Purely Commentary
The Terror and Its Aim to Kill and to Destroy
Plus the View of Israeli Students Who Outline the
Jewish View and the Need for Action for Survival.
' find the Mufti complaining to Hit-
Terror does not always end in destruction. In a society in which people are willing to see both ' ler that too many Jewish•children
When
sides, to judge the effects of threats to a people's security in the light of that people's determined will were managing to escape?
we were the ones who Were weak
to survive, there is always the possibility of arriving at a soluble solution.
Newsweek carried two sets of interviews with spokesmen for Israel and the Arab leaders who head and sought Arab allies to oust the
the so-called guerrillas. The Israelis are pleading for a chance to discuss the issues, to arrive at the British we found no one, and six
means to be pursued if and when there is to be some sort of withdrawal from areas now administered , million of our brethren suffered
You are
because of o our
by Israelis.
A more direct discussion w
as published in an important Israeli magazine that circulates not only late with your revelation.
You
claim
that
I
don't
recognize
in Israel but even more widely among. peace•loving and amity-seeking peoples in the English speaking
il aubsitt Otte lls p eystiku_
e. thI e m
Arabs. New Outlook, the Middle East monthly that is now tyh•oautr 1 e m
x i tent ein
countries and
The Views of the El Fatah and an Israeli's Reply to the Terror
especially among the moderate
being quoted widely wherever the Arab-Israel issues are being discussed is edited by Jews and by Arabs.
Its purposes declare among other points, that it strives . 13 reflect those aspirations and accomplishments ing to phantoms; the fact that I
in-
You the
T
akhatt oi see
in ' the economic, social and cultural Melds that are common to all the peoples and coutries of the area seek you out
o ut t o s speak
opposite.
(the Middle East) and could, given the elimination of frictions and animosities, flourish and produce dicate Ys
i have
en:i
your
hotu anna t iyo1
of gy
an ever greater abundance of well being and happiness."
acharacter o
smin
In its current issue, New Outlook refers to an appeal that was published in an earlier issue from
different
the National Union of Israel Students to the El Fatah. In response it received a letter from a spokes - no doubt.
man for the "Palestine Liberation Organization," New Outlook published that letter, which follows, with a You ask why I point a gun at
reply to it from the National Union of Israeli Students. In the interest of an understanding of the psycho - yo u and I answer quite simply
logical approaches, the social aims, the human aspects, of a serious struggle, we present these letters that to
(n es youon arefro
m ece aus
i t is sto because
herewith:
ing
Last month's open letter to Al - ' us but for what you have done? mothers nr, i.0 waste away in tents. admit).
Fatah brought a reply, which we Yes, your "right" and my "right"
If the waNd feels that the in-
And what is your father's land?
passed on to the National Union are clashing, but it is you v.•io justice done to the Jews in Europe is it the swamps of the Jordan, the
of Israeli Students which had au- have a stranglehold on us; if we will make this injustice acceptable, Hula, the Yizrael and Hadera that
thored the original appeal. We are do not lash out, will we not perish then we have no choice but to kill my father reclaimed by sacrificing
publishing the letter and the an - —or do you expect us to beg par - and maim. There is a limit to his body to malaria; is it the des-
swer, without any further corn- don? Your "leaders" have led you reason and civilized behavior. We
e e d ingNewgienvci
thned e rth
ment now, except for the hope that astray; you have been given an no longer stand for the rape of w
erhtserenfhe Judea a
no matter how excruciatingly insidious dose of Zionist (or so- our country and our rights.
for ever particle of precious top-
painful the discussion is it will called "Zionist") Ideals. This is a • If. you really wish to stop this soil; is it the land that is covered
he continued and taken up •-Y
, ■
Zionism that regards us as an ex- bloodshed and madness, it is you by the 100,000,000 trees that he
others. S.B.
trancous factor, a people to be who must begin, my dear studen!s. placed lovingly between the rocks?
