Trial of Rockwell Is Delayed to March 30
2 Parallel Cases Peace Efforts in Israel's Favor
BY ELIAHU SALPETER
Chief JTA Correspondent in Israel
(Copyright, 1966, JTA, Inc.)
JERUSALEM — Seventeen years
ago, in September 1949, to be
exact, a young man by the name
of Avraham Tzfati was arrested
by police when he tried to force
his way into the Knesset, with a
submachine gun in his hands. He
explained that he wanted to force
members of the House to listen to
his views about how peace between
Israel and the Arabs could be
achieved. He was detained for
mental observation; later released
and disappeared from public at-
tention for eight years.
Then, one day he slipped across
the frontier into the Gaza strip
and presented himself before
Egyptian officers as a representa-
tive of the (non-existing) Scales
of Justice Party, whose aim is to
arrange a peace treaty between
Israel and her neighbors. Again,
he was detained, interrogated,
held under observation—this time
in Cairo—and returned to Israel.
One year later it was the Syrian
border which he crossed illegally
with the same idea, spent six
weeks in jail in Damascus and was
sent back. Next year it was the
Lebanese border, again jail and
again back to Israel. He never
made it across the fourth border.
In December 1964 his bullet-ridden
body, cut down by a Jordanian
patrol, was found near Eilat, with
a blood soaked batch of pamphlets
"Peace and War" in his pocket.
In the summer of 1965, Tel Aviv
restaurant owner and former
Israel Air Force pilot Abbie Nathan
registered as a candidate for the
Knesset elections and announced
that if elected he would fly to
Nasser to discuss peace between
Israel and Egypt. He did not get
elected, but unlike many other
candidates who forgot their prom-
ises after being elected, Abbie
Nathan announced that he still
intends to fly to Cairo. He began
collecting signatures for a peace
manifesto, and when he had what
he claimed were about 75,000
names, he took off in an old pre-
war Steerman biplane, with the
word "Peace 1," marked in big
letters in Hebrew, English and
Arabic on the white fuselage.
*
*
One can hardly think of a more
dramatic comparison than between
the fate of Avraham Tzfati and
that of Abbie Nathan. Primarily,
of course, there was the difference
betwen the inept attempt of one
who still believed that submachine
guns could open one's way to the
Knesset and long pamphlets could
bring about a change in the irra-
tional hostility of enemies, and the
smart public relations work which
preceded and accompanied the
well - publicized exploit of the
other. But one cannot avoid the
feeling that the distance between
ditch on the Jordanian border and
the swank Tel Aviv hotel suite also
represents a change in the atmos-
phere, both in Egypt and in Israel.
This is not to say that if Abbie
Nathan were another Tzfati sneak-
ing across the border, his "peace
mission" would have made him
immune from the customary rough
investigations and long arrest by
the Egyptian authorities. The
change in the atmosphere is not
that marked, nor does Cairo now
seek the paths of peace with Israel.
But after Abbie's flight was so
well publicized in. advance in the
world, Cairo's rulers realized that
it would have' been flagrantly con-
trary to the present international
atmosphere of peaceful coexistence
to maltreat the flier. Exactly
because Cairo is not yet ready
to think of peace with Israel, the
smartest thing to do, public rela-
tions-wise, was to get rid of him
as politely as possible and as fast
as possible. But the fact that
Cairo is so clearly aware of this
international atmosphere is not
without significance and should be
taken into consideration alongside
Nasser's renewed threats of war
against Israel.
It may well be that the two
things are connected. Cairo, along
with other Arab capitals, is in-
creasingly becoming aware of the
fact that time is working in favor
of Israel. Not only because seven-
teen years of hostility and hun-
dreds of millions of dollars worth
of Soviet weapons in Arab hands
NEW YORK (JTA) — George
Rockwell, head of the American
Nazi Party, appeared in Criminal
Court here March 10 on disorder-
ly conduct charges stemming from
a scuffle between him and a num-
ber of enraged Jewish spectators
in the Supreme Court building
here in 1960.
