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October 18, 1968 - Image 2

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1968-10-18

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Purely Commentary

The Big Lie That Undermines
Peace Between Israel, World
Jewry and the Arab Nations

curity reasons and about the inadequacy of received
compensation. There were Arabs bitter because, as they
said, they were not being made to feel as an integral
part of the state; some spoke of being treated as second
class citizens.
But contrary to my own expectations. and as a rule
whose reality I came to accept not before boarding the
plane on my way back to the United States, I found no
confirmation whatsoever of widely circulated atrocity
and persecution stories. On the contrary, even the most
militantly and openly nationalistic Arabs did not hesitate
to deny reports of iron-fist rule of the Israeli occupation
authorities. As one Bedouin Sheikh told me, "The only
people who ever and in any sense need to fear the Is-
raelis are those involved with the Al Fatah. Other than
We note that the Arabs in territory held by the Israelis
prior to June the 9th, 1967, were, as they still are in all intents
that, not a single hair is missing from an Arab head
and purposes, second-class citizens, deprived of opportunities
because of an Israeli hand."
for higher education, discriminated against in labor and sub-
jected to restrictions in employment, movement and residence.
Another sheikh, Mohammed All el-Ja'bari, is the most
We are also concerned for the Arabs under recent Israeli
prominent Arab leader in the Israeli-held territories. He
occupation, exposed to harassment, intimidation, expulsion and
worse.
is the mayor of Hebron, a city of about 40,000, whose
We draw attention to such acts as the destruction of private
almost entire population stayed put when the Jordanian
houses, the bulldozing of residential areas,' the wiping out of
villages, the forcible change of the time-honored status quo
forces
left. Sheikh el-Ja'bari was a member of three
w ith regard to the Holy Places in the cities of Jerusalem and
Jordanian Cabinets, and he was also the man chosen,
Hebron, the dissolution of democratically elected Arab Municipal
Councils, the suppression of Arabic newspapers and the restric-
in
1949,
to crown King Abdullah as the sovereign of the
tion of religious practice.
just-annexed West Bank. He is anything but a timid
We are concerned about reports of the discovery of mass
graves, the collective shooting of civilians, the arrest and mal-
man. He has many complaints against Israel, which he
treatment of men and women students, poets and men of letters,
accuses of expansionism in the form of using the Bible
the unwarrantable sentences passed on teenagers, the punitively
long curfews and the. deportation of lawyers, judges, teachers,
to
provide a rationale for holding on to occupied terri-
feminist leaders, elderly statesmen and religious dignitaries.
tory. He vehemently protests the "intrusion" of a small
We cannot remain indifferent to the plight of those Arabs
who escaped annihilation or expulsion in 1948 and 1967, only to
group of Orthodox ews into' his city; which is holy to
be prohibited from perpetuating their national, religious and
them on the grounds that it contains the tombs of the
cultural heritage.
We appeal to enlightened opinion all over the world to call
Biblical progenitors of the Jewish people. While Sheikh
for the immediate cessation by the Israeli authorities, in accord-
Ja'bari
privately favors a negotiated settlement between
ance with the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the
Charter of the United Nations, of all forms of discrimination
Israel
and the Palestinian Arabs, he makes no bones
against the Arabs of Palestine.
about it that until such negotiations are under way and
We further appeal to civilized people all over the world to
ensure that the pledge given by the Israeli authorities 10
satisfactorily concluded, he does not recognize Israel
months ago to allow members of Arab families to be reunited
