Suez Last-Ditch Effort Role of Druze Community . in israeltReietecl;
at the Defense of Isreal Jaber Muadi Holds,-CpovtYke-MembershiP

By MOSHE RON

Hy AMOS BEN-VERED
Chief of JTA Middle East Bureau
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish-News)
PORT TAWFIQ—Seen from this
completely ruined place on the
southern tip of the Suez Canal, the
once-famous world shipping lane
looks like no more than a large
ditch. But it has become so shal-
low that even the 80 or so feet in
its center, marked as navigable by
rusty floating buoys may today be
impossible for all but sailboats..
It is a ditch that preserves peace.
From the young officer to the com-
manding- general who guided me
around, the army stresses again
and again that the Suez is the best

kosstkitt fol. the Drum minority, and
*Mad , 10 nominate Jaber Muadi
is
minister. The. Minister of
ainsunications; Shimon Peres,
a reception for his new vice

An officer, distinct from the s ol-
Jewish News Special
diers by his tailored uniform a nd
Israel Correspondent
his gabardine cap, looks at us i n- The Druze in Palestine were
tently through his field glasse S. educated in their villages as farm-
Farther north, soldiers with pic k- ers. At the time of the British
axes are doing some earthwa lk, mandate, the authorities did not
half-hidden behind long rectangl es take much interest in their eco-
of canvas strung up parallel to nomic and social development.
the water.
There was only one Druze aced-
At one or two places the Egy p- emician who studied at the Univer-
flans, too, have erected bunker s sity of Beirut. This religious and
and high ramparts, forcing the I s- conservative section leaned on
raelis to build theirs still highe r. tradition. But Druze youth today
The Israeli ramparts are'importan t wishes to change its way of life
rLz
not only for keeping amphibiou s and to strive for education and
tanks out—assuming that they d o progress.
succeed in crossing the canal an
the hundreds of guns trained o
line of defense. A natural ob- it—but also to prevent the Egyp-
stacle. A clearly visible boundary. tians from observing the move
A line that has been fOrtified on ment of the Israeli forces in day
both sides to an_ extent that dwarfs light.
France's Maginot Line of pre-World
The soldiers on the Israeli side
War II days. •
-have--doveloperl their
On the Israeli side the line is sense of humor. One own-peculiar
fortress they
not a line at all. It is a series of called "Hotel Trans-Canal." An
self-contained fortresses, each able
other is the "Suez discotheque.'
to hold out on its own for a very Steps leading up are called
the
long time even under intensive "Nasser stairway to Heaven," the
shelling. When I crawled into one down staircase is named for Sadat.
of the niches serving as a dining
The two-star general (his name
room, under layers and layers of is not for publication) explains the
sand, mortar and iron railings, I situation in simple terms: the
no longer thought it a gross ex- ditch filled with water called Suez
aggeration that the troops in here Canal, and the-rampart, are a most
can drink tea while being shelled. effective line of defense. If the
There are wide open spaces be- canal is reopened and the Israelis
tween the fortresses linked by withdraw to a line farther east,
armored patrols. The bunkers and it means a line that would be at
the patrols are a combination of least three times as long, with al-
static and flexible means of re- most no natural obstacles to pre-
sponse.
vent the Egyptians from giving Is-
The Egyptian side, clearly visi- rael a hard fight if they attack. It
ble from the rampart which Israel means more manpower, more
has built as an additional precau-
for supplies and for mechan-
tion on the east bank of the canal, money
ical and other devices. It will make
is one continuous line of fortifica- a sti'l deeper indentation in Is-
tions and communication trenches rael's economy, already suffering
between them. All are populated. f rom the steep military expenses.

*4 -

minister and praised - the Druze
minority's loyalty..-
* e e

The Druze live in two countries.

Eighty • thousand are in Lebanon.
Their leader is the former Leban-
ese :defense minister,- Kamel Jinn-
i. halal, 'an extreme leftist. In Syria
there are 100,000 Drone. Their
leaders often hold iMpertant polit-
ical and military s positions. They

have several generals in the army

and a Druze was -once chief of
staff: ,
When the late leader of Syria,
Shishakly,- came to power about
20 years ago, he started persecut-
de- ing the Druze. Some of them were

in- accused of espionage for Israel
n _ and were executed. Today, there
- some Druze in Syrian prisons
O on e
'as
c
t During the Israel War of Lib-

lo

*It

•

. te

•

r- eration in 1948, the Syrian Druze

di fought against Israel under the
- command of Kaougji. When they
e were defeated in the Galilee and
f Ramat Yohanan, they fled in panic.
s
Since then, the Israeli Druze
e have been loyal to Israel. Dozens

of Druze fell in the three wars be-
_ tween the Arabs and Israel.
The Druie writer, Halabi, has
d written a book, "A Bond of Blood,"
e about relations between the Druze
. and the Israelis. In the Israeli
Frontier Guard, - the Druze hold

e

high positions as colonels, majors,
lieutenants, etc. In the Six-Day
War, they fought in the Arab ter-

d rorities. Some young Drum sol-
e diers were killed.

t The Arabs in the occupied ter -
g rorities hate the Druze.-They ac-
O cuse them of being cruel fighters
and have appealed several times

UJA Assists Beth Shemesh Students

to the Israeli military authorities
to change the Druze for Jewish Is-
raeli soldiers. There • is a deep
historic enmity between the Mos-
lems and the Druze, who form

a special religious community.

The Druze cannot forget how
the Moslems persecuted them in
Palestine and now they are free
citizens of Israel, whereas the
Arabs are under the control of the

Israel military authorities, which
increases their hatred of the Druze.

Army Disputed

pioneer-fighter against deteriora-
a
tion of morals, sex and mini-skirts,
n
etc.
-
After the government had adopt-
t
ed the compromise proposal, the
organ of Agudat Israel, Hamodia,
o
wrote a sharp letter against this
volunteer service for religious
ti
women. Thee newspaper strongly
army was to the great shortage of manpower criticized the attitude of the relig-
of a voluntary character, but in in hospitals, schools and social
ious alignment leaders on this
1950, it was enforced by la and instit utions ,
question, and claimed that the reli-
became compulsory.
gious alignment waged a campaign
for many years against exempt-
ing religious women from military
of
service. After 18 years of such ex-
M
emption. Feligious alignment minis-
ter Michael Hazani put forward a
proposal for enlisting religious
th
women
"voluntarily" into compul-
P
sory service. For religious people,
co
there cannot be any compromise
fo
on this vital question as any com-
Be

a

These yonng men attend a year's course in mechanics at the Beth
Shemesh Vocational Training School In Israel. They are students
in a "school for dropouts," learning a useful trade which will
prepare them for a constructive life in Israel. This Is among the
wbeatiosal training projects supported with funds ot the United
Jewish Appeal, major beneficiary of Detroit's ARk.d- Jewish
Campaign._

48 — Friday, New 26, 1971

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Shapiro. The compromise said that The brigade of religious women
any girl of 18, who declares her- volunteers will be under the super-
self to be religious, will automatic- vision of Mrs. Rahel
Neria, the
ally be exempted from military wife of religious alignment leader,
service. Knesseth member and chairman of
A few weeks ago, the debate the Yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh, Rabbi
over the issue resumed with a de- Moshe Zvi Neria, Mrs,
Neria is
mend from Minister of Health against enlisting religious women
Victor Shemtov that religious girls into Zahal, but she if in favor
of
should also be mobilized. This convincing religious parents to
--
proposal was supported by Minis- allow their daughters to serve vol-
ter for Tourism Moshe Kol. They untarily in hospitals, schools,etc.
pro posed that if religious girls re-
Mrs. Neria
known as a strong

4

pulsory service for women Is-''for-
bidden by religious law.
- Hatzofe, organ of the religious.
alignment, stresses that in their
national service, religious women
will be able to keep up their reli-
gious tradition to the fullest extent.
Orthodox circles try to create
difficulties in fulfilling lb's plan, .
but there is no doubt that their
opposition will be overcome and
that this was the best way of solv-
ing the delicate Problem of en -
listing religious : women into

service

.

.

„

..