The Nazi received a postpone-
ment to March 30 and his $100 bail
was continued. Marvin Berger, a
failed to abolish Israel's qualitative
advantage over those who aim to
destroy her; the Arabs are ap-
parently also becoming aware
that declared attempts to solve
international disputes by war are
not fashionable any more in the
international community. Even
Moscow, which bears the prime
responsibility for the Middle East
arms race, cannot well claim that
protestations of the "spirit of
Tashkent" are valid for the entire
World—except for the Israel-Arab
dispute. Thus, one can conceive of
the theoretical possibility that
Nasser, his position as the Arab
leader badly slipping, may attempt
to strike at Israel, hoping not so
much for victory but for an inter-
national intervention that might be,
in many ways, not less unpleasant
for Israel than for the Arabs.
Opinions in Israeli political cir-
cles are divided as to whether
Nasser would take such a chance
or not. The majority tends to take
an optimistic view and believe that
if Israel maintains her qualitative
superiority, the danger of war can
be avoided.
Jewish attorney who volunteered
his services to Rockwell, obtained
the Postponement after Rockwell
was arrested last month when he
came to New York to address a
rally at Columbia University. He
was seized on the 1960 warrant
before he could make his sched-
uled address.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
6—Friday, March 18, 1966
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Arab Leaders Call on U.S. to Reject
Israel 'Pressures' for More Arms
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
LONDON — A joint pan-Arabic
declaration protesting against al-
leged Israeli "pressures" on the
United States' provision of more
arms to Israel was introduced by
Syria at the conference of Arab
government leaders in Cairo Mon-
day.
According to dispatches from
Cairo received here, the resolu-
tion, already approved by most
of the Arab foreign ministers,
would call on the U.S. to reject
the so-called Israeli "pressures"
for more arms, and would also con-
demn America's sale of Patton
tanks to Israel.
Twelve of the 13 Arab League
states are participating in the
Cairo conference. The only Arab
state absent is Tunisia, whose presi-
dent, Habib Bourguiba, called last
summer for the opening of peace
talks between the Arab states and
Israel.
A number of issues affecting
Israeli relations with various
countries—including the United
States and West Germany — as
well as Arab projects for the di-
version of the Jordan River head-
waters and Arab military pre-
paredness for possible war with
Israel were on the agenda of a
meeting in Cairo Tuesday.
The present parley is preliminary
to an Arab summit meeting of kings
and presidents scheduled to be
held next September in Algiers.
West Germany figures largely on
the agenda. The Bonn govern-
ment, with whom most of the Arab
states broke diplomatic relations
since Germany gave diplomatic
recognition to Israel, sent a note
to the conference, trying to woo
the Arabs back.
In the note, West Germany re-
portedly promised that future eco-
nomic aid to Israel will exclude
help for military purposes and
will not include extension of repara-
tions to Israel when the old agree-
ment for such reparations expires
this month. Israel and West Ger-
many opened economic-aid talks
two weeks ago, and these discus-
sions are to continue soon.
Regarding water diversion, the
conference was to discuss the de-
lays that have occurred in the proj-
ects aimed at lowering the level
of the Jordan River, which Israel
is now tapping for irrigation of the
Negev Desert.
This item has already been dis-
cussed by the conferees in secret,
Lebanon demanding finanical aid
for its share of water diversion
work, and other Arab states ex-
amining the fact that some of the
diversion projects were halted aft-
er Israeli military actions on its
borders.
Military preparedness against
Israel was to be discussed in the
context of a special report made
by Lt. Gen. Ali Amer, the Egyp-
tian commander of the Unified
Arab Command. Another report
on the war plans against Israel
was submitted to the conference by
Ahmad Shukairy, head of the
Palestine Liberation Organization,
the arm of the Unified Arab Com-
mand which is recruiting Arab
refugees for war against Israel.
The Jews of Persia
The Jewish community of Iran,
which dates back to the 6th Cen-
tury BCE, now numbers some
80,000 persons, half of whom live
in the capital city of Teheran with
sizable communities in Shiraz and
Isfahan.
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