Extension of Cease Fire Seen as Chief U. S. Aim
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
JTA Washington Bureau Chief
Gen. Chaim Herzog Notes
Importance of Lance Missile
JERUSALEM (JTA)—If foreign
WASHINGTON (JTA) — State
Department officials are believed press reports about an Israeli re-
to be preparing a formula to ex- quest for American lance missiles
tend U.S. efforts toward arranging and Washington's coolness to the
a partial settlement between Egypt request are true, this is readily
Israel which would reopen the understandable in terms of Ameri-
can global thinking, Israel's fore-
Suez Canal.
Despite reliable reports that As- most military commentator said
sistant Secretary of State Joseph Monday night over Kol Yisrael.
Gen. Chaim Herzog, former
J. Sisco gained little encourage-
ment from Israeli officials, the commander of the Israel defense
department is anxious to preserve forces, said the range of the lance
its initiative regarding the water- is more than 60 miles, not "in
excess of 50 miles" as reported
way.
Monday by the New York Times.
A major reason for the formula He added that it can be fired both
was to resist demands in the UN from the ground and from the air
General Assembly, which will con- and that its multiple warhead can
vene next month, for Swedish Am- be armed with either conventional
bassador Gunnar V. Jarring to re- or nuclear weapons.
sume his mission for a full settle-
An Israeli request for such a
ment based on the Security Coun- missile, Herzog said, might stem
cil resolution on Nov. 22, 1967.
from the fact that no single type
Strong condemnation of Israel of weapon—only an integrated
from most of the countries repre- weapons system—is sufficient to
sented in the General Assembly counter any one type of Egyptian
is expected under the leadership weapon, such as one of its Soviet
of the Soviet Union, France and missile bases.
the Arab states.
American coolness toward Is-
One high ranking source said rael's reported request may stem
that the Americans would welcome from the following reasons, ac-
the onslaught against Israel to help cording to Herzog: The United
weaken Israel's resistance against States advocates an arms balance
an interim settlement favoring not only in the Middle East but
Egypt. However, this source said, everywhere; the U.S. would not
the U. S. delegation, at the ex- like, at this time, to be the sup-
plicit instructions from President plier of a new type of weapon to
Nixon, will fight any attempt by the Mid East, and the fact that a
the UN to impose sanctions on Is- nuclear warhead can be attached
rael or alter the language of Se- to the lance, making the U. S.
curity Council Resolution 242, or more hesitant to sell it as Washing-
allow an opening for the Soviet ton would be lending itself to easy
Union to employ direct military I exploitation by the Soviet and Arab
measures against Israel. propaganda machinery. The lance
The U. S. aim at present is to has not yet been used even by
attempt to expand and strengthen American troops.
* * *
the cease fire arrangement and
Rabin,
Galili
Say Sisco
c re a t e conditions to facilitate
moves toward an overall settle- Visit Did Not Narrow Gap
ment. JERUSALEM (JTA)—Two Is-
Six major points seem to be at raeli leaders agreed that Joseph
issue between Cairo and Tel Aviv Sisco had failed during his week-
on the interim settlement idea. long talks in Israel to bridge the
They are: the relationships be- gap between Egypt and Israel on
tween the interim and full settle- conditions for an interim agree-
ment, the distance of Israel's ment to reopen the Suez Canal.
pullback from Suez, the deploy- Israel Galili, minister without
ment of Egyptian troops across portfolio, who often serves as an
the canal, the length of the con- unofficial spokesman for Israel's
tinuity of the cease fire, Israeli cabinet, said in a radio interview
shipping in the Suez during the that, in making that judgment, he
interim settlement and supervision was quoting Sisco's comments at
of the area to be evacuated by an a press conference here before he
Israeli pullback. left for Washington. Galili said
Regarding the latter, Israel was that the canal reopening did not
seen as keeping in mind Soviet- appear to be "a practical proposi-
Egyptian cheating along the Suez tion for the present" but he warned
after the standstill cease fire when against any Israeli stand of block-
it was agreed upon a year ago. ing the whole idea.
