Syrians Open Fire Again, Wound Israeli on Border

Kaiser Engineering Threatens Suit
of $25,000,000 on Dead Sea Project

TEL AVIV (JTA)—The Kaiser
Engineering Co., an American con-
tracting firm engaged by the Dead
Sea Works to build dikes for a
massive potash evaporation system
at the southern part of the Dead
Sea, named its arbitrator in its
dispute with the Dead Sea Works
over the specifications of the con-
tract.
He is Admiral Ben More11, an
American steel executive. The
American firm has charged that
the engineering specifications for.
the dikes on the Dead Sea "were
impossible to attain." The Dead
Sea Works has not yet named its
member on the three-Iran panel,
which, according to the contract,
will also include an Israeli judge.
Kaiser has filed a demand
that the Dead Sea Works furnish
"workable specifications" for
the contract, or face a $25,000,-
000 suit for damages. The com-
pany contended that specifica-
tions for the core of the dikes
were "completely theoretical."

It said that an independent panel
of engineering scientists it had
appointed to study the problem
had reported that it was impossible
to meet the specifications "in view
of conditions existing at the Dead
Sea, and the materials and meth-
ods specified in the agreement."
Kaiser argued that, for these
reasons, its contract with the Dead
Sea Works was "null and void."
Y. Nishri, secretary of the Is-
raeli company, declared that "at
this time," there was also no justi-
fication for Kaiser's financial
claims. He said that, before any
further comment could be made,
his company would first have to
study the Kaiser report in detail
"and consult our engineers and
experts."
Nishri also said that, under the
terms of the contract, signed 17
months ago, the contractors were
required to complete the job by
October 1965, and to pay 500 Is-
raeli pounds ($160) in daily fines
for delays. He said that Dutch

Try and Stop Me

By BENNETT CERF

H

ARRY HERSHFIELD, the 80-year-young humorist and
banqueteer, has MC'd so many testimonial dinners and
hundred-dollar-a-plate charitable affairs that he turns pale
at the mere mention of
the kind of food usually
dished up at such func-
tions. The affair he re-
members best is one
staged in the early 1930's
by the Jewish Theatrical
Guild with cowboy Will
Rogers as the unlikely
guest-of-honor.
The immortal. Rogers
decided to wow his audi-
ence by giving his entire
speech (mercifully a brief
one) in Yiddish. He prac-
ticed faithfully for a fort-
night, and when the time
came, performed without one slip. Unfortunately, the audi-
ence didn't understand one word he said. His Oklahoma
accent made the Yiddish words sound like the war cry of
some Indian tribe. "Will Rogers' face," recalls Hershfield,
"when one guest asked him later, 'what language were you
speaking, Mr. Rogers?' was one of the funniest things I
ever saw!"

*
*
*
A world-wide reputation has been achieved by one youngish
American novelist who wrote exactly one hugely successful, criti-
cally acclaimed book ten years ago and has been resting on his
laurels ever since. "So-and-so's reputation," complained an en-
vious contemporary recently, "seems to grow and grow with
every book he doesn't write!"
*
•
*
"You'd be surprised," declares Joe E. Lewis, "how many New
Year's resolutions are actually carried out—feet first."

HE LATE Herbert Bayard Swope, famous and flamboy-
ant executive editor of the N. Y. World in the twenties,
is the subject of an exhaustive biography by E. J. Kahn, Jr.
In one of his innumer-
able house parties, Swope
once included two men
named Stephen. His wife
had a vastly higher
opinion of one than of
the other and persisted
in referring to them as
"the two Steves—com-
mon and preferred."
That same weekend,
Swope, who was always
outrageously late for
every appointment, kept
six rather important
gentlemen waiting over
an hour to join them in
a trip to the race track. One finally burst into his private
apartment to see what was holding him up. He returned,
apoplectic, to report, "You know what the so-and-so is do-
ing? COUNTING HIS SHIRTS!"
*
*
*
From Henny Youngman's "How Do You Like Me So Far?":
A man falls out of an eighth-story window. He's lying

experts consulted by the Israeli
firm had reported that it was pos-
sible to meet the specifications.
Under the contract, Kaiser is
building dikes to turn the southern
part of the Dead Sea into potash
evaporation pens. The American
firm said it had invested $25,000,-
000 in the project.
A development ministry
spokesman indicated Wednesday
that the government had no
plans to intervene for the time
being in the multimillion-dollar
contract dispute.
The Beersheba District Court,
meanwhile, issued an injunction
at the request of the Israeli firm
banning Kaiser from removing
equipment from the area. The in-
junction remains in force for 24
hours, when both sides are sched-
uled to appear in court on the
question.

Nishri said that the total cost of
the project is under $23,000,000.
He said that under a contract re-
vision signed a year ago, the Israeli
firm agreed to poy $1,000,000 extra
in 1970 after the passing of a suit-
able trial period to test the dike
system. He said that the Kaiser de-
mand for an additional $25,000,000
would double the cost of the proj-
ect. However, he refused to indi-
cate the basis on which he made
that claim.
The Israel firm has received a
letter from Kaiser stating that if
new specifications were not issued
within a week, the American firm
intended to submit the issue to
arbitration. The Israeli firm has
not responded so far to that letter.
Mordechai Makleff, director of the
Dead Sea Works, left Tuesday for
Europe reportedly to consult with
experts in international commer-
cial law on the problem.

2 Girls Caught Defacing
Tombstones 'for Kicks'

VINELAND, N.J. (JTA) — Two
teen-age girls were arrested here
last weekend on charges of over-
turning and defacing tombstones
in a Jewish cemetery here.
The girls, one 15 and the other
14, were released in the custody of
their parents. Their names were
withheld because of their youth.
A police official said the girls told
police they did it "just for kicks."

For all one's early rising it
dawns none the sooner.—Italian
proverb.

TEL AVIV (JTA) — An Israeli
tractor driver was shot at Tuesday
and wounded by Syrian fire in the
Haon area, on the border between
Israel and Syria. There have been

frequent shootings by the Syrians
against Israeli farmers along the
frontiers and against Israeli fish-
ermen on Lake Tiberias, a body of
water entirely within Israel's ter-
ritory.

With Passover Greetings to

Our Community .

We express continued hope of

freedom for all peoples.

Agins gnsurance Agency

10101 W. McNICHOLS ROAD

DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48221

Best Wishes to All Our

Friends and Patrons

for a

Happy, Healthy and Prosperous

Passover

COBO
CLEANERS

EARL RUBY

18135 Livernois

863-0400

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
20—Friday, April 1, 1966

N

T

1.
moaning on the pavement when a policeman elbows his way into
the crowd and asks him. "What happened?" The man. answers,
respectfully, "I don't know. I just got here."
by his
2. An elderly gent, after a complete checkup, is told
doctor. "You're sound as a dollar. You'll live to be ninety." "But
I am ninety," splutters the gent. "See?" beams the doctor. "What
did I tell you?"
*
*
*

Oscar Levant, uncrowned King of Hypochondria, describea
death as "nature's way of warning you to slow down."

C 1966, by Bennett Cert. Distributed by King Features Syndicate

Seder Night

In Jewish homes this April night
An ancient people celebrates its birth
To Freedom, with a reverential mirth,
With customs quaint and many a hoary rite,

Waiting until, its tarnished glories bright,

Its God shall be the God of all the earth.

— Israel Zangwill

<

cN

A Happy Passover

/\

Ole Stoilmans

