R. Black, president of the Interna tional Bank for Reconstruction and De-
velopment, said he would be ready to undertake such mediation if requested by
the parties concerned.
He made it clear that his willingness to mediate extends to all economic dif-
ferences, including distribution of Jordan River waters and freedom of naviga-
tion through the Suez Canal. However, he added, "I have not been asked so far, and
am not soliciting this business."
The World Bank head made his statement prior to departure from Israel at
Lydda Airport. Earlier, he held separate meetings with Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion and Foreign Minister Golda Meir.
Black told newspapermen he was "highly impressed" with what he saw during
his brief tour of Israeli developments which this country aims to expand through
a loan pending before the World Bank. The Bank's decision regarding that loan
application, he said, will be made shortly by the organization's board of directors
in Washington, after study of a report on Israeli development projects from a team
of experts sent here two months ago by the financial institution.
What he personally saw here, however, seemed to satisfy Black. "I have
never," he stated, "seen a country that has done so well and so much in the field
of development as Israel has accomplished in the last few years. It is certainly
amazing, and I congratulate you heartily."
Highest Israeli economic circles simultaneously started discussions about
practical arrangements for establishment of an overall Israel Port Authority.

Report from Waterfront About American Ship Under Arrest in Suez Harbor

BY SAUL CARSON

JTA Correspondent at the United Nations

(Copyright, 1960, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. — Andy Noah is a
sailor. He is a member of the Seafarers' Interna-
tional Union. He is not a Jew. He is ship secretary
for his union on the S.S. Westport, a tramp steamer
flying the American flag.
There is not a single Jew among the officers or
crew members of the Westport. Yet every member
of the crew, from Captain Progoulis on down,
swears now that the picketing of Egyptian ships in
the New York harbor—like the action upheld by
the Federal courts against the Egyptian vessel Cleo-
patra—was a justified labor dispute. They know.
For 22 days they were under Egyptian arrest in the
harbor at the port of Suez. Their crime? The ship
had once touched at an Israel port.
Andy Noah reported the plight of ship and crew
eloquently to his union, the SIU. Most of what fol-
lows comes from Seaman Noah.

The Westport pulled into the port of Suez on its
way home from Ceylon, and the crew was anxious
to get back to New York. Without - any explanation,
the Westport was held up. Egyptian immigration
officers boarded the vessel. They took the seamen's
documents from the crew. They took the passport
from Captain Progoulis, ana all of the ship's papers.
The Egyptians placed some policemen aboard
the Westport. The American sailors were forbidden
to contact the three unions with which the crew
was affiliated—the Seafarers' International Union;

the Masters, Mates and Pilots Association; and the
Marine Engineers Beneficial Association. The cap-
tain even had trouble contacting the American con-
sul at Suez. The crew could send mail—but the mail
was being censored by Egyptian authorities.
Under these conditions, the crew was under ar-
rest, on its own ship, for ten full days, before a
way out of the dilemma offered itself. Another
American ship, the Steel Voyager, had entered the
harbor.
"We were not allowed to go ashore or to com-
municate with anyone," Seaman Noah reported
later to the union. "The Egyptians shunned us.
Some of the remarks they made to us were not
funny and 'still cause a burn when we think about
them. To them, we were rich vermin who don't pay
their bills, Jew lovers, etc."

For a couple of days more, the crew tried to
figure out a way of (..ontacting the crew of the Steel
Voyager. The Egyptian government had forbidden
the Westport to use blinker light, semaphore sig-
nals, or even radio. Then an idea was born.
Under the captain's orders, Chief Mate Nelson
summoned the crew to boat drill. The Egyptian po-
licemen protested. But Captain Progoulis told the
police that, under American regulations, the crew
had to be ordered to engage in rowing drills at least
once a week. (There are no such regulations.)
Against the orders of the Egyptian police, Chief
Mate Nelson ordered the boats lowered. One boat
contained the ship's bosun, the radio operator, and
the chief engineer, in addition to several other
officers and sailors. The men rowed to the Steel

Voyager, boarded the friendly ship and reported
their predicament to friendly union colleagues.
It took ten days more. The Steel Voyager could
not radio the report to the U.S.A., until it had
cleared the Suez Canal. But finally it did report.
The Westport was allowed to proceed.
"To the officers and crew of the Steel Voyager,"
Seaman Noah stated in conclusion of his report to
his union, "we all give humble thanks and a prayer
for good sailing, both on land and on water. We
will not forget."

Israel's permanent representative at the United
Nations, Michael S. Comay, reported at the UN that
the Arabs have blacklisted 387 ships, belonging to
28 nations, for trading with Israel. The feelings of
the Westport crew about the Arab persecutions is
typical of how all the affected sailors feel. The
SIU's picketing of the Cleopatra, which• the U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals had refused to enjoin, was
based on the grounds that the union's action con-
stituted a legitimate labor grievance.
Seaman Andy Noah has spelled out one aspect of
the precise nature of that grievance. American sea-
men don't like being arrested because their ship
has touched at an Israeli port. They don't like to
lose job opportunities because Egypt doesn't like
Israel. They are not interested in politics—it's a
bread-and-butter matter to them. And they are
workmen with dignity who expect and demand re-
spect in any port.
Also See Editorial on Page 4
and Commentary on Page 2