MEDITERRANEAN
PROPOSED—
30 MILE
WITHDRAWAL
LINE
FA yip
Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's am-
bassador to the United States, told
newsmen before leaving for Wash-
ington, that the gaps between the
Egypian and Israeli positions were
just as wide as they were before
the Sisco visit. Rabin said the
Nixon administration did not have
a fixed position on conditons for
an interim settlement to reopen
the canal, declaring that taking
such a stance would have meant
that the United Staes would have
lost its position as an arbitrator
and become "a sided partner."
Rabin said such an action would
be similar to the "mistake" made
by Dr. Gunnar Jarring, the spe-
cial United Nations Mid East peace
emissary, in issuing a document
stating a position on the Mid East
issues. He said that by doing so,
Dr. Jarring had made himself a
partner in the dispute and that
unless he withdrew his document,
he could not re-assume his role as
mediator.
Dr. Jarring returned to his post
in Moscow as Swedish ambassa-
dor to the USSR when the Nixon
administration undertook the ini-
tiative which brought about the
cease fire.
Rabin also said that a balance
of weapons in the Mid East was a
condition for maintenance of the
cease fire and that the United
States had not linked continuation
of arms supply to Israel with any
political move. He added that he
did not exclude the possibility that
a stage might arrive at which the
U.S. might use weapons supply
as a means of pressure.
*
*
Sisco Conceded He Failed
to Achieve Breakthrough
in Talks With Israelis
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Joseph J.
Sisco, the United States Assistant
Secretary of State for Near East-
ern Affairs, said he had not
achieved a breakthrough in his
talks with Israeli leaders, but noted
that he had not expected to. "The
talks were practical and concrete
in nature and were held in the
spirit of openness and friendship,"
Sisco said at a brief press confer-
ence in the American embassy.
He said, "there is one simple
message I want to leave to the
Israeli government and the Israeli
people: An interim Suez Canal set-
tlement continues to be the best
way to insure that relative quiet
will continue and spare the people
of the area the anguish and heart-
break of loss of life." The Jewish
Telegraphic Agency learned that
at an American-Israeli meeting in
HAIFA
TEL AVIV
MITLA
PASS
._,-Liftle Bitter Lake
Map shows complications created by Sisco proposals.
the foreign ministry in Jerusalem,
Sisco raised the question of the
preferential trade agreement be-
tween Israel and the European
Common Market. He pointed out
that such an agreement is contrary
to the articles of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT), of which Israel is a mem-
ber.
(The Egyptian press, citing re-
ports from Israel, called the Sisco
mission a failure, it was reported
in London from Cairo. The power-
ful Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram,
which often reflects the views of
the Egyptian government, said the
mission had failed because Israel
had rejected the presence of Egyp-
tian troops in any part of the
canal's east bank section vacated
by a partial Israeli pull-back, be-
cause Israel asked for an unlimit-
ed extension of the cease fire and
because Israel refused to make
a commitment for total withdrawal
from the occupied areas. But there
was no indication that the Egyp-
tian government had given up hope
for U. S. pressure on Israel for an
interim agreement to re-open the
canal.)
McC. Mathias to repeal the 1957
resolution on the Middle East will
not affect the curent situation in
that area or the Israel-Arab bal-
ance of power, his office has as-
sured the JTA. The 1957 Mid East
resolution approved economic and
military aid to Mid East countries
and authorized U.S. armed force
if necessary to "preserve the inde-
pendence and integrity" of its
states. President Dwight D. Eisen-
hower relied on this in the Lebanon
crisis.
Sen. Charles Percy declared
that the United States "should
not expect Israel to make the
major concessions — withdrawal
from the east bank of the canal
and permission for Egyptian
forces to cross the canal—with-
out a quid pro quo."
The Illinois Republican said "this
could establish a precedent for
further withdrawals at a later date
without concrete assurances for
Israel's security." The opening of
the canal could be an important
first step toward an overall set-
tlement in the Middle East, Percy
added, noting that an "agreement
now by which Egypt and the So-
* * *
viet Union would reap the bene-
Senate Legislation to Repeal
fits of opening the canal, while
Mid East Resolution Will Not
Israel would voluntarily withdraw
Affect Power Balance
her forces from the east bank,
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Legisla- would not be conducive to fair,
tion introdued by Sen. Charles even-handed bargaining later."
