Statesmen From Many Lands Honor Eshko 's Memory , (Continued from Page 1) half mast, and all places of enter- tainment were closed. Mourning for a man who was one of the pil- lars of the world Zionist movement and of the Yishuv, the Jewish community of Palestine, as well as one of the founders of the state of Israel, was mixed here with con- cern the effect of his sudden death would have on the domestic politi- cal situation and on Israel's inter- national position. Mr. Eshkol and his closest asso- ciates, Minister Without Portfolio Pinhas Sapir and former Foreign Minister Golda Meir, were firmly in control of the Israel Labor Party machinery and were able to keep personal rivalries with regard to the succession in check. The party with its political alignment. with the Mapam Party, has a parliamen- tary majority. Mr. Eshkol's an- nouncement that he would seek to retain premiership after the Oc- tober general elections had avert- ed a bitter struggle within the party by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, Deputy Prime Minister Al- Ion, and possibly others, to suc- ceed Mr. Eshkol. Israeli officials dismissed as utter nonsense claims immedi- ately broadcast by the Arab terrorist organization El Fatah that Mr. Eshkol had died as a result of wounds suffered when the terrorists shelled his resi- dence in Degania last week. They pointed out that Mr. Esh- kol had not been in Degania since the beginning of, the month. (United Press International cor- respondent Jacob Friedler, who visited Degania Tuesday, said rockets fired by the guerrillas caused neither damages nor cas- ualties.) Levi Eshkol was one of the last of the members of the Second Aliya to hold high office in Israel. Of his contemporaries and associ- ates over a half century, David Ben Gurion, whom he succeeded as prime minister, is in the politilal background now, and Mrs. Golda Itleir, the former foreign minister, no longer holds public office al- though she remains a power in the Israel labor party. A native of the Ukraine, Levi Shkolnik (he changed his name in 1948 when Israel's statehood was established) emigrated to Palestine in 1914 and worked as a laborer. When the Jewish Legion was es- tablished, he volunteered and saw service along with Mr. Ben-Gur- ion and the late Itzhak Ben-Zvi, Is- rael's second president. As a cor- poral in the Jewish Legion, he witnessed the dedication of the Hebrew University on Mount Sco- pus and in Jerusalem and, almost. 50 years later, as prime minister, participated in the dedication of its building there after the road to Scopus had been opened up in the Six-Day War. He was a founder of the colony of Degania Beth, at Lake Tiber- ias, where he maintained a home and was an active member of the Jewish labor movement all his life. His political rise was slow and laborious and his role was overshadowed by the great luminaries of the Zionist labor movement—Mr. Ben-Gurion, the late Chaim Arlosorof and the late Moshe Sharett. First in the Zionist movement and the Jewish agency and then in the Israel government, be proved himself in difficult assignments with the portfolio of agriculture and fi- nance. Mr. Eshkol became prime minis- ter and minister of defense on June 26, 1963, when Ben-Gurion stepped down in his favor and he held both posts until May, 1967 when on the eve of the Six-Day War, he surrendered the defense post to Gen. Dayan. Previously Mr. Eshkol and Ben- Gurion had split over the so-called "Lavon Affair" and Ben-Gurion sought the defeat and removal from the political scene of the man he had designated to succeed him- self. In his struggle with Mr. Esh- kol over the case, Ben-Gurion seceded from the Mapai party with a group of his followers, among them Gen. Dayan, set up and inde- pendent labor party (Rafi) and began to build up Gen. Dayan as a challenger to Mr. Eshkol and as a future prime minister. The major threat to Israel's ex- istence posed by the Arab states in May 1967 led to the establish- ment of a government of national unity and, ultimately, to the re- turn of Rafi to a new United Is- rael Labor Party — a step that Ben-Gurion bitterly opposed. Mr. Eshkol displayed superb political skill in creating the new labor party and in welding together the dissident elements which had broken away from Mapai over the years. But even his critics con- ceded that he was more than a politician and was entitled to be called a statesman with a complete grasp of Israel's domestic and in- ternational problems. Mr. Eshkol professed himself to be a Socialist but of the Fabian brand. He never be- lieved that socialism in itself would solve the "Jewish prob- lem" and he cooperated with The Detroit Israel Bond Organization mourns the passing of the Prime Minister of Israel whose life and work were dedicated to the historic rebirth of the Jewish people in its restored homeland. He guided the State of Israel through perilous times with wisdom, courage and humanitarian statesmanship. His career and 1- is leadership were a banner of inspir- ation and faith not only to thepeople of his country but to the Jewish people throughout the world. His many achievements in agricultural settle- ment, redemption of the soil and economic develop- ment will live forever as a glorious chapter in the epic of nation building. We share the grief of his people. ROBERT BRODY and sorrow of his family and LOUIS E. LEVITAN Detroit Director General Chairman MRS. MORRIS L SCHAVER Women's Division Chairman other parties and people of other views. Above all, a prac- tical man, he knew and was prepared to take steps that other Socialists regarded with dismay to attract capital to Israel and to develop the country's econ- _ oniY. In his foreign policy. Mr. Eshkol represented the trend in Israel which was prepared to go to great lengths to achieve a stable peace and which considered that a bad peace was preferable to a good war. He was ready to make com- promises but he was firm on such issues as the permanent unifica- tion of Jerusalem. His personal efforts at diplomacy—his visits to Britain and the United States — were successful and had tangible results but, basically, Mr. Eshkol's major interests were economic problems and home affairs gen- erally. Mr. Eshkol was not so preoc- cupied with the problems of Israel as to forget the Jewish communities overseas. He was deeply inter- ested and concerned in develop- ing as strong ties as possible be- twen the Diaspora and the state and he was deeply concerned over the problems of the Jews abroad —the threat to the Jewish com- munities in the Soviet Union and Poland, their suffering in the Arab states, the threat of assimila- tion and alienation in the more prosperous lands. He was also con- cerned that younger Israelis know more about their Jewish heritage and their kinship with the Jews outside Israel. Mr. Eshkol was married twice. He had four daughters by his first wife, Elisheva. He remarried in 1964 and is survived by his second wife, Mrs. Miriam Eshkol. . Tributes Pouring In NEW YORK (JTA)—United Na- tions Secretary General U Thant was among the first of the world's leaders Wednesday to mourn the death of Israel's Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. U Thant sent a message to Foreign Minister Eban which said he was "deeply distressed" to learn of the death and asked Eban to "convey to the members of the government and the prime minister's family my profound sympathy and sincere con- dolences." In Washington, Israel's ambas- sador to the United States, Gen. Itzhak Rabin, termed Mr. Eshkol "a man of the people ... an archi- tect of Israel's democracy." In a statement, the- envoy said that "from the days of his youth when he labored as a pioneer farmer draining swamps in the Jordan Valley until his last hours as prime minister . . . he devoted his whole being to Israel's rebirth." The embassy and Israel's eight consulates throughout the United States announced a seven-day mourning period and lowered its flags to half staff. All the legations opened memo- rial books on a table that also bore a picture of Mr. Eshkol and a memorial candle. The first Washington figure to the embassy there was Sen. Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. He arrived at 9:15 a .m. Ambassador Rabin sent an offi- cial note on the death to the Wash- ington diplomatic community and cancelled all official functions. The embassy was to have given a reception Sunday for the Israel Chamber Orchestra after a per- formance in the capital. A spokesman for the Israel con- sulate in New York said that the orchestra would continue to give its scheduled concerts in various parts of the United States this week but probably would change its program to music suitable to the organization's mood. A number of American Jewish leaders notified the consulate that they would fly to Israel to attend the funeral. Two cabinet ministers in the United States were to return im- mediately to Israel. They were The late Israel Prime Minister Levi Eshkol is shown here being welcomed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, prior to the two-day meeting the two leaders held at the LBJ Ranch in Texas. Finance Minister Zeev Sharef and Housing Minister Mordehai Ben- tov. Torczyner, Zionist Jacques Organization of America presi- dent, sent a cable to Allon. Arthur J. Goldberg, Ameri- can Jewish Committee president, pledged in a cable to Allon "our renewed efforts to help create the just and lasting peace in the Middle East that would be the finest memorial to Levi Eshkol." (As we go to press, local groups have not cancelled their meetings, but the Jewish Na- tional Fund announced that two scheduled events will be utilized as memorials to the departed leader. Local groups, including the Jewish Community Council, the Jewish National Fund and the Zionist Organization of De- troit and the Israel Bond Organ- ization, issued messages of con- dolence). Among the Jewish organizations that expressed, condolences were the United Synagogue of America, representing 826 Conservative synagogues in the United States and Canada, and the Central Con- ference of American Rabbis, spokesman for the 1,000 Reform Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada. Messages were also sent by the THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Mirachi Women, a religious Zion- ist organization who called Mr. Eshkol brilliant, effective and quiet—an "exponent of Jewish idealism"; Bnai Israel, the Ameri- can fraternal Zionist organization, which termed him a "Lion of Judah"; and Bnai Brith, which said he was a "pragmatist and visionary" and cited his "self effacing humor, Yiddishkeit and constant concern for the faith in the cultural unity and advance- ment of the Jewish people: " From Montreal, it was repOiled that cables expressing sympathy were sent to the Israel government by Samuel Bronfman, Canadian Jewish Congress honorary presi- dent, who spoke for the Canadian Jewish community and by officials of the CJCongress and the Zionist Organization of Canada. A memo- rial meeting sponsored by the Jewish organizations of Canada is being scheduled. Arthur J. Lelyveld of Cleveland, American Jewish Congress presi- dent, and Dr. Joachim Prinz of Newark, chairman of its commis- sion on international affairs, said in a statement that Mr. Eshko] had been "a friend and beloved col- league." They said he had la- bored tirelessly to establish Israel as the example of justice and democracy in the Middle East." Friday, February 28, 1969-37 In His Life We Were Blessed. In His Death We, of the JEWISH NATIONAL FUND, Stand Bereaved. May the Blessing of His Memory Serve to Guide and Strengthen Us.