as a legitimate state.
with their relatives in occunied territories, be fulfilled.
We likewise appeal to civilized people all over the world to
I met the mayor of Hebron in his large office in the
ensure that the UN Resolution of 1948 (annually reaffirmed
municipality building. With him were some 15 city
by the UN since then) concerning the repatriation and compen-
sation of the Palestine Arab refugees be implemented without
notables,
summoned for the occasion. It was my impres-
further delay.
sion that they represented, unofficially, various shadings
There is so much misrepresentation in this statement,
of public opinion in Hebron. I was rather surprised by
the lie is so vast, that such progaganda could affect not
the mayor's large entourage, but I soon realized that it
only the status of the Middle East: it could injure the
was necessary as a sort of mutual watchdog committee
peace of the world because of the East-West involvement
of various factions. While most of the conversation was
in the area.
spontaneous and in English (the mayor's own words
It is important, therefore, that the truth should be
were translated by his aides), particularly delicate ques-
made known and all the facts definitely established.
tions were answered only after an internal discussion in
We turn to a brilliant thinker and a keen observer
Arabic, which was erroneously presumed not to be under-
to tackle the issue. M. S. Arnoni, editor of The Minority
stood by me and my companion. In these internal dis-
of One, a prominent left winger, a survivor from the
cussions fine nuances of position were argued out. When
Nazi Holocaust, went to Israel "ready to denounce either
no consensus would emerge, I was given as many an-
a guilty Israel or its malicious slanderers." He returned
swers as there were shades of opinion.
with a thorough analysis resulting from careful re-
search, and his story is too valuable in the interest of
Equivocal and often diplomatic as were his replies
truth to be ignored. The Arnoni report reads:
to other of my questions, when I inquired about the
The utter lack of veracity in the anti-Israel campaign
treatment the occupied Arab population was getting
of political libel and slander was sadly exemplified when
from the Israelis, Sheikh Ja'bari stated with emphasis:
two former Jordanian officials recently alleged at a news
"On this score, we have no complaints, and never had
any."
conference in Rome not only that Israel was enforcing
"oppressive military and emergency laws" in the occu-
"Do you mean to say that there have been no cases
pied areas, but also that it was "imposing death and life
of Israeli soldiers brutalizing Arabs, or looting their
imprisonment on the slightest suspicion of using arms."
property? No cases of rape or murder?" I inquired.
The former officials who made these accusations were
"I assure you," said the mayor, "that I am unaware
Mr. Rouhi el-Kharib, former mayor of Jordanian Jeru-
of any such cases, and I also assure you that I would
salem, and Mr. Rimahoui Kassem, former vice president
know of them if any had occurred. The Israeli army is
of the Jordanian parliament and information minister.
a well-disciplined army and it is obvious to us that or-
Their allegations stood in such clear contrast to well-
ders from above forbidding any excesses were strictly
known facts that reporters' sharp questioning eventually
enforced. True, in the first few days after the Israeli
forced the accusers themselves to withdraw their charges.
victory there were a few Israeli civilians who came here
Even more typical of the lie manufacture against Israel
with the idea that they might carry off a television set
was the "discovery" by Glos Robotniczy, a Communist
or some other property, but the Israeli army dealt with
party daily in Lodz, Poland, in an article from the pen
such people in short order and the discussion was 100
of editor Piotr Gosazczynski, that Israel's Defense Minis-
per cent effective."
ter General Moshe Dayan is in actuality none other than
