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Purely Commentary

Arab Fantasies Scrutinized, Brilliant
Interviewing Delineates Palestinians

For several weeks, the New York Times
included in its list of recommended books
that is appended to the Best Seller List
this item:
OF DEFEAT, by David
"THE I.
(Holt, Rinehart and Winston, )
A sensitively drawn portrait of the
Palestinian liberation movement and the
best book yet into that particular bedlam."
The reason for quoting this recommend-
ation—a departure from our previous ap-
proaches to recommendations for books in
other periodicals—is that this is so true!
Pryce-Jones' book is magnificent as
literature. The author of "The Face of De-
feat: Palestinian Refugees and Guerrillas"
is superb as literature. In the art of news
reporting and interviewing it ranks not,
only among the best but as a pattern for
literary excellence.
It is the approach of the brilliant cor-
respondent to the issues, as he searched
for the realities, that makes this work
stand out in all its reportorial splendor.
Throughout the book it becomes evi-
dent that he had not returned to the
Middle East with a sense of preference
for either side. He had been to Israel and
the Arab countries in the past and had
interviewed the heads of both govern.
ments. He came back to study the Pales-
tinians' views and the attitudes of the
Israelis in their administrative roles of
areas acquired in 1967. The views he has
gathered form a well of information and
should set many of the deluded straight
on the truths that exist under the trying
conditions of ft conqueror-defeated status
in an area that invites much antagonism
to the former.
There are the scores of contradictions.
Arab chieftains had charged cruelties by
Israelis. In the course of time, after a
lapse during which the Arabs had con-
tinued to benefit from Israel's form of
domination, there still were the charges
but they came with snickers, with partial
denials.
Many times the Arab way of fantasiz-
ing, of resort to fancy and to exaggera-
tion, becomes evident. At times it is a

Fantasy StiH Rules the Roost Among .
Arabs - . . . Numerous Naive Exaggerations
Refuted by Pryce-Jones and Pictorially

By Philip
Slomovitz

Arabs in Festive Moods, as Israelis'
Guests, Benefiting From Hospitality

funny tactic, but it emerges on multiple
occasions.
The struggle is in evidence. There are,
indeed, two nations in conflict. Yet, when
pinned down to facts, Arabs admit the
benefits they now derive, they confess to
having misspoken when they accused Is-
raelis of brutalities, and seldom did one
show proper proof of having been molest-
ed, or harmed bodily.
In many respects, "The Face of De-
feat" is like a detective story. The in-
vestigator, our able author, just asks, and
reminds the questioned about the replies
of the past, and out comes the truth.
This is a story that does not necessarily
offer hope that there will—soon—emerge a
new detente. But it is so vital that truth
should be on the record, and David Pryce-
Jones helps establish these factualities.
That is why his "The Face of Defeat" is
as the NYTimes recommends and as we
acquiesce in the judgment: that it is
"the best book yet in that particular bed-
lam."

Israeli Arabs lined up to vote in the government election

at the Jewish-Arabsummer camp in Acre, Israel.

Arabs from Jordan shop in Jerusalem,
benefiting from "Open Bridge" policy.

•

'
r

Israel's Arabs—A Unique Minority

By S. TOLEDANO
The Israel Prime Minister's
Adviser on Arab . Affairs
Within the pre-1967 boun-
daries, Israel's Arabs num-
bered 400,00 at the end of
1972. This national minority
represents some 13 per cent
of the entire population, but
Israel's particular circum-
stances lend a special weight
to it.
The Arabs were a majority
during the British mandate.
They were sure that they
would control the land when
the British left. This cer-
tainty was the basis of their
intransigent opposition to the
national aspirations of the
Jewish community and their
rejection of any attempt at
compromise. Their leaders
at that time were united —
despite their personal rival-
ries — in their approach to
the "Zionist question" and
their resistance to a Jewish
state, no matter how tiny.
They were united by their
belief that the "solution of
the problem" would be im-
posed by force, blood and
fire. Their confidence was
shattered when the numer-
ically inferior Jewish com-
munity stood fast. On the
eve of British withdrawal, a
mass exodus of Palestinian
Arabs began: the first to go
were those very notables
who had loudly predicted the
inevitable defeat of the idea
of a Jewish state.

2 Friday, July 6, 1973

—

About 600,000 of the Arabs
living in the area which was
subsequently included within
the boundaries of Israel left
during the 1948 fighting.
Foremost were the landown-
ers, men of wealth, intellec-
tuals, journalists, teachers
and writers. When the fight-
ing ended, the remnant with-
in Israel was a community
deprived of its social elite.
The majority had become a
minority unsure of what to
expect and fearful lest the
Jewish state behave towards
it as a vindictive victor.

Most of the Arabs were
country folk, who had been
tenant-farmers during the
mandate; they subsisted on
land that did not belong to
them and had to hand over
about a third of their crops
to the landlords. Mdre than
half the villages had no
primary schools. There were
government schools in the
large villages, but often with-
out upper grades. Farm tools
were primitive. The donkey
and the camel were almost
the only means of trans-
portation. There was no run-
ning water, and the women
drew what they needed in
pitchers from adjoining
springs or domestic rain-
water cisterns.
Today, in retrospect, the
point of departure seems re-
mote. In the 25 years of exist-
ence of the state the lives of

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Israel's Arabs have changed
a great deal.
The confusion that follow-
ed debacle in 1948 has grad-
ually vanished, and there is
a sense of stability instead.
The Arab still has difficulty
finding his way, but is sober
in his approach and knows
how to insist on his rights.
The fellah of the early days
is gone. In the villages,
there are Arab farmers
familiar with up-to-date
methods of cultivation who
raise largely export-orien-
tated crops. Modern agricul-
tural machinery is being
used more and more. The
once unlit villages now have
electricity. Waterworks have
been installed and roads
paved, large-scale construc-
tion has altered the face of
the villages beyond recogni-
tion.
Today, most Arab rural
breadwinners areem ployed
in towns, but this has not
led to urbanization. They
live in their villages and re-
turn to them in the evenings
or on weekends. They prefer
that, although they absorb
Jewish urban culture and
bring it back home.
Economic dependence -on
clan members on the patri-
arch was reduced when they
began to work outside the
village and no longer had to
rely on him for a livelihood.
Education created a gap,
too, as well as basic differ-
ences of opinion.

I

1.@:‘

Pupils studying agriculture at the modern Baqa al Gharbiya Arab school
in central Israel.

Zaheri Basharan, Arab social worker, at work in a Jewish sector in Galilee.

Students from Arab countries are shown here on a visit at the Tel Aviv University
campus.
Zvi Behir, supervisor of the Gan Hashlosha Park in Galilee, greets a West
Bank Arab couple arriving for their Friday visit in Israel.

