ZOA Re-Elects Torczyner; Convention Sets
Program for Expanded Education and Aliya
Jacques Torczyner
Special to The Jewish News
LOS ANGELES—The 72nd annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America, held here last weekend at the Century Plaza
Hotel, unanimously re-elected Jacques Torczyner as president after adopting a constitutional amendment to permit the extention of the incum-
bent's term of office for another year. Torczyner served as president for four terms.
Other officers elected at the convention included Philip Slomovitz of Detroit, who was elected one of the national vice presidents.
Convention decisions included a program for expansion of educational and public relations activities and for renewed efforts to
encourage aliya of American youth for settlement in Israel as well as for study programs and for participation in the Mar Silver and the
Mollie Goodman High School.
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JEWISH NEWS
Rescuing Jews
From Moslem
Countries
•
Our Neighbors'
Deplorable Silence
Holy Days' Israel
Bond Appeal
Editorials
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VOLUME LV—No. 25
1=3E -1- F2C;01 -T-
A Weekly Review
I\/IICHIGAtV
of Jewish Events
17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit 48235—VE 8-9364—September 5, 1969
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Commentary
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
Alle 27
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Dayan Draws
Upon Biblical
Inspiration,
Holding Fast
to Formula of
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$7.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c
U.S. Action Sought to Prevent
Hijacking; Two Israelis Are Still
in Damascus; Pilots May Strike
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. (JTA)—Secretary General U Thant returned
to his desk Wednesday from Mexico and was reported by his staff giving
immediate consideration to the communication from Olav Forsberg, presi-
dent of the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations, on the
hijacking by Arabs of the TWA airliner last week and the continued de-
tention of Syria of two of its Israeli passengers. The organization had
asked Thant to receive a delegation to discuss the situation.
Thant last Saturday described the hijacking as "a deplorable and
irresponsible act which could serve no useful purpose," and again, on
Monday, he expressed the hope that the two passengers still held in Syria
would be released soon "in the interest of international law and order and
security in air travel."
An oral appeal by Thant for release of the two men was passed on to
the Syrian government, which "took it very favorably," said a Syrian charge
d'affaires at the United Nations in an interview Tuesday. "My government
is acting," he said, "We held the two only for purposes of inquiry—since
our relation to Israel is one of belligerency. But we have no other sinister
purpose. I think the question will be settled soon. This is just my impres-
sion."
Syrian authorities are holding the two hijackers, one a 23-year-old
girl, Leila al'Khaled, who once studied science at the American University
in Beirut. She was born in Haifa and was described as being "a refugee
from the camp at Tyre," in southern Lebanon. It was she who forced the
TWA jet to Damascus at gunpoint. Her partner, Salim Isawi, 30, formerly
was a boxing champion in Syria.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed
Credit for the hijacking, is said by Israeli observers to have sought to cap-
ture either the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Itzhak Rabin, or the ambas-
sador to the UN, Yosef Tekoah.
(The Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit sent a wire to
U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers, supporting his position calling for
the release of all passengers on the hijacked plane.
(Another wire was sent to TWA, supporting the airline's insistence
on maintaining a presence in Damascus until all passengers are released.)
Consultations were continuing Wednesday on the call by 25 Moslem
states for an urgent meeting of the Security Council in connection with
the fire on Aug. 21 which severely damaged Al Aksa Mosque in the Old
City of Jerusalem.
The Moslem countries want the UN to conduct "an impartial investi-
gation" of the fire; to take action to prevent recurrence of any "act of
vandalism against or profanation of the holy places in Jerusalem;" and to
permit representatives of the Islamic countries to assess the damage to
the Mosque and prepare to execute plans for its repair.
The basic motivation of the call for the Council meeting would be
to seek further action on Security Council resolutions ordering Israel not
to change the status of Jerusalem.