To the National Union of Israeli i pacified, a people to be paid, a How to go about it is not my prOb - Do you claim Tel Aviv and Dimona
Students
I natural obstacle, like the rocks, to lem. Look into your own hearts - as yours also? Why, if we reclaim
'0 children of my accursed en- be removed in order to settle the your words and your bombs will wasteland, is your nationalism in-
emies !
land ! not make us disappear. I wish you hibited? What is your nationalism
Yes, I am a ''terrorist". I have Yes, there is similarity in the success in your studies and even and • wherefore the hope for peace
killed some of you—it may have fervor with which we regard our greater success in your self-study. if your nationalism is thwarted by
been your father, your brother. cause and the v•ay you believe in One way we might together study progressive actions on our part?
What a terrible thing to have toyour cause, and until you regard and together live in this beautiful
What is our stranglehold on you?
say to 2..ou, even in a letter. Never - both as having equal weight, we country.
Why will you perish? Most of your
theless, I ant writing to you—wh2.? have nothing to talk about. If you Palestine Liberation Organization people are living on Palestinian
First of all, your open letter will not consider that we have an A.M.H. land on both sides of the Jordan
seemed sincere and, secondly, equal "right of return" to Pale - To my Cousin, the Son of Ishmael and you still claim that you will
whereas for your' fathers I have stine as a Jew from the U.S., then I cannot tell you how happy we perish unless you add to this ter-
nothing but contempt, you who I will continue to fight for a gov- were when we heard from New ritory the area we have. I was not
might be of my age, who might ernment that will recognize this. Outlook that they had received a aware that the Palestinian nation-
have been born in this beautiful I do not take pleasure in what I letter from you in reply to our ef - ality was so fragile.
land, might understand some of do—the fear, the sadness of brotn- fort. It looked as if we might be You call Zionism insidious. Is
my feelings. I Will try to explainers being killed by you, the ter- starting down a new path—a ray of this not an arrogant and conde-
why I am fighting you. I rible odds against us, make me hope in the darkness of the Middle scending denial of my right to na-
First, why do I kill? I belong to sometimes want to put an end to East. But when we read your let- tional liberation and self-determin-
an Organization, yes, an extreme myself. But then, what will happen ter the ray quickly faded and I am ation? Is it not you.who, by dis-
organization, for I feel that there to Palestine? I must not allow all filled with disappointment and sor - missing the Jewish\ Liberation
is no other way, no choice. You those who have died before me row (all the more so because you Movement with offhand diatribe,
consider that you have a right to and are continuing to fall every exhibit such a love of life and deny my right to existence? Zion-
this land: I am convinced that a day, to have died in vain. humanity !) by the fact that you ism is our movement of national
grave injustice has been done to
I write to you because I think advocate and practice violence, liberation. It is in our hearts. It is
us Palestinians and if we do not that not all of you are so blinded thinking that this type of action the Zionism of the heart which
make a final attempt we will have by your military might that you do will solve all your problems.
brings a university professor to
lost our rights to our lands com- not see our conviction. With those
We feel that the key to peace make a decision to risk his life, by
pletely. We stand the chance of who might have some sympathy lies not in violence but in the rec- volunteering to give lectures to
being wiped off the list of nations with us, we can speak and argue. ognition of each other's right to soldiers in bunkers at the Suez
—like Biafra ! It is we who are But we cannot wait, while you ar- exist, we as Israelis and you as Canal. It is the Zionism of the
fighting for our very existence !
gue amongst yourselves in endless Palestinians. We must find a way heart which makes a Tel Aviv
In spite of all your historical ev- Talmudic arguments, while every to live together or more people doctor give up his lucrative prac-
idence of "rights" to this land, it day each dunam of our precious will surely die.
lice and go to work in a develop-
is a fact that my father, and his Palestine is being added to the
I shall not, at this point in our ment town in the Negev. And it is
fattier, lived and worked on a part Jewish state. Time is on your side. correspondence, cast about in the this Zionism which brought us to
of this land you claim as yours. If Force is on your side. But simple sea of history to prove our claims write to you!
