U.S. Aids Israel Desalination Plant With 50,000,000 JERUSALEM (JTA)—The experimental plant to test the possibilities of the use of nuclear energy for seawater conversion—a joint United States-Israel project—will cost about $200,000,000, it was indicated here. The estimate was made by Philip Sporn, American nuclear power expert who heads the joint American-Israel Seawater Conversion Commission, who conferred here Hawaiian Jewry Viscount Samuel's Impressive Career Commentary Page 2 VOLUME XLVI I — No. 9 __ with Premier Levi Eshkol and Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir. He said he felt the maximum United States contribution would be about $50,000,000. Experts said that, on the basis of those estimates, the water cost would be about 15 cents per cubic meter, but that this cost could be lowered if the United States assumed the major part of the capital costs of the project. HE JEWISH NEWS Fze CD 1 —1— A Weekly Review NA I 1-1 I 3A N.J A Happy PASSOVER To Jewish Communities I Jewish Events Everywhere Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper--Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle EgnVgioi n sriop - 17100 W. 7 Mile Rd. — VE 8-9364 — Detroit 35, April 23, 1965 $6.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c Bonn's New eadline randed 'Infamous Decision'; Auschwitz Witnesses Testifying in Poland Negro Hagadah Boosts Rights Aim to Erase Many Prejudices Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News .BOSTON — A hagadah for the Negro community to be used at annual celebrations of the civil rights movement is being prepared by a Southern Christian Leadership Conference committee, Mrs. Virgil Wood, president of the Massachusetts unit of the Conference, announced. Rabbi Meyer I Strassfeld of Congregation Agudath Israel, Dorchester, an Orthodox rabbi who is a member of the steer- ing committee of the SCLC, is serving as consultant for the hagadah. It will be patterned after the Jewish hagadah and will contain Negro history, songs, prayers and symbols depict- ing both slavery and freedom. Members of the committee expressed the hope that the special hagadah would help to eliminate some of the anti- Jewish as well as the anti-Negro sentiments which they said were present in some elements of Negro and white groups. The committee hopes to complete the project this summer. Red Cross to Continue Jurisdiction Over Tracing Persons Lost in War GENEVA (JTA) — The United States, Britain, France and West Germany agreed to extend for an indeterminate period their previous resolve to give the International Red Cross jurisdiction over the International Tracing Service. The International Tracing Service, with headquarters at Arolsen, Germany, was established after World War II, and had been deemed invaluable in helping trace persons missing as a result of the war, displaced persons and their families, and others sought by relatives and friends around the world. Vast archives of aid to the tracing of such persons are housed at the Arolsen center. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the defeat of Germany and the end of the Nazi terror, demands are mounting in many parts of the world that the trials of the Nazi criminals should not be curtailed. At the same time, a number of trials are con- tinuing in Germany, and the taking of testimony commenced this week in Poland. Tributes are being paid to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in communities throughout the world, and honors are being extended to those who resisted the Nazi terror FRANKFURT (JTA) — Seven court officials in the trial here of 21 former Auschwitz death camp personnel left for Poland to take testimony from 25 Polish witnesses who could not or would not come to Frankfurt to testify. It was believed here that some witnesses called by the defense anticipated re- prisals or difficulties at home if they accepted the invitation of the Frankfurt court. Those in the group going to Poland included two state prosecutors, four de- fense attorneys and an East German lawyer attending on behalf of Auschwitz survivors now living in East Germany. The Polish witnesses will be heard by Polish judges. Frankfurt court officials who went to the Auschwitz camp site last December on a similar mission said afterward that the Polish authorities were most helpful and that their aid- had been invaluable. The trial of the former staff members of the camp, where an estimated 3,000,000 victims, most of them Jews, were killed, began in Dec- ember 1963. * * DUSSELDORF (JTA) — Both a witness and a defendant in the trial of guards of the. Treblinka death camp further implicated Kurt Franz, camp deputy commander, in testimony here. Henryk Poslowski, 55, now of Rio d e Janeiro, testified that Frank, who has steadfastly denied whipping or killing any inmates, shot and killed a child torn from its Jewish mother by another SS guard and thrown into the air for target practice. The witness, who fled after a Treblinka 1943 uprising, also testified that he had been whipped by Franz and that Franz ordered his dog to attack inmates who were then killed by another guard, August Miete. Miete then testified that he had shot inmates on orders from Franz. * BRUSSELS (JTA) — West Germany's law fixing Jan. 1, 1970, as the new dead- line for prosecution of Nazi war criminals for murder, was assailed by the Belgian Union of Jewish Former Resistance Fighters as "an infamous decision." The organization made its protest in a letter to the West German ambassador here, saying its members were "deeply shocked" by the action. The new law extended by 41/2 years the prior cut-off date for such prosecution, which had been May 8. (Continued on Page 5) Puzzles of the Middle East: U.S. State Department's Skills, Confusions Are Countered by Carefully Compiled Information By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ WASHINGTON, D. C. — An atmosphere permeated with confusion created by world crises often places government officials on the defensive, and our State Department career men have much to account for as time and its tensions progress. Whether the area involves the Far East and South Asia, the African continent or the Near and Middle East, American spokesmen must be on the alert to face developing situations, and our State De- partment spokesmen certainly are well trained to defend the official American position — even when it is contrary to the sentiments of the legis- lative branch of our government. Mounting problems relate to the Israel-Arab conflicts, to the arms race and the problems in- volving imbalance of power, the issue involving the utilization of the Jordan River and Lake Ti- berias water supplies by Israel and the threats of diversion made by the Arabs, the resalina- tion plans and numerous other questions that have emerged as a result of the state of war that is being perpetuated by the Arabs in the Middle East. In questioning State Department policies, the most puzzling of all developments is the constant and repetitious reminder by the Department's of- ficials, in recent weeks, of Israel's warning to the Arabs that there will be military resistance to any effort to curtail Israel's National Water Carrier or to divert the head waters. There is more talk about this one "threat" emanating from Israel than there has been in years past about the unending attacks on Israel from all of the Arab states. Yet, when government officials are ques- tioned, they leave the interrogators with the im- pression that "since the last war United States policy has been geared towards a world order in which there would not be aggression," that "we are the world's residual peace-keepers," — and these declarations echo the sentiments of all State Department officials, from Secretary of State Dean Rusk down the line to the secretariat. * * * Robert J. McCloskey, director of the State De- partment Office of News, made it clear that "the United States seeks to avoid contributing to a Near East arms race," yet he conceded that there will be a measure of arms supplies for Israel and five Arab nations. The small measure of such supplies was predicted in his assertion that "we reserve the right to provide limited amounts of conventional military material to meet legitimate defense needs." But when a responsible member of the De- partment was asked whether America's role as "the residual peace-keeper" will be applied to the (Continued on Page 32)