-
Slialiiiii - Teietiel'The Curled Meiling' -
Bitter Pills in Israel's West Bank Occupation,
Historic Data on Aid to Arabs and Rejections
A bitter pill continues to irritate
Israel's throat. The occupied terri-
tories present problems that are so
serious in nature that they test the
vitality of the small nation that is
tackling them with much earnest-
ness.
A noted Israel journalist, Shabtai
Teveth, who was on the front lines
covering the Six-Day War in 1967
and who served as correspondent
in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and
France, presents historical data for
which students of events in the
Middle East will be exceedingly
grateful, in a volume of great im-
portance as a collection of facts
on the territory now under Israel's
domination and on the personali-
ties who played significant roles
in this drama. -
Teveth's "The Cursed Blessing,"
published by Random House, por-
trays the occupation of the West
Bank by Israel—a feat that some
considered a blessing — and the
results, the agonies which account
for the "cursed" factors in a chal-
lenging situation.
Teveth has written a history of
the occupation that reads like a
novel. He goes into necessary de-
tails to describe the Israeli occupa-
tion, to explain how the leadership
did its utmost to establish the
friendliest relations with Arabs, at
times succeeding, often failing in
a serious effort to create the best
conditions for the elevation of
standards in the new areas under
Israel's rule.
Moshe Dayan and his associates,
Zvi Ofer who governed Nablus,
Brig. Gen. Shlomo Gazit and many
others, figure in this vital historical
chapter, the lessons of which are of
great importance.
A few brief references to Israeli
leaders and their attitudes serve
as guides to an understanding of
what is taking place in that area.
Teveth writes at one point:
"It was Dayan's policy of ac-
cording- the West Bank Arabs as
much self-administration as pos-
sible that gave rise to the idea
of creating two independent ad-
ministrative regions, one with
Nablus and the other with Hebron
as center. These regions might
become a nucleus for a Palestin-
ian state and bring them a lead-
ership desiring peace with Israel.
In daily vernacular the term
'Palestinian entity,' not 'State,'
became popular usage, since it
was not at all certain how things
would turn out and whether a
Palestinian State would eventual-
ly come into being. For a time
it seemed that self-administra-
tion was more likely to lead to a
peaceful settlement than the dip-
lomatic political efforts.
"Brig.-Gen. Gazit thought that
the creation of administrative
regions paved the way toward
normalization of Israel-Arab re-
lations. Lieut.-Col. Ofer of Nablus
was an avowed supporter and in
Business
Briefs
Maurice A. Betman has an
nounced that the offices of the
PROFESSIONAL PENSION CON-
SULTANTS are being moved to
18280 W. 10 Mile, Southfield.
•
• •
Zuieback Appointments
Saul Zuieback, chairman of the
board of Zuieback's Suburban, di-
vision of S. Zuieback and Son, Inc.,
announces the election of three new
board members and the extensive
remodeling of the firm's Northland
Center store.
Added to the board of directors
are Louis Levy, Birmingham, cer-
tified public accountant; Harry C.
Pratt, vice president in charge of
the corporate trust division, De-
troit Bank & Trust; and Joseph Z.
Willner, Chicago businessman and
attorney. The new directors join
Saul Zuleback_and his 33-year-old
son, Ivan.
his demands for the extension of
Nablus Region, argued that this
was the beginnings of the Sa-
maria Administrative Region.
"Gazit was sure that this would
be a great step forward for the
West Bank Arabs themselves,
considering the conditions which
had existed there prior to the
Six-Day War . . ."
The entire record shows how Is-
raeli administrators sought to ele-
vate the standards of the Arabs,
and the obstacles that were always
in their way—the threats, the inter-
ferences, the refusals to create the
conditions that in many respects
did raise standards among Arabs
but which could have been on a
much larger scale and at a higher
level.
It is this story that emerges in
this important volume, which holds
the attention of the reader through-
out because of its many revelations
while recording history in its mi-
nutest details.
Many of the details about Arab
personalities are of unusual in-
terest and importance, among them
the accounts of the attitudes of
Nablus Mayor Hamdi Canaan who
reacted bitterly against Israel's
rulership, especially that of Ofer,
but later became his good friend.
He fraternized with Dayan, yet
was forced to resign, the troubles
in Nablus then mounting.
Especially valuable are the de-
scriptions of the vegetable market-
ing developments and the assist-
ance that was given the Arabs by
Israel. Teveth tells about a plan
that was advanced for banking
cooperation between Israel and
Jordan. A British representative
of the Ottoman Bank in Amman
came to Jerusalem to help plan
details. Baruch Yekutieli, as chief
of the economic branch of the West
Bank Command, was involved in
it. Teveth relates, in describing
what happened after a delegation
had gone to Amman:
"Yekutieli saw in this bank
delegation from Amman a very
hopeful opening. Sale of fuel to
Israel from the Irbid refineries
was discussed, as well as trade
exchange, which would not only
have broken the economic boy-
cott, but would also have laid
the ground for mutual trade.
Tax duplication, clearing, bal-
ances, supervision by the Bank
of Israel of all branches in the
West Bank and recognition by the
Arab banks of Israeli authority
in Jerusalem, were some of the
subjects discussed, Israel was
prepared to return West Bank
subsidiary branches to the main
bank in the East.
"However, as soon as news of
the initialled agreement reached
the ears of Finance Minister
Pinhas Sapir and Minister of
Justice Yaakov Shimshon Sha-
pira, they came out in opposition,
Shapira contending that a bank
agreement between fighting na-
tions was unheard of. The return
TIN DETROIT
22--Friday, Mord 5, 1971
of the subsidiary banks to the
main bank in Amman in effect
gave Amman economic control,
which was in direct opposition
to the Government policy of
severance from the East Bank
until peace brought political and
economic settlement between
Israel and Jordan. From Israel's
point of view, this implied a
partial withdrawal without a
peace treaty. -Davin supported
Shapira, and was against return-
ing the subsidiary banks to their
original status, thereby giving
Amman banks economic control
of the West Bank. The initialled
agreement never took effect and
the Arab banks in the West Bank
never reopened. Israel branch
banks were opened instead.
"For Yekutieli, this was an op-
portunity lost for normalization
of Israeli-Arab relations. Under
the terms of the agreement,
Haifa would have been a transit
port for the East Bank to Kuwait
and other places, creating a
sound economic contact with the
Arab states to the east. It was
Yekutieli who coined the term
'open bridges' for the crossing at
Tel Abu Zuz, meaning it figura-
tively--the path to peace and
good relations. He tried more
than once to convince Dayan that
his concept was correct, but
failed. Dayan was more cautious.
At the end of August, Yekutieli
resigned, returning to his work
in the management of Leumi
Bank."
Scores of incidents like this one
mark the revelations that are re-
plete in Teveth's historic work.
In essence "The Cursed Bless-
ing" throws light on Israel's desire
to be of great aid in advancing
the needs of the Arabs while suf-
fering rebukes. The men and the
events recorded here formulate a
story that will be rated among the
most important about the position
of Israel in its struggle to effect
peaceful means of full cooperation
with the Arabs. —P.S.
I
Brevities
CLARE MILLER has been ap-
pointed catering representative of
the Detroit Hilton Hotel, it is an-
nounced by William J. Utnik, gen-
eral manager. Miss Miller comes
to the Hilton with 23 years in the
catering field, five of which she
spent with the New Yorker Hotel
in New York City. .
41
a
The Henry Ford High School
Concert band will present its an-
nual feature, BANDTASTIC, 8
p.m. March 12 in the school
auditorium. The concert band,
under the direction of Sam Emmer,
will feature such outstanding band
music as Hoist's SUITE IN EB,
and the beautiful VARIATIONS
ON A KOREAN FOLK SONG by
Chance, an outstanding composer
of new band music.
• • •
Terrorism in Gaza Strip,
JESSE OWENS, Olympic track
Syrian Border on Rise
star, will be a Detroit Town Hall
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Terrorist ac- speaker 11 a.m. Wednesday at
tivities increased last week com- Fisher Theater.
pared to the previous week, ac-
cording to statistics released Mon-
day by security authorities.
During the week 'ending Sunday,
23 incidents were reported com-
pared to 13 the previous week.
The rise was on the Syrian
border where eight incidents oc-
curred, compared to three the
week before, and in the Gaza
Strip which had 12 compared to
six earlier.
Incidents along the Jordan and
Lebanese borders were the same
for both weeks—one and two re-
spectively.
There was a total of 70 incidents
during February compared' .to 79
in January. Two Israeli soldiers
and one civilian were killed dur-
ing February, and four civilians
were killed in January as a result
Tappan Appliances
of terrorist acts. There were no
military fatalities in January.
maw NEWS
Trade Union Delegation to Israel Headed by Black
the state of Israel during the
visit and will be hosted by
Moshe Yegar, consul general of
Israel in Philadelphia, who is
accompanying it.
Jones, in accepting the co-chair-
manship, said, "I am looking for-
ward with every red blood cor-
puscle in my body to the excite-
ment of this visit to Israel."
PHILADELPHIA ( J T A) —
James H. Jones, president of the
Negro Trade Union Leadership
Council and international repre-
sentative of the United Steel Work-
ers of America, and Joseph
Schwartz, president of the Knit-
goods Workers Union, are the co-
chairmen of a labor delegation of
Philadelphia trade union leaders
and their wives that left last week-
end for a 10-day visit to Israel.
Jones is the first black trade
unionist to lead such a delegation.
The delegation, organized by
the State of Israel Bonds, Labor .
Division, will be the guest of
Cuban Jews Get Visas
With Help From Mexico
Nixon Aid to Israel
Tenfold That of LBJ's,
Writes Paper Davar
TEL AVIV (ZINS) —In an as-
sessment of President Nixon's ad-
ministration, the Israeli daily Davar,
organ of the United Labor Party,
declares that, so far as Israel is
concerned, its verdict on the Nixon
administration is highly positive.
The paper points out that Mr.
Nixon was the first U.S. Chief
Executive to state that the Arabs,
not Israel, have been the aggres-
sors, a view which greatly agitated
the Arab world and its supporters.
However, writes Davar, Nixon's
support of Israel went far beyond
mere declarations. "The United
States is giving Israel unprecedent-
ed military and economic support.
Indeed, the amount of aid forth-
coming is ten-fold that which was
provided under President John-
son."
During the recent crisis in Jor-
dan, the paper adds, a relationship
of harmony and confidence was
created between Washington and
Jerusalem which had never previ-
ously existed.
The paper concludes that all pos-
sibilites are still open, and if the
Soviets and the Arabs are ready
for compromise, the Americans
may also be prepared to join in
those negotiations.
Tomorrow is an old deceiver, and
his cheat never goes stale.
—Samuel Johnson.
LOST
An Opal-Gold Drop earring,
Feb. 27 in 10 Mile-Greenfield
or Scotch & Sirloin area —
REWARD—Call 345-6523.
MEXICO CITY (ZINS)—Cuban
authorities put no obstacles in the
way of Jews who express their
wish to leave the country, it was
learned here.
Observers say the only problem
that the Cuban emigres face is
the need to secure a transit visa
of some Latin American country
to which they can temporarily
transfer, and from which they
can plan further 'moves.
Because Mexico was until now
the only Latin American country
having diplomatic relations with
Cuba (of late, Marxist Chile has
resumed diplomatic connec-
tions), Cuban Jews looked to
Mexico for transit visas. But
the Mexican authorities require
of each emigre a financial guar-
antee that he will not remain
permanently in the country.
To the aid of some 120 Cuban
Jews, who were not able to fur-
nish the Mexican government with
satisfactory guarantees, came
banker and Zionist, Eliabu Soura-
sky, who gave his personal guar-
antees for these emigrants and
thereby secured the necessary
transit visas.
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I