Purely Commentary
For I-rael. the period that has ensued after the six-day war is in many respects
more serious than the war itself. There was a quick victory, and now there is a
ganging up to deprive the victor of his gains. There was a loss for the Arab states,
and now they demand the right to dictate "peace" terms — without either acknowledg-
ing Israel's existence or of atoning for the misdeeds of 19 years. On the contrary,
because Nasser's armament losses has been replaced in large measure by Soviet
Russia. he speaks again of "erasing" Israel.
Therefore it has become difficult for Israel and for the Israelis' kinsmen and
friends to cope with a situation that demands firmness, determination, the strength
to retain the acquired rights to carry out a policy of justice for all concerned.
Indeed, there has been a ganging up against Israel, and the newspapers through-
out the length and breadth of this land are filled with anti-Israel, often anti-Jewish,
communications. Fortunately, there are many non-Jews who have not yielded to the
false propaganda. And there are many Arabs who now recognize the difference be-
tween suppression for refugees under Arab rule and their freedoms under Israeli
regulations.
It has been indicated, in the course of the description of the new Arab move-
ments between the former Jordanism territory and the present Israeli areas, primarily
by non-Jewish correspondents, that the Arabs are joyful over the freedom they have
acquired to travel at will. Israeli Arabs have gone into former Jordanian territory
to visit with their relatives, and even larger numbers of Jordanians are seen on the
streets of Tel Aviv to benefit from the freedom accorded them and to admire what
they see there.
There surely must he many Egyptians who realize the injustice of the events
that preceded the June 5 operations and who recognize that there is only one way
of approaching the issue: FACE TO FACE—Arabs and Jews conferring together, on
the basis of mutual respect, of Arab recognition of Israel and Israel's negotiating
as neighbor with neighbors.
Indeed, one Egyptian, a prominent citizen of his country, outlined a realistic
approach to the issue in a significant letter. Nihad Kholucy, the eminent
Egyptian, addressed an open letter to his fellow-Muslims urging FACE TO
FACE negotiations.
We are indebted to the Jewish Observer and .Middle East Review for this
significant message. Nihad Kholucy wrote:
Let us face it. We were beaten in 1948 but we had so many excuses to
make for our inadequacies, faulty arms, a corrupt government, poor leadership
and an unwanted monarchy. We have been given to understand through the
powerful and expensive propaganda machines that we are now a united nation,
disposing of a great army, equipped with all the latest weapons, trained by
Germans, Czechs, Yugoslays, Russians and Algerians.
It is hard to believe that our leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, would have
gambled away 150,000 Egyptian officers and men in a desperate struggle against
Israel while we all knew that this army, or the pick of it, well over 60,000 of
our so-called military elite, could not overcome untrained tribal elements in
the Yemen where we have been bogged down for nearly five years.
We have suffered defeat before but our leaders could always wriggle
out of it by blaming others. It is hard to see how we can explain the Yemeni
failures but it is easy to see that Israel has managed to make unforgettable
history by destroying us in a matter of hours, not only our huge army, with its
vast resources in Sinai, but the ignominious defeat of the Jordanian Army,
thought of by one and all as the best organized fighting force in the Middle
East, thanks to its training by British Officers.
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Syria. the trouble-maker of the piece, carved in overnight in spite of its
usual bombast. Iraq lost a brigade but refuses to recognize defeat although
that country is rotten inside and unable to make pretence to any stability.
Saudi Arabia stood by, did nothing but offer its "army" — an army of which
the loyalty is considered one of the Saudi Government's main headaches. The
Lebanon screamed and protested, perhaps at the thought of losing its prosperity
made so easily out of its neighbors' oil wealth, its invisible imports and
exports, and its dolce vita that attracts millions of dollars from the oil-rich Arabs.
Abdel Nasser is trying to save his face by switching to the well-beaten
theme of anti-imperialism, to blame the "imperialist" presence for the obvious
failure of Egypt's huge army in spite of internal dissension, ecomonic distress,
poverty, nepotism at the top military levels, and above all, the lack of organiza-
tion and efficiency in the army at the officer levels.
At no time in history have Egyptian officers been considered as fighting
material. Egyptian soldiers fight better under foreign officers. Muhammad Ali,
the founder of modern Egypt, would never promote an Egyptian above the
rank of sergeant.