"But what about all the reports of persecution,
SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny, notorious for having freed Mus-
abuses and atrocities I keep reading in a variety of pub-
solini from the partisans and for other unusual war
lications, communist and non-communist, from Moscow,
exploits, arid that Golda Meir, Israel's still influential
London and elsewhere?" I persisted.
one-time foreign minister, does not dare to reveal "Da-
"I don't care what anyone reports and I don't care
yan's" identity because she herself is hiding Hitler's
what his political motivation is, all such reports are
deputy, Martin Bormann, in her apartment. The ridiculous
untrue, they are lies. Here we are quite a few Arab
nature of many other accusations may not be equally
gentlemen in this room and I assure you that none of
obvious, but the lack of all scruples in concocting them
us is ever hesitant to make accusations when they are
is quite as total.
justified, but you will not find here anyone to contradict
I spent three weeks in Israel, most of that time
me on this issue. We have no complaints whatsoever
touring the occupied Arab territories and talking to Arabs,
against the Israeli military, it is a highly disciplined
prominent and ordinary, educated and illiterate, in cities
force whose behavior vis-a-vis the conquered population
and in the countryside, implacably hostile to Israel and
is exemplary. I will say this to anyone, anywhere, Arab
moderate, young and old. My stay in Israel has not made
or Israeli, American or U Thant himself."
me an expert on the problems of the Arabs under its
It was only after that meeting that I came across
administration. Nor can I claim to have collected suffi-
a statement Sheikh el-Ja'bari made as early after the
cient data to ascertain the validity of every accusation
end of the Six Day War as July 30, 1967, at a reception
and every praise I have heard. But I am satisfied that
of Arab notables: "I swear that no Israeli soldiers
I got "a feel" of the nature of the Israeli occupation;
harmed any of our residents .. . Before the war began,
that I had ample opportunity to register the presence or
we expected a mutual slaughter between our people and
absence, as the case may be, of a deliberately and gen-
the Israeli army. You can imagine how pleasant was
erally oppressive system. My study tour may not have
our surpise on 8 June, when the victorious army used
precluded a mistake on detail, but I do believe to posi-
common sense and showed that it was a well-organized
tively know whether the Arab population under Israel's
disciplined body . . . Since that day, our attitude toward
administration lives under tyranny. My no-buts absolu-
the Israel army has chinged, and we are cooperating
tion of Israel is based on numerous conversations most
with it and its commanders in an attempt to solve once
of which had not been prearranged, and most of which
and for all the painful and complicated Palestine
problem."
were conducted without the presence of anyone who might
conceivably have caused my interviewees to be inhibited.
The mayor of Hebron had had a particular reason
I have heard from many of them volumnious complaints
to fear the worst, a "mutual slaughter." Not only had
against Israel, its raison d'etre and policies. There were
King Hussein implored his subjects, "Kill the Jews
complaints of economic discrimination, for example,
wherever you find them. Kill them with your arms,
even if other people spoke of the same phenomena not
with your hands, with your nails and teeth," but he ex-
in terms of deliberate governmental discrimination, but
pected an old blood debt to be collected. The entire small
in terms of insufficient governmental help. There were
Jewish community in Hebron was in 1929 wiped out by
complaints about land expropriations supposedly for se- i ts Arab neighbors, and Sheikh Ja'bari himself is said
to have played a role in the bloody events. But, pru-
2 Friday, October 18, 1968 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
dently enough, believing him to be a potential factor

The Lie: Deadlier Than Bullets
Israel faces many dangers from saber rattlers. The
bullets are damaging.' But vastly more menacing than
deadly weapons are deadly words used to mislead people
and to spread hatred.
There is proof of the existence of this in many areas,
and it has spread especially among Arab propagandists
and from their quarters to many areas throughout the
world.
Typical of the resort to the lie is the full-page adver-
tisement that appeared in the London Guardian over the
signatures of hundreds of professors in Arab universities.
- Under the heading "An Appeal on Behalf of the Arabs of
Palestine Under Israeli Occupation" appeared this legend:

.



By Philip
Slomovitz

for peace, the Israelis appear to have "forgotten" thi s
chapter in the mayor's past.
Sheikh Ja'bari and his colleagues were but a few
of the hundreds of Arabs from whom I have heard es-
sentially similar appraisals. There was the mayor of
Bethlehem Mr. E. Bandek, there were many other
notables and common men. I could fill tens of pages
of print quoting them, but in none of the quotations
would there be a voice of complaint.
A friend told me of having attended a public meet-
ing in Tel Aviv, at which a former Jordanian Cabinet
member accused Israel of aggression by launching the
June 1967 war; an Arab host told me of listening to
nationalistic sermons broadcast from mosques over the
Israeli radio; and I myself watched Arab television
programs and heard Arab newscasts in settings as varied
as private homes in the Old City of Jerusalem and the
famous King David Hotel in the New City, from my
host's inconsiderate neighbor's radio, whose volume must
have been turned up to service the whole street. and in
inns along highways. No one seemed at all afraid to
openly listen to the propaganda broadcasts of Israel's
avowed enemies. I saw among the listeners armed Arab
policemen, and the presence of Jewish officers seemed
to impose no restraints. No one hesitated to express to
me sympathies for Nasser, Hussein or any other Arab
leader. Indeed, no one seemed afraid, period.
I have lived in several occupied countries. Under
the Nazis in Poland; in the part of post-war Germany
that was occupied by the Americans as well as in the
British, French and Russian occupation zones of that
country. I have been to Poland, Czechoslovakia and
other East and Central European countries garrisoned
by the friendly Red Army. But nowhere have I seen an
occupied population shortly after a war as unafraid,
natural and relaxed as are the Arabs of the West Bank.
It is not a hesitant and subdued but a self-assertive
population. Arabs along the usual tourist route seem
quite aware even of a special affinity Israelis have for
them and often manage to translate it into extra profit-
able commercial devices.
And why shouldn't they be relaxed? The occupation
itself plays but a small role in their daily lives. Their
autonomy is virtually total. The civil service in the
occupied areas, retained from the Jordanian administra-
tion, consists of about 10,000 men; the entire Israeli
occupation administration consists of about 200 men.
At first, the Israeli authorities demanded that school
textbooks be purged of particularly hateful matter against
the Jews and Israel, but then they gave up even on this.
The people come and go as they please and they
are encouraged to tour Israel. They come not only from
the occupied territories, but from all over the Arab
world. I have seen in Israeli hotels, people from just
about every Arab country, including places as remote
as Kuwait. When I asked Israeli military authorities
whether there wasn't a security risk in this free traffic
of Arab tourists, I was told that yes, indeed, there was
significant intelligence risk involved, but that it is deemed
acceptable in return for the benefit of Arabs learning
first-hand of the true nature of the Israeli state.
On the pragmatic side, which contrary to wide-
spread misconceptions, is very much one part of the
Arab personality, life has even improved for many under
Israeli occupation. Not only have effective wages risen
substantially, but previously unknown social services
have been introduced. I have encountered a surprising
number of Arabs who are fully conscious, and, one might
add, appreciative of these advantages. One of them,
a foreign-educated teacher, said to me: "We Arabs have
much to learn from the Jews, and we are learning al-
ready. The Jews are our best teachers of democracy.
Since June 1967 we have shed more oppressive rela-
tionships within our own society than in the previous
twenty years. Our rich, noble and powerful no longer
invoke such awe in the humble. We are learning from
the Jews that the differences among peeople, even if of
different birth and status, are not as great as centuries
of tradition have taught us. One must know something
about the relationship between an Arab military officer
and an Arab private, for example, to understand what
I am talking about. With us it is as if only one of them
were human, and it's the same in many areas. Or, at
least it was." Paradoxically, amidst the conquered Arab
population there are many who today for the first time
live under the protection of civil rights.
The life-as-usual under occupation focuses an ob-
server's attention on curiously split Arab attitudes. With
all one has read about Arab nationalism, nay, fanati-
cism, one is surprised at the amazing degree of practical
common sense adaptability of the Arab people. No
matter how fanatically nationalist the Arab's ideas, no
Matter how he can get himself verbally intoxicated in
an ego-building nationalistic frenzy, he is a great practi-
tioner of the art of getting along and making the best
of the circumstances. He has been conquered many
times, and the shock of being vanquished is by no means
as great as one would expect. If the new conqueror hap-
pens to be Israeli, you learn to speak his language,
seek out possible channels for commerce or employ-
ment, and make life as livable as you can. The stranger
is not so strange to the Arab, and political disappoint-
ment may well be something one would hardly know
how to live without.
In view of the scantiness of the Israeli presence in
the occupied areas, whether the Gaza Strip or the West
Bank, I was not only impressed by the seeming safety
of any public signs in Hebrew, but also by the addition
of Hebrew in signs over many Arab stores. The famed
Arab aptitude for languages is amply demonstrated by
(Continued on Page 48)

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