Allon Urges Unity . . . Mrs. Meir May Be Interim Premier
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Acting Prime Minister Yigal Allon said that his interim "caretaker" government would act as a unified body io
the aftermath of the death of Premier Eshkol and would continue to assume collective responsibility for the nation's policies, even though,
according to Israeli law, coalition discipline is no longer binding. Allon spoke at the first cabinet meeting since Mr. Eshkol's death. His words
appeared to be more of a plea for unity than a statement of fact, observers said.
It appeared virtually certain, as a result of a near unanimous coalition vote Tuesday, that reins of government until next Octo-
ber's national election would be placed in the hands of Mrs. Golda Meir, 70, former foreign minister, former labor minister and Israel's
one-time ambassador to Moscow. Mrs. Meir, though out of active political life for several years, is still regarded as a major power in the dom-
inant United Labor Party. She was reportedly under heavy pressure from friends and Labor Party leaders to accept the interim premiership
in the interests of unity within the party and the nation.
Mrs. Meir is the choice of Labor Party Secretary General Pinhas Sapir, former finance minister and minister-without-portfolio in
the Eshkol coalition who was lobbying strenuously on her behalf with other coalition partners. Her influence was believed capable of
preventing a bitter showdown struggle for Mr. Eshkol's mantle between Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and acting Prime Minister Allon.
Mrs. Meir was openly opposed to the appointment of Gen. Dayan as defense minister by Mr. Eshkol on the eve of the June 1967 war.
(Detailed Stories on Page 40)
Debate Over
Christians
Attitudes on
Developing
Jewish Issues
Commentary
Page 2
Vol. LIV, No. 25
El Fatah Terror:
Nasser, Hussein
and Factual
Record of
Campaign
Against Israel
HE JEWISH NE
i=,-.1-FQ
A Weekly Review
IN.I1 I I—I I GA. N.1
of Jewish Events
Editorial
Page 4
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
$7.00 Per Year; This Issue 20_c
...SeaS0 27
17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit—VE 8-9364—March 7, 1969
Israel Phase-Out Reportedly
Favored by Nixon; Predicts
Possible Mid East Peace Talks
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
Eban Brands Statements
by Nasser as Inimical
to Middle East Peace
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Foreign Minister Abba Eban re-
acted angrily to Egyptian President Nasser's New York
Times interview in which Col. Nasser predicted a new
war unless Israel withdrew from every inch of territory
occupied in the 1967 war and repatriated all Palestinian
refugees who left since 1948.
Eban called Col. Nasser's remarks to correspondent
C. L. Sulzberger " a startling rejection of political truths
and human values," and said he would "discuss the im-
plications of the statements with other governments and
with Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring," the UN special
peace envoy.
Sulzberger reported that Col. Nasser spoke to him
for two hours at the presidential residence in Cairo on
Feb. 26 in the presence of his close friend, Mohammed
Hassanein Heykal, editor of the Cairo daily Al Ahram.
"Mr. Nasser estimates that there are more than one
million Palestanian Arab refugees," Sulzberger reported.
"He gives the impression that he t does not expect Israel
to accept a political solution on the terms he suggests
and that therefore a solution must be found by other
means."
Eban, whose comments were published Sunday in
the daily Haaretz, declared that it was "evident among
other things that Nasser effectively rejects the Security
Council's resolution of November 1967 for the establish-
ment of permanent peace with Israel in secure and rec-
(Continued on Page 6)
JTA Jewish News Washington Correspondent
-
WASHINGTON (JTA)—President Nixon reportedly told Congressional leaders Tuesday
that he envisions a plan for a "phased" withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories as
part of a possible move toward a settlement of the Mid East crisis, it was learned.
According to a reliable source, Mr. Nixon told nearly 20 leaders in a White House brief-
ing that the withdrawal would be gradual and would involve backward movement toward a series
of so called "series of security belts" and "security points."
The phase-out, he reportedly said, would be accompanied by Israel-Arab negotiations lead-
SM
ing to a peace settlement and Arab recognition of Israel. Mr. Nixon did
not cite this envisioned plan at his press conference.
Sources said that the President hoped that the Big Four would
help persuade both sides to accept the "phased" formula.
President Nixon made clear his firm belief Tuesday that
Mid East peace depends upon a Soviet manifestation of sincere interest
in a settlement. Whether it will be forthcoming will be made clear,
he indicated, in coming days.
The President told a nationally-televised press conference devoted
exclusively to foreign affairs that he was "cautiously hopeful" about prog-
ress toward a Mid East solution and that there had been "considerable
progress" in this connection in the past week.
Mr. Nixon said that he and Secretary of State William P. Rogers
had had "encouraging talks" with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin
on the Mid East. These bilateral discussions will go on," he said, "and if
they continue at their present rate of progress, it seems likely that there will be Four Power dis-
cussion in the United Nations on the Mid East."
He declared that any Four-Power talks cannot lead to an imposed settlement. "The time
has passed in which great nations can dictate to small nations their future, where their vital inter-
ests are involved," he declared.
Local Clergymen Express Revulsion
as New Hangings Feared in Iraq
Amid conflicting reports over the fate of seven Iraqis following a new mock spy trial, Christians and
Jews here and abroad protested the continuing mass hangings in Baghdad.
Their occurrence at a time when Jews have been celebrating the festival of Purim was noted in many quar-
ters. Rabbi Leon Fram, chairman of the rabbinical commission of the Jewish Community Council, pointed out that
Purim commemorates the foiling of a plot to exterminate the Jews of Persia 2,300 years ago. "Today," he said,
"the joy of the Purim festival is impaired by the fact that in the same area of the world a conspiracy to destroy
human lives, Jewish and others, is again being perpetrated.
"All the Jewish people will be praying ... that all the decent people of the world will finally awaken
to these repeated crimes against all human life and all human dignity and that the governments of the decent
world
will act decisively to condemn the – crimes and take appropriate measures against the criminals."
free
At a press conference Tuesday, Christian and Jewish leaders in Detroit issued statements of con-
demnation
of the Iraqi executions. Said the Rev. James E. Garrison of the Danish Lutheran Church: "The
'
Danish people and religious community helped rescue Jewish people from the Nazi executions in 1944 and
sense a similar need to reach out today to prevent executions of people, some because they are Jews."
The NAACP Detroit branch president, Tom Turner, expressed "horror that this kind of barbarism continues
to be displayed in Iraq. As a minority group in American society, black people are always sensitive to injustice
perpetrated upon any minority group anywhere in the world.
"The disgusting history of lynching in this country," said Turndr, "makes us keenly aware of exterminations
elsewhere in the world, and we join with our Jewish brethren in protesting this outrage and in appealing to the con-
Sciences and decency of the Iraqi government to put an end to this evil."
Other statements were issued by officers of the Wayne County AFL-CIO, Council of Catholic Women Arch-
diocese of Detroit, Council of Churches of Metropolitan Detroit and the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. Dr. Henry
Hitt Crane, minister emeritus of Central Methodist Church; Dr. Ralph Reed, former minister and now professor
added their
of sociology at Lawrence Institute of Technology; and Brig. General S.L.A. Marshall, military analyst,
(Continued on Page 10)
names to the list of protestors.
(Continued on Page. 5)
Cuba Training El Fatah?
Israelis Checking Report
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News)
The foreign ministry an-
nounced Tuesday that the Israeli legation in
Havana has been instructed to investigate reports
that El Fatah members were being trained by
Cuban army officers on Cuban soil.
The report appeared Monday in the newspaper
Yediot Ahronot. . Cuban diplomats here could
neither confirm nor deny it and said they were
awaiting word from Havana.
JERUSALEM
—
The foreign ministry said that if the report turned out
to be correct, Israel would regard it as a hostile action
and would consider a proper counter action.
Israel and Cuba maintain diplomatic relations but these
cooled considerably when Cuban leaders made anti-Israel
statements during the Six-Day War.
According to sources here, certain leftist circles in Is-
rael supported Fidel Castro with money and material in
the initial stages of the Cuban revolution 10 years ago.
Israeli experts were sent to Cuba to help in recon-
struction, but that aid was suspended as a result of Anti-
Israel remarks by Cuban leaders.