Rabbi Shatz's Commentary on Pirke
Abot' Issued Posthumously by Bloch
"Ethics of the Fathers in the
Light of Jewish History" is a
bilingual work, but primarily in
English. Its author, Rabbi Morris
Shatz, died in 1967 and the post-
humously released scholarly book
has just been issued by Bloch
Publishing Co.
The author, a noted scholar who
in addition to having been ordained
by the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary, also earned his semiha,
awarded him by two Orthodox
rabbis, pointed out that his com-
mentary in Pirke Abot—Ethics of
the Fathers—was designed for
those who understand English bet-
ter than Hebrew. Yet those knowl-
edgeable in Hebrew were not
ignored. There are sufficient He-
brew quotations from the Pirke
Abot to provide background for
study, discussion, deliberation on
the major ethical values as they
apply to the generations.
Rabbinic scholars quoted here
are linked historically to Jewish
historical experiences while eval-
uating the traditions, principles,
legalism in Jewish experience.
The parables from folklore add
invaluably to the analyses in
this work.
The sense of duty, the respon-
sibility man has for his fellow-
man, are emphasized in this de-
finitive work.
Often, the question is posed re-
garding resurrection. Rabbi Shatz
wrote:
"Life after resurrection is the
highest type of posthumous exist-
ence, and only those who believe
in it can logically expect to at-
tain it. Of course, it is impossible
for a mortal to envision that kind
of existence. From descriptions
found in rabbinic literature, how-
ever, it seems that it will include
communal life . . . This is why it
is said that 'a portion of the world
to come' is vouchsafed to those
who come to deserve it."
There are explanations for ritual
laws, and definitions for tradi-
tional values and practices. The
views of many rabbis are under
review and the differences be-
tween Shammai and Hillel are fre-
quently referred to.
The basic mishnaic. tents are
outlined and those who seek to
18 Friday, August 13, 1971
—
secularize Torah concepts are re-
futed and scoffers are rebuked.
Knowledge of the Torah is com-
mended and pleaded for as a basic
need for adherence to Jewish tra-
ditions. —P.S.
Union Leader Lauds
Progress in Israel
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA)—Eight
hundred and fifty trade union,
'-;*.
civic, communal and political
-
leaders witnessed the presentation
of the 1971 Histadrut Humanitarian ,.
Award to Floyd E. Smith, pres-_
i ..
dent of the International Associa
tion of Machinists and Aerospace--:;
Workers and vice president of
the AFL-CIO, at a dinner held:
at the Fairmont Hotel. Pro:,
ceeds of the gala affair will geofi_
toward a new Histadrut cultural -
center at Kibutz Netzer Sereni in
Israel.
The presentation was made byj
Leon H. Keyserling, president :-.af
the National Committee for Labat%
. 4 ;-
Israel, which sponsored the
monial to Smith in cooporatiOn
with the American Trade Union
Council for Histadrut.
The award cited Smith's "out-
standing efforts in fostering
sympathetic understanding be-
tween the people of the United
States and the people of Israel;
and his warm encouragement
to the cause of Histadrut."
Lane Kirkland, secretary-treas-
urer of the AFL-CIO, stated that
the "American workers are pro-
foundly aware that on the fortunes
of that little nation of workers
(Israel) and her success in bearing
up under the constant shadow of
unreasoning hate and the threat of
destruction at the hands of her
neighbors hang the hopes of peace,
progress and brotherhood of all
men."
In response, Smith said: "The
Israelis started out with one - of-
the poorest lands in the world and
have built a thriving, progressive
nation. In a time when we are be-
ing torn apart by so many enemy
challenges, Israel has reaffirmed
our faith in the democratic pro-
cesses. Israel is living proof that
a nation can maintain its ideals
despite the severest of challenges."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS