Purely Commentary

True Title to the Holy Land . . .
Vultures on the Back of a Great
Community...Old Political Slogans

By Philip
Slomovitz

national association of the Jewish people with the land of Israel—
Remember the Newspapers of the Past?
In an appeal for the fund it annually gathers for Fresh Air Fund politically as well as spiritually—goes back to time immemorial. As the
to aid the underprivileged kids from the slums of New York, the New following chronology indicates, Palestine was never in its history ruled
York Times published an ad under the heading "Remember the Herald by the country's Arabs. The present State of Israel, on the other hand,
Trib?" as a reminder of the aid the fund received from the defunct is a restoration of the ancient Jewish commonwealths which existed
on that land for more than a thousand years.
World Journal Tribune.
The four word reminder also brings back recollections of a long
1350 B.C.E. to 586 B.E.E.
Israel Rule (Biblical period)
586 B.C.E. to 538 B.C.E.
era during which more than a dozen newspapers served the needs of
Bablonian Conquest
Israel Autonomy (under Persian
the great metropolis, at a time when its population was smaller by
538 B.C.E. to 168 B.C.E.
and Greco-Syrian suzerainty)
perhaps two million.
Now there is the New York Times and two other newspapers
168 B.C.E. to 143 B.C.E.
Revolt of the Maccabeans
whose qualities are so far below the NY Times that the nostalgic
Rule of the Hasmoneans
must be sickened by the very though that there is so little demand for
143 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.
and their successors
70 C.E. to 637 C.E.
good news-carrying media.
Roman and Byzantine suzerainty
The reason for the sickened feeling over what had happened in
637 C.E. to 1072 C.E.
Rule of Arab Caliphates
New York is that we are faced with a similar calamity on our own com-
637 C.E. to 661 C.E.
• Mecca
661 C.E. to 750 C.E.
munity. For more than two months Detroit has been served by
Umayyids
skeletonized sheets whos news values are nil. Instead of newspapers
750 C.E. to 870 C.E.
Abbasids
we have a shrunk press, created out of a desire to capitalize on a
969 C.E. to 1071 C.E.
Fatimids
community's calamitous failure to handle labor relations properly. And
1072 C.E. to 1096 C.E.
Seljukes
....
our mayor and a popular bishop kept saying the time wasn't ripe to
1099 C.E. to 1291 C.E.
Crusaders
exert pressure to solve the conflict between labor and management!
1175 C.E. to 1291 C.E.
Ayybids
Apparently the right time will be the day when the community has
1291 C.E. to 1516 C.E.
Mamelukes
become acclimated to a newspaperless town, has accepted the crumbs
1516 C.E. to 1918 C.E.
Ottomans (Turks)
of news coming over the air and is contented with papers that offer
1918 C.E. to 1.948 C.E.
British Occupation and Mandate
race track news, movie and tv-radio listings. That's how a large city,
1948 C.E. to date
Israel
struggling to attain high cultural standards, is sinking into a state of
For 400 years of the 450 years since the sixteenth century, Pales-
indifference whether it has proper news and editorial coverage.
tine was thus part of the Ottoman Empire and ruled by the Turks.
*
•
•
At no time during this period was it ever constituted as a separate
Detroit's Tragedy—The 'Vulture Press'
political entity. After the first World War, the widespread calls to
Detroit's tragedy is the strike-inspired disease that is now referred
national revival and international concern with the rights of small
to as "the Vulture Press." Anything like such an excuse for genuine nations (as evidenced for example, by President Wilson's Fourteen
news coverage is a blight on the record of a great community.
Points) made themselves felt in the Arab area of the Ottoman world.
In the current issue of the Reporter, an article written jointly by
In Palestine this nationalism was characterized by a renewed emphasis
William Serrin and Gene Golz exposes the local state of affairs under
on loyalty to Syria rather than to any independent state of "Palestine."
the title "Detroit's Press Profiteers." It is not these profiteers who This was acknowledged a slate as 1956 by Ahmed Shukairy, head of
matter but the community that permits the current conditions to con- the Palestine Liberation Organization, who said in debate before the
tinue without challenge.
Security Council, "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing
We blame the clergy, one of whose leading spokesmen refused to
but southern Syria."
exert his influence to press for an early settlement of the strike; the
The Balfour Declaration of 1917, stating that Great Britain favored
governor of our state, who did not have the vision to realize that the
the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,
major community in Michigan suffers from the suspension of genuine
was issued while the country was still under Turkish rule. After four
newspapers publishing; the mayor, who also refused to intercede in
years of British occupation and administration, Palestine officially
proper time. Woe unto a community that functions with the vultures
passed to Britain in 1922 under a League of Nations mandate, follow-
on its back!
ing the dissolution of the Turkish Empire at the end of the war. The
*
*
League mandate contained the express proviso that Britain was to be
The Age-Old Political Slogans
responsible for implementing the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour
We'll hear them again soon: the old slogans against the votes Declaration was affirmed by the principal Allied powers at the San
of minority groups, with charges about a "Jewish" or a "Catholic" Remo Conference in April 1920, and its substance was endorsed in a
or "Italian" or Irish"—etcetera—votes.
joint resolution of the United States Congress adopted on June 30, 1922.
And in the course of the shouting all parties will vie for whatever
In 1947, Britain turned the question of Palestine over to the United
. totes they can line up.
Nations. The United Nations Partition Resoluiion, adopted on Novem-
There is a lot of talk already about the candidates who are in-
ber 29, 1947, by a vote of 33-13, called for the establishment of two new
terested in securing Senator Jacob Javits' seat in the upper house. states—one Jewish and one Arab. Jerusalem was to be administered
"Jewish names" are being lined up for the post. The president of the
under international control. The Partition Resolution followed the
Zionist Organization of America, Jacques Torczyner, was right when
pattern of settlement which had already taken place over the years in
he charged that "the very people" who denied the existence of the
Jewish vote are using Jewish candidates to prove that there is one." Palestine and assigned to the Jewish and Arab populations those areas
ZOA President Torczyner also was correct in his proposals that in which they already constituted major segments. The Arabs of
the 1968 Presidential Campaign will see evidence of resort to the Palestine and the Arab countries bordering on it—Iraq, Syria, Trans-
Middle East situation as a campaign argument, and he is correct in jordan—rejected the plan outright.
Beginning in December 1947, guerrilla raids on Jewish settlements
his comment that U.S. policy in the UN has been quite effective and
practical and that if continuity of non-partisanship is to be assured were stepped up as part of an all-out campaign to prevent the estab-
it is "necessary to strive for bi-partisan support for the just cause of lishment of a Jewish state. The Jewish community of Palestine ac-
cepted Partition and declared the independence of the State of Israel
Israel."
Meanwhile, it would be well for voters not only not to be misled by on May 14, 1948, following the departude of the last British garrison.
false party slogans but also to avoid getting ulcers over inevitable The next day the regular armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon
charges, counter-charges and resort to rumors and conflicting claims. and Iraq, supported by the contingents from Saudi Arabia and Yemen,
Lots of shenanigans may be resorted to—as they usually are—in a invaded the new state. The projected Arab state of Palestine was never
created.
Presidential Campaign.
•
*
•
It is thus apparent that the right of the Jews to found a state in
Palestine and intially sanctioned by the League of Nations and officially
Historic Title to the Holy Land
established
by the United Nations—the same United Nations which, as
New methods of creating enmities are being introduced into the
discussions relating to the Holy Land, and one of them is an effort the representative of the international community, also created such
to create the idea that Palestine was an Arab country and that Israel newly-independent states as Libya, Tanganyika, Cameroon, Somalia
and scores of others.
therefore does not belong to the Jewish people.
•
•
•
This has become an Arab approach and some misled people have
This is not to be ignored, even by an entertainer who chooses
been led to believe the misrepresentations based on misconceptions of
to become an historian.
history.
Anyone has a right to express an opinion, and Pete Seeger's rights
There are facts that uphold Jewish claims, even if the Prophetic
teachings should be given lesser importance. Even if the Promise are as justified as anyone else's. But how can anyone who has experi-
enced
freedom in Israel and suppression in an Arab territory fail to
should be ignored, granting that the Bible is not good legal authority
will blind him.
for Jewish claims, there are facts relating to Jewish settlement in the see the light? Perhaps even • the above
•
•
Holy Land that refute the claims which are often picked up out of
Mendes - France and De Gaulle
a lack of knowledge.
When Charles de Gaulle first rose to power in France, former
One of the most recent upholders of the Arab claims is an enter-
Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-France was among his severe critics.
tainer. Peter Seeger may provide hours of relaxation for those who
watch him, in person or on television. But when he emerges as an In mid-1958, Mendes-France participated in a march demonstrating
authority on history it is necessary that he be set straight. He needs against de Gaulle and "fasism." But it was
straightening out—on facts, realities, basic figures and true approaches said at that time that Mendes-France would
relating to his own experiences in both the Arab countries as well as be careful in what he said because of the ac-
cepted view that it would be "After de
in Israel.
Pete wrote an article for a magazine called "American Dialog" Gaulle — Mendes-France." Ten years ago
under the title "A Modern Dilemma—Arab and Jew: I Love Them it already was believed that Mendes-France
Both." That's commendable ! He is a lover ! But when, in the course would hesitate to be too critical of de Gaulle
of his reporting—in the form of a letter he purportedly wrote to his because of the latter's, growing power and
family "a few days before the (June) war—he indicates how he acted popularity.
But a few days ago Mendes-France said,
and traveled in complete freedom while he was compelled to be cau-
tious in what he said in an Arab setting, under Arab pressures, amidst in an interview in Paris, that de Gaulle was
more
interested in revenge against "one of
an atmosphere of total control, and nevertheless spouted wrong figures
and misleading facts, one begins to wonder how far an entertainer the two great powers he hates" (meaning
can permit himself to go with his propaganda that proves that he the United States) than in finding solutions
for world problems.
has swallowed the Arab line hook, line and sinker.
Mendes-France was critical also of de
The distressing fact about Pete Seeger as about others like him
is that they have come to believe that the area of the State of Israel Gaulle's stand on Jews and Israel
All of which points to a growing lack
was always, since the Dispersion of the Jews, Arab territory. What
of affection between the two French leaders.
are the facts?
Mendes-France
The commission on international affairs of the American Jewish De Gaulle was credited with having said,
Congress has compiled the basic data on the subject. The commission's more than 15 years ago, in one of his rash attacks on his opponents,
statement is so complete and so fully documented that we present here that Mendes-France was more Mendes than France. This certainly
spells a bit of anti-Semitism, in spite of the denial by the French
in full, from a most informative brochure, as follows:
The political history of the Middle East discloses a little-known general-turned-president to Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan of France that he
had
a
government
and
never
com-
was not an anti-Semite. The apology itself indicates anew the unpopu-
fact: the Arabs of Palestine never
prised a separate political or social entity. On the other hand, the larity of Jew-baiting.

Paris Press Sees
Unified Guerrilla
Anti-Israel War

PARIS (JTA) — A unified Arab
terrorist movement with head-
quarters on the West Bank of the
Jordan River, that will wage guer-
rila warfare against Israel in the
style of the Algerian seven-year
war against France, was foreseen
in articles that appeared in two
French weeklies.
Plans for such a campaign were
discussed in lengthy piece on the
ouster of Ahmed Shukairy as head
of the Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization, published in France Ob-
servateur. Similar plans were out-
lined in an Express article by
Abu Adnar, head of the PLO's
"liberation army."
Another aspect of Israel's strug-
gle with her neighbors was the
subject of an article in Revue de
La Defense Nationale in which
Jean Paul Mauriat, chief of the
French counter-intelligence serv-
ice, paid tribute to Israel's intelli-
gence services. M. Mauriat wrote
that the work of Ist'aeli intelli-
gence in the Six-Day War demon-
strated that great battles of the
future could be won even before
operations start. He said that "in
some embassies in France, 40 to
60 per cent of the personnel are
spies."

Tourists to Israel
In for a Busy Year

LONDON (JTA) — The director-
general of Israel's ministry of
tourism disclosed the calendar of
events with which Israel will mark
her 20th anniversary year in 1968
and which, she hopes, will not only
attract a record number of visitors
from abroad but permanent resi-
dents and immigrants as well.
Meir de Shalit, who stopped here
briefly to launch a tourist promo-
tion campaign, told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency that prepara-
tions for the 20th anniversary pro-
gram were being made on the
highest government level.
President Zalman Shazar offi-
cially inaugurated the year in a
special proclamation last Novem-
ber, which coincided with the 50th
anniversary of the Balfour Declara-
tion. Preparations are in the hands
of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol,
who heads a special ministerial
committee appointed for the pur-
pose.
The director-general of the prime
minister's office, Dr. Yaakov Her-
zog, is personally in charge of im-
plementing the program, and de
Shalit is in charge of information
and promotion abroad. He plans to
visit the Scandinavian countries,
Belgium, France and Italy on his
way home.
Some of the events coming up,
de Shalit said, are the tradi-
tional Purim carnival in Tel
Aviv, the presentation of the first
fruit on Shavuot, and the Inde-
pendence Day parade to be held
on May 2, for the first time in
a united Jerusalem.
An international trade fair will
be held in Tel Aviv from June 4-22.
There will also be celebrations of
Navy Day and Air Force Day, with
parades; and the traditional music
festival at Ein Gev, on the Sea of
Galilee, for the first time not men-
aced by Syrian guns, de Shalit said.
The international diamond indus-
try will hold its convention in Israel
this year, as will the Bahai, a
religious sect which has its temple
on Mt. Carmel in Haifa. There will
also be a convention of the Mahal,
foreign volunteers who fought in
Israel's armed forces; an interna-
tional congress of gynecologists; an
international conference of junior
chambers of commerce; the 27th
World Zionist Congress; and the
fourth conference of the World
Hebrew Union. A unique event will
be the world olympiad of para-
plegics, an event that usually takes
place at Stoke-Mandeville in Eng-
land where Prof. Ludwig Guttman
has established a world famous
rehabilitation center.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
2—Friday, January 12, 1968