we stand helpless and simply wait humanity is on our side. Your to our land. Suffice it to say that
You claim that you overcome
—you will rapidly consolidate your leaders may twist and turn to history is full of examples which your sadness and the urge to give
position and use your larger make devillish pacts with the support your case and examples up by thinking of those who have
amounts of money and superior crooked Arab regimes, but no mat - which support our case. Yet, you already struggled and died (that
technique to settle the land there- ter what piece of paper is signed would dispute my
"historical they have not died in vain). Why do
by overriding our claims—backed anywhere, we will continue to fight rights" to this and by referring to you fail to see that this is our
up, of course, with your force of until we determine our own future. your father and grandfather work- motivation also?
arms.
And why do you feel our military
0 young Israeli student—I have ing and living on this land before
Therefore. if I don't fight and nothing to say to you. What do you we came to impose our will by su - might blinds us to your conviction;
use every means at my disposal study? How to irrigate better pily perior techniques and force of or even that the belief in our
now - 1 and my brothers will have poor land? How to make better arms. By what way did the first military might (as the only thing
lost our Palestine—and no one in weapons to suppress us? How to Arabs come to this land and con- guaranteeing our survival) is con-
the world will mourn for us. Do improve methods to conquer our solidate their position here if not tradictory to recognizing your coal
you know that my father, who was a minds?
by the use of superior techniques viction; or that even those of us
simple villager near one of "your"
Why do you not study the blood and force of arms? Is this the es- who are the most sympathetic to
towns, once believed in a bi-na- that we have shed and the dreams sence of this problem? Does this your dilemma are not the best and
tional state and neighborly coex - saturated in it? Turn away from line claim a moral base? For if it bravest soldiers when defending
istance? Ile died a brokenhearted your books and look to your fel- does, you are simply saying that the solution to our dilemma? Here
man, penniless and never having low-men, your leaders. Talk 1 0 all we (the Israelis) have. to do is again, you sink into insulting dia-
seen his farm again. I was lucky them first, convince them first to wait long enough and the passing tribe; these "Talmudic" discus-
to reach a high educational l level look at us and we will perhaps or time will purify this problem sions that you so scornfully dismiss
and I have completed one year of then he visible to you. Until then, of all moral and ethical considera- are the essence of Jewish soul and
university. But I have left to be- and until you negotiate our equal ations. I reject this—we Israelis spirit—soul that reognizes the sub-
come a man of violence because rights to this blood-soaked land— must not play wait and see (as tlety and complexity of the search
I am deeply convinced that the fu-' I have nothing to say to you--and your ancestors did) but must ad- for true justice and doesn't look for
of Palestine depends on pen- at night I will creep past your ma- dress ourselves to the ehtical and the escape which the impatient
plc like us, and on us alone. Wechine guns to lay a piece of my moral implications of our pres- over simplifications of terrorist
a th t rends
y relyitsIth
p
tainsoul
must put a stop to our terrible soul near your homes and await ence here in this land. Please do rather,
„endtiiheasts,
suffering and if we must be deci- eagerly the too small explosion— not use the time that you have
im
heart
mated by a cruel and cunning en- for you, too, are invisible, faceless spent in this land as an argument; arguments" for the way out of the
emy who speaks to everyone but to me. I have no son, my time is it absolves my people too easily maze.
does not even recognize our exist- spent in living like an animal. But from having to deal with you.