Airline Pilots Threaten 24-Hour Protest Strike
PARIS (JTA)—The International Federation of Airline Pilots Associa-
tions threatened to call a 24-hour general strike of airline pilots unless
the United Nations took immediate action to secure the release of two
Israelis still held in Syria after their TWA plane was hijacked.
The strike warning was issued at an emergency meeting of IFALPA's
executive bureau here. It's chairman, Olaf Forsberg, of Finland, told news-
men later that the organization's 44.000 members could not stand idly by
as long as the two Israelis were detained. The strike proposal would require
approval of the national pilots' associations affiliated with IFALPA.
Trans World Airlines issued another statement Tuesday stressing that
it had no intention of abandoning its service to Tel Aviv. A statement
issued Monday said that TWA had no plans "at this time" to change the
Tel Aviv service schedule. The modified statement was issued by John
Corris, TWA director of public relations in Washington.
GENEVA (JTA)—Director General Knut Hammarskjold of the Inter-
national Air Transport Assn. (IATA) called on the nations of the world
to treat aerial hijacking like piracy on the high seas. He said that hijacking
such as the diversion of a TWA airliner to Damascus resulted from a gap
in the legal system.
Hammarskjold said that "if appropriate countermeasures are taken by
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Remaining 12,000 Polish Jews
Trapped by Exit Regulations
Hebrew University-Inspired Arab - Israel Kibutz
Friendship Visit Creates Hope for Cooperation
LONDON (JTA) — The special regulations which allowed Polish
'
expired in Poland Sunday. Jews wishing to
• leave that country from now on will be subject to the same restrictions
as all other Poles, which make it almost impossible for the average
.per_son to travel abroad, it was reported from Warsaw.
But there are only about 12,000 Jews left in Poland compared to
about 20,000 two years ago. Emigration depleted the Jewish community
especially since the government's anti-Zionist drive and purge of Jews
groin government, Communist Party and other jobs in the spring of 1968.
The Warsaw regime permitted Jews to emigrate but imposed severe
restrictions on the amount of cash and personal valuables they could
. take with them. Jews had to secure Israeli visas from the Netherlands
embassy in Warsaw which handles Israeli affairs in Poland since the
tatter's diplomatic break with Israel in June 1967. But Polish author-
ities announced last May that exit permits would no longer be granted
after Sept. 1, 1969. The date is the 30th anniversary of the Nazi inva-
sion of Poland which started World War II. On Sept. 1, 1939, there
Were an estimated 3,500,000 Jews in Poland. About 200,000 polish Jews
laholound refuge in Russia returned to Poland• after the-war.
JERUSALEM — While demonstrations and tensions were at a peak in East Jerusalem, Aug.
22, after the fire in the Al Aksa Mosque, a group of 10 Arabs from that part of the city, together
with their Jewish teachers, left for a kibutz in the Negev to attend an Arab-Israel friendship meet-
ing under auspices of the Hebrew University Adult Education Center.
The group was invited by young members of the kibutz as part of the ongoing Arab-Israel
cultural program initiated by the Adult Education Center just after the Six-Day War. For more than
two years, the Hebrew University institution has been sponsoring a cultural and social center in
Jerusalem's Old City where more than 150 Arabs—Christian and Moslem—are learning Hebrew, and
Jews from West Jerusalem are studying Arabic.
The two-day visit to the Negev kibutz was the second such visit by East Jerusalemites to this
settlement. Six months ago they had accepted an invitation from the kibutz members for a weekend
visit. Subsequently, several kibutz members paid return visits to their Arab guests, in their homes
in East Jerusalem.
The young Arabs participating in the kibutz tour represented some of the most active of the
Arab members of the cultural center in the Old City. Others from this group telephoned the spon-
sors to express their regret at not being able to leave Jerusalem. Stressing the significance of
their participation, one of the young Arabs asked his Jewish teacher whether he could fully ap-
preciate the fact that at this hour a group of East Jerusalemites had set out for a friendly Arab-
Jewish meeting.
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: Jews to emigrate to Israel
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