Bourguiba Jr.'s Realism Now--3.5 Pounds to $ Pro-Israel Conran nists BONN (JTA) — Tunisia's foreign minister, Habib Bourguiba, Jr., son of the Tunisian president, said here that the Arab states must adopt a realistic attitude in the Middle East crisis because "they cannot oppose the very fact of Israel's existence." Bourguiba said in an interview with the German Press Agency that Tunisia is ready to participate in a settlement of the Middle East conflict. JERUSALEM (JTA) Israel's Cabinet acted swiftly, in the wake of the 14.3 per cent devaluation of the pound sterling, to reduce the value of Israel's pound from 3 to the dollar to 3.5, effective immediately. The Cabinet ordered a two-day halt to all foreign exchange transactions, but exempted banks at the airport and seaports where travellers may convert currency at the new rate. (Detailed Story Page 3) LONDON (JTA) — The Communist p ies of the United States, Canada and Israel have issue a declara- tion in Moscow, calling for a solution of the 1% Odle East crisis on the basis of Arab recognition of the State of Israel and guarantees of freedom of Israeli shipping through international waterways. Dispatches from the Soviet capital reported the issuance of the declaration. Two Historic Documents: Czechoslovakia, DeGaulle Challenged JEWISH NEWS i--1 A Weekly Review Commentary Page 2 of Jewish Events Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle VOLUME LI I — No. 10 27 17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit—YE 8-9364—November 24, 1967 Soviet Russia's M. E. Plot O Priority for Our Cultural Institutions Editorials Page 4 $6.00 Per Year, This Issue 20c Reveal Ike Knew Israel's '56 Plans; USSR's Role Menacing Reprisals Aggravate New Jordan Battles (Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News) TEL AVIV — Israeli planes went into action Tuesday morning for the first time since the Six-Day War in a pin-point attack on a concentra- tion of Jordanian tanks which had been shelling Israeli positions on the West Bank, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding several others. The action occurred in the Urn Shurt region, south of Damiyah bridge, an area that had previously been quiet and here, in fact, there had been considerable trade in agricultural pro- duce between the East and West Banks of the Jordan. According to an Israel army spokesman, the Jordanians brought tanks into the region during the night and opened fire on Israeli positions across the river. Israeli forces returned the fire but as the Jordanian barrage continued, planes were called in to silence the tanks so that the wounded soldiers could be extricated. The Jordanian attack was believed to have been in reprisal for the shelling by Israeli forces Monday of Jordanian military positions inside a refugee camp on the East Bank. According to the Jordanians, several civilians were hit. The Israeli shelling was directed against a base from which saboteurs infiltrated into the West Bank during the past few days to plant mines on roads used by Israel patrol vehicles. Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News JERUSALEM — The former chief of Israeal's security services said here Monday night that Presi- dent Eisenhower was well aware of Israel's intention to wage a preventive war against Egypt in 1956, after American refusal to sell defensive arms to Israel. The Eisenhower administration always contended that Israel, along with Britain and France, took action against Egypt without informing the United States in advance of their intentions. Isser Harel speaking at a meeting of the "Movement For a Whole Eretz Israel", disclosed that the government had sent him on a mission to Washington in 1956 after an Egyptian arms deal with Czecho- slovakia had jeopardized Israel's military balance relative to the Arab states and after both Britain and France refused to sell arms to Israel. He told U.S. officials that the Egyptian arms build-up was directed against Israel and that unless Israel could purchase counter-weapons she would have to take swift preven- tive action. The Americans refused to provide arms to Israel and claimed that the new Egyptian arms were intended for "inter-Arab" purposes, Harel said. LONDON—The Times reported Tuesday that two Soviet vessels arrived at Alexandria Monday with machinery for the rebuilding of the two Egyptian oil refineries in the Port Suez area that were de- stroyed by Israeli shelling last month. The shelling was in retaliation for the Oct. 21 sinking of the Israeli destroyer Elath in international waters by Egyptian missile craft. It knocked out virtually all of Egypt's oil refinery capacity. Mayor's Assassination Thwarted (Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News) JERUSALEM — Jerusalem police Tuesday arrested several persons in the attempted assassina- tion of Mayor Nadim Elzaro of Ramallah in East Jerusalem Monday night. The mayor of the West Bank town was fired on by gunmen but was not hit. Police believe the motive may have been Elzaro's advocacy of a separate Palestinian state rather than reunification of the occupied West Bank with Jordan. British Foreign Office Retains Hatred for Balfour Declaration By S. J. GOLDSMITH (Copyright .190, JTA Inc.) LONDON — I was told on good authority that George Brown had telephoned the British Museum, asked for Sir Frank Francis, the director, and said to him: "Can we please have the Balfour Declara- tion back?" Sir Frank told the Foreign Secretary that documents deposited in the British Museum are never returned. So the Foreign Office did the second best—they hardly ever do the "first best"—and played the 50th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration very cool. The BBC television and radio services on the actual day, Nov. 2 had no direct mention of the anniversary, which was surprising. After all, it was a British event in 1917 and not a Zionist propaganda stunt. Then there was the festive gathering on the following Sunday, sponsored by the Zionist Federation. Apart from Foreign Minister of Israel Abba Eban, who is good for a news story these days, there were among the speakers Richard Crossman, Lord President of the Council and leader of the House, which makes- him Number Four in the Cabi- net hierarchy. Julian Amery and Lord Boothby—in short, an event which sbuold have been televised, at least in part, at any time on any theme. And to boot there was a concert by Larry Adler and Daniel Barenboim. But no—no television coverage and not even an item on the general news programs of the BBC. This cannot have happened without some guidance from the For- eign Office. Guidance as to treatment of news is often given. One does not disclose a secret here by mentioning it. The press, too, was incredi- bly mean about the anniversary as such and the events that surround it. Some newspapers never liked Balfour; some cooperate with the Foreign Office. And so, all in all, Balfour had a lean time of it. British Jews, of course, celebrated wholeheartedly. In the face of these facts it became credible that George Brown really tried to prevent Richard Crossman from appearing at the anni- versary gathering. But Harold Wilson himself seems to have agreed that Crossman should speak on Balfour and related subjects at the Zionist gathering, that Postmaster-General Edward Short should go to Israel for the anniversary; that Minister of Technology Anthony Wedgewood Benn should speak at a dinner of the Anglo-Israel Asso- ciation. It is the least he could do. But on the level of day-to-day politics, the Foreign Office seems to have decided not to irritate the Arabs with the Balfour Declaration. Balfour was a Tory, anyway, so why should Laborite George Brown take the blame? It was altogether an infernal nuisance to have this anniversary coincide with the all-out Campaign to appease Nasser. A senior Lebanese official has denied reports of an agreement between Lebanese and Israeli authorities on shipping facilities that would have permitted cargo ves- sels to call at both Israeli and Lebanese ports on the same voyage, The Financial Times reported from Beirut Tues- day. According to the report, steamship lines in Beirut said that Lebanon continued to adhere to the Arab League boycott regulations against Israel. The American Export-Isbrandtsen Line, whose agents (Continued on Page 6) The Lie and the Libel Menacing Factors to Israel and World Jewry Concocted Jointly by Cairo. Moscow By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ TEL AVIV — Israel's roles in the current situation, no longer viewed as a crisis although the situation remains tense due to the acquisition of 1.300.000 Arabs within the nation's territory, remains similar to the status of June 4: there are problems but they are mainly felt outside Israel; There are dangers but they are not exaggerated here; the nation is aware of the threats but there is no fear. There is a normalcy here that is not only admirable but is amazing in the respect it elicits. Israel's leaders are, nevertheless, aware of what is transpiring, they are cognizant of the menacing hatreds that confront them, they know that the esteem, the approbation and the approval of stand in self-defense that poured out of the world press during the Six Day War suddenly began to a vanish within weeks after the war. Now there is one refrain: get out, apologize. for triumph, move back to your June 4 positions, give the poor Arabs back their possessions. All of these slogans result from misconceptions, from a role of compassion gained by King Husein of Jordan who has admitted plotting the lies about the United States and who no longer denies that the intention was to destroy Israel. Therefore the sense of stoicism, of austere fortitude, that marks the daily life of the Israelis is mingled with puzzlement of the why — why the free world that was so indifferent to Israel's troubles and needs suddenly is hardened again to the dangers that would face Israel if its forces were to move a single inch backwards. Israel always has faced and continues to face difficulties because of a confrontation with lies. It is the big lie that is resorted to on all fronts — at the LIN. in the world press, in Arab propoganda. Just as it was the big lie that played a role in the excuses that were offered for the drastic defeats in early June. The most interesting of all sociological studies of the Arab state of mind, of the basic factors for the Arab collapse, was prepared by Gen. Yehoshafat Harkabi, in an important analysis he wrote for the daily Hebrew newspaper Haaretz. Harkabi believes that at the root of the Arab's military failures "there are flaws of a national character, weakness of the national spirit, in their approach and image of the world." The Arab defeat the general believes. "is rooted in the weakness of the social links among the Arabs and as a result of this each soldier, in the critical moments of combat, finds himself fighting not as a member of a team but as an abondoned individual. Consequently, each in- dividual tended primarily to look after himself, and the unit disintegrated." The contrast indicated by Gen. Harkabi is the attitude of the Israeli soldier, the "bond of genuine partnership, with men putting themselves in danger for each other, and each one for all ..." The lack of coordination among Arabs, marked by "exaggerated ego" and "inflated individual- (Continued on Page 40)