As an Egyptian, I feel shame and horror at this defeat which could have
been avoided but, let's face it, we know now what we are capable of, and why
not admit it? When Israel was in collusion with the French and the British
over the Suez crisis, Israel beat us in 100 hours; alone, they beat us in 30 hours.
Many of the soldiers employed by the Israelis were our former citizens,
the very people whom we considered as business men, bank clerks, money
lenders, shop-keepers, but not soldiers. Many of these former subjects of my
country had settled in my country centuries before many Muslim families.
Our family doctor, a well-known Jewish doctor in Sakakini, came from
a family that had been settled in Cairo seven centuries ago. Mine, a Muslim
family, came to Cairo under Muhammad Ali, about 160 years ago. The case
with Baghdad and the Yemen is even more striking for the Jews were settled
in the Yemen before the ruling Zaidis, well before their advent to power. The
Mesopotamian Jews are even older.
Yet these Jews and their sons — and daughters — formed the hard
core that broke the underfed, underpaid fellahin soldiers who have no spirit
to fight such an army with its sense of survival and its sense of mission over the
whole period of history, to which the Bible and our Qur'an bear witness. Much
of our religion has been taken over lock, stock and barrel from the Jews.
We are all Semites.
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If animosity exists, this goes back for centuries before Islam. The Jew
and the Muslims were "brothers" under a conqueror such as the Turk. The
Jew. James Sanua, actually collaborated with our great religious leaders to
fight for Egyptian liberation from the extravagance and despotism of the
Khedives. James Sanua (Abu-Naddaral was a colleague of the great Shaikh
Muhammad Abduh. He was not the only Jewish patriot by any means.
We feel that the spirit of democracy rules in Israel but our miserable
soldiers are still flogged by the courbag whilst their officers lead the easy
life, using their power to feather their large nests. How can a soldier, unin-
spired by the desire to fight, despising his officers, afraid of the courbag, stand
up against the free and easy Israeli, sure of victory, sure of survival, with the
inspiration of a war that can really be called holy, for they had Jerusalem
as one of their targets, free and in Jewish hands for the first time in 2,000 years.
How to compare this with the Cain and Abel complex of Saud seeking
refuge in Cairo with a defeated Nasser, cursing his other brother in Saudi
Arabia, the keeper of our Holy Places, Mecca and Medina?
Let us face it indeed and be magnanimous in our flight from the inspired
strength of the Israelites. Let us be men enough to admit defeat instead of
making things worse by rounding on the West, running our economies. The
Arabs will never beat the inventive genius of the West, who will find a quick
way out of their oil difficulties and any sanctions that the Arabs care to impose.
2—Friday, July 28, 1967
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
FACE TO FACE: Only Basis
For True Arab-Israel Amity
By Philip
Slomovitz
The Bible tells us clearly in Exodus 3/20, "And I will stretch out my hand,
and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof:
and after that he will let you go" and in I Samuel 17/45, "Then said David to
the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a word, and with a spear, and with a
shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou has defied."
But so also may our Qur'an in Surat al-Baqara, verses 49-50: "And when
We delivered you from Pharaoh's people, who subjected you to severe torment,
killing your sons and sparing your women, and in this there was a great trial
from our Lord. And when We parted the sea for you, so We saved you and
drowned the followers of Pharaoh and you watched by."
If there is the essence of a Holy War, and we did indeed declare a Holy
War on Israel, why did our propaganda machine order our men to kill even the
women and children of the Israelis? Shukeiry in particular called us to the
Jihad but he seems to have disappeared since. But why call and pray for the
support of atheistic Russia to support the Holy War of Islam? This we cannot
understand.
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In spite of the hysterical reinstatement of the Ra'is after his defeat, he
should not be led astray by his emotional victory but rather should he face
up to the necessity of saving his people from poverty and further misery. For
all the actions that he contemplates implementing are the acts of madness,
selfishness, spite and hatred. Why not a little more love and let us swallow
our stupid pride and humilitation. Vengeance costs lives — the lives of the
unfortunate people who do not understand.
There is only one way out of this shocking dilemma. Many Muslims are
with me and we need only have the courage of our convictions and we must
come forward honestly and face up to the Israelis at the round table — face
to face — and work out an honest agreement that we intend to keep so that
we can get on with working out the destiny of our people.
In this, we do not need the interference of Britain, America, France or
Russia. If we thought we were big enough to tackle Israel and to push her
into the sea, and there were only two and a half million of them while we
were seventy million, surely we can be big enough to accept defeat. The Israelis
have been threatened by us for years. We have always boasted about destroying
Israel. The earlier Pharaohs could not; and certainly the present Russian-
backed Pharaoh will not.
By inviting the impotent UNO to settle the mess for us, things will get
worse. The Americans have enough on their plate with Vietnam and their
internal problems with the Blacks. The Russians must realize that they backed
a loser and any of us can see that Russia cannot be credited with insight into
our own problems which are ours to solve. The British are impotent in this affair.
Israel need not insist on this confrontation as our leaders must realize
that this is inevitable. For Israel will not budge until she gets satisfaction
and assurances that she can get on with her own destiny.
Only Gamal Abdel Nasser can be big enough to set the ball rolling in
the right direction — and there is only one direction — face to face with Israel
and pocketing our stupid pride before it is too late.
Let these and related facts be known! Let the Arabs who are subjected to
Soviet and Arab potentates' propaganda become aware of the true facts and of the
just needs! Let it be circulated far and wide that what is needed is a FACE TO FACE
discussion of the issue! In that way, there will be hope for peace. Let it come as
quickly as possible.
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Less Rigidity in Middle East .-.. Failure of UN to Solve the Problems
Life Magazine expressed the editorial view that "Mideast Needs Less Rigidity."
Outlining the possible demands involved in the territorial positions created by the
June war, Life contends:
"The Arabs, who have the strongest reasons for seeking a prompt settlement,
show no signs of moving in that direction. The situation cries for mediation, but cir-
cumstances disqualify the United Nations, and the two superpowers, even if they
could agree, cannot act together visibly. Some other form of international initiative—
the quieter the better—is required to serve as a conduit between Israelis and such
Arab leaders as Hussein who understand the danger of letting the present situation
freeze into de facto Israeli sovereignty over all the conquered areas. Stalemate would
be unhealthy for everybody."
The most interesting element in this view is Life's adherence to its repeated
assertion that the UN has disqualified itself in search of a solution to the Middle
East issues. It's a great pity that it has come to such a turn of events. Perhaps Thant
is responsible in large measure for what has happened. Surely, Russia's determination
to acqiure power in that area is a basic reason for the difficulties and troubles.
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Abba Eban Should Be Voted Israel's and World's Most Popular Man
Israelis named President Johnson the most popular man. Likened to Eisenhower
in a similar crisis, back in 1956, Johnson certainly deserves accolades for restraint
and for refusing to kowtow to the Soviet-Arab crews on the question of pullouts from
Gaza and Jordan.
Realistically, Israelis should give the top popularity spot to Abba Eban. It Is
difficult to imagine any other person being able to tackle the battle of words as
brilliantly as Eban did in the UN. His masterful compositions may go down in literary
history as the works of the ablest stylist of our time. A generation is blessed with
only one of his kind—and our generation has Abba Eban.
Eban received a good spot in the Israel popularity poll: he should have had
one of the very highest.
Least admired in the poll included Hussein, Kosygin and Thant. It is under-
standable why Thant should be detested. When we were in Israel a few - days before
the war broke out, many called him an anti-Semite. His defense for having pulled
out UNEF was weak. He deserves unpopularity.
Black Power and the Soviet - Arab Combine: Familar Pattern
It it weren't so tragic, it would be amusing. Just as the snipers were being cut
down and the hoodlums were rounded up by the thousands, spokesmen for the Mal-
colm X Society here issued an ultimatum, proposing a sort of a "deal" for the cessa-
tion of the outraged that marked the lawlessness here. They proposed an eight-point
program, the first point of which stated: "Withdraw all troops."
Where did we read that before?
The pattern is so evident! Nasser lost the war but he wishes to dictate peace
terms without sitting at a peace table with the conquerors.
The Arab states lost a war and they refuse to discuss peace, but the first
thing they want is a return of territory they lost and a withdrawal of the victors to
their previous points where they were in constant danger of the threatened extermina-
tion.
Similarly, troublemakers in our midst, instead of being the first to curb crime,
are demanding withdrawal of troops, release of gangsters from the overcrowded
prisons. etc.
Yes, it's a familiar pattern. Hooligans demand the right to rule. But it won't
work. The Soviet-Nasser combine has been exposed, the power-seeking so-called
Moslems here have shows their colors. Sadly afflicted communities should know how
to deal with hooliganism and banditry.