'Crescent and Star' Valuable Documents
Conflicting Arab-Jewish Views on M.E.
David Kossoff, Actor, Author, Illustrator,
Reconstructs Dramatic Masada Story
of the issue emphasizes the volume is the section con-
sincerity of such an ap- taining "Multilateral, B i -
proach. There is no doubt lateral, Unilateral Docu-
that the two editors had ments," from the Convention
searched deeply for the ma- Respecting Free Navigation
terial needed to contrast both dated Oct. 29. 1888, through
viewpoints, and the Israel po- the years up to the UN Reso-
sition is stated in as many lution of Nov. 22, 1967, and
the Arabs' "Palestine Na-
opinions as the Arab.
The manner in which the tional Charter" adopted at
compilers of this volume treat the Cairo conference July 1-
the various subjects in this 17, 1968. Included are many
volume, on many of the as- important historic papers,
pects of the Middle East UN resolutions, the League
situation, is shown on the of Nations Mandate for Pal-
question of aggression and estine, July 24, 1922, and
defense. The Arab opinion is others.
T h e thoroughness with
g i v en by Ibraim Al-Abid,
whose opinions were pub- which the authors researched
lished in Beirut. The Israeli material for this book lends
attitude is expressed in the great significance to "Cres-
statement at the UN Security cent and Star" as a meritor-
David Kossoff is a noted of the Fathers. A scribe we Zealot!"
ious collection of valuable
Council by Abba Eban.
This is how "the voices"
actor.
He has turned author had, and a mathematician,
"Crescent and Star" is a
Of special interest in this documented data.
and eight who could not read define the great drama, the
and
illustrator
and,
having
debate, and the debaters
heard the voices from the or write. A perfume blender form Kossoff's story as-
have delved into every his-
last
Jewish stronghold against was among us, and a sumes. It is history in the
toric aspect in a situation
the
Romans,
1,900 years ago, plumber; a basket - weaver words of an actor who dram-
'which may emerge from the
he
recorded
them
as his own and a cloth-dyer. We agreed, atizes a great event. It is
views gathered and expressed
account
of
an
heroic
period. and differed, bound by one an exciting episode related
into a documentary not to
His
impressive
book
setting thing. All on Masada had at so effectively that ' T h e
"The appeal of American
be ignored.
Hitler and Hitlerism had
one time or other taken the Voices of Masada" add im-
forth
this
record
is
entitled
The fact that Gen. Y. Han supporters in America. Per- Nazism has been limited by "The Voices of Masada." It oath, made the declaration mensely to a real artist's
kabi is represented here in haps the Nazi idea still is the movement's inability to has just been published by to show zeal for God. To be role of distinction. —P.S.
the discussion of nationalism imbued in many among us. develop a concrete set of St. Martin's Press. It is a
and statehood, together with They have not succeeded, attainable goals. Bundists most interesting addendum
Arab protagonists, jointly either during the Nazi era of tried unsuccessfully to cap- to the archeological fascina-
with a scholarly article by the 1930s and the 1940s or ture a following by relating tions since the completion of
City officials after 1948
By ROBERT SLATER
Zvi Ankori on "The Continu- thereafter, but there is an the anti-Semitic and anti- the excavations under the di-
knew all along of the exis-