You claim that while time and
ence—then we will die fighting.
perhaps some of you have sons
You say that your father once force are on my side, simply hu-
-.0, young men and women of I s - who will also grow up and be believed in a bi-national state. But
who
is on your side. I have no
rael, why do you stand on
m Y us
fa " taught that it is honorable to take when Bober and Magnes (and doubt that reasonable and intel li-
ther's
land and
a gun
h 1 ehumanity
ntan dni
eot takes
and expect
us point
to speak
to at you"
rifle in hand and "settle" a small others; yes, even those in the gent
soirtieena m
in-
piece of the land, to guard it for Zionist Establishment who were
confused m
We are the injured party—don't hi s son d so on.
willing to give these ideas a regard to this very complex prob-
you want to feel sadness, not for
In the meanwhile I will die in chance) were running around lem. I could write the same self-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS1 mud and bullets and my brothers, looking for Arab partners, did Pitying phrases to you (as some of
2 — Friday, May 1, 1970
and their brothers will die and our they find your father? Or did they our propagandists are not loath to
By Philip
Slomovitz
do) and it would have the same
effect—nothing, except perhaps to
make me feel better. It certainly
does not excuse either one of us
from looking hard into the roots of
the problem so as to understand
one another.
You accuse me Of trying to make
peace with "crooked Arab re-
gimes"—I plead guilty; they are
crooked and we are trying to make
peace with them. However, may I
beg to point out that you have yet
to prove yourself less crooked than
they. It is nice being a terrorist;
one cannot be judged, as you judge
others.
"We will continue to fight until
we determine our own future," you
state. Be careful, my cousin, you
are beginning to sound like a Zion-
ist! Do you think that we will set-
tle for anything less? Do you think
that we will settle for the status of
a "tolerated" minority—that glori-
ous fate that we have experienced
for so long—in your non-sectarian
Palestinian State? Do you think
that we can suffer that everywhere
in the world our culture is the
"suburb" of some majority culture
and nowhere the metropolis? We
do not wish your tolerance — we
demand your acceptance. We did
not return to our homeland to as-
similate, to be Jewish Arabs, as
you would have it, but to rid our-
selves, once and for all, of having
to look to others to determine our
fate. We will determine our future
and we will continue to fight to
guarantee this self-determination.
There is no self determination as a
tolerated minority, only self delu-
sion.
Your colorful description of what
will happen to me unless I con-
vince my leaders to "look" at you,
I find distractiong but not very
illuminating. Perhaps I would be
more convinced by your pathetic
description of your present and fu-
ture if you evinced the slightest
sort of sympathy for the sufferings
of the Jews ih the Arab countries.
You deny your responsibility; this
is the work of Syrians, Iraqis, and
Egyptains, you say, and not Pales-
tinians—but I am not convinced.
You say that there is a limit to
civilized behavior — in discussing
your injustice—and that that limit
gives you no choice but to kill and
maim. Be careful, my cousin, your
reasoning carries you into danger-
ous territory and may be used
against you. I do not think that
ethical behavior is so easy; that
because innocent civilians die in
your bomb attacks on us, we have
"no other choice" but to place
bombs in your schools, buses and
markets. Be careful, because your
worlds may be used to justify the
demands of Israeli hotheads, that
we respond to you in kind. I have
a face and soul and your simply
saying that I am faceless and in-
visible to you does not absolve you
from the responsibility of looking
for that face and soul.
You co,...iude poorly, my cousin;
you throw all the responsibility on
my shoul,..ers as if you are the
helpless victim of fate and I am
molding that fate. Many Israelis
feel the opposite is true; that your
own adament refusal to recognize
us has been the cause of all our
troubles. But if there is to be any
hope for peace and justice, each
man—each of us—must hold him-
self responsible for trying to see
the other man, to search for jus-
tice and, by that, peace for both of
us.
You wish me success in my stu-
dies—I thank you. You wish me
success in my self-study—I pray
for your similar success. You want
Arab and Jews to live together—
How? Lobbying mortar shells is a
poor way to tell me that you want
me, even as a "tolerated" minor-
ity, in your state.
The tack that you took in your
letter was very discouraging, for it
left us no choice but to answer
your accusations and accusations
are always a poor way to start off
discussions about peace. Yet, we,
at least, feel that we must continue
(Continued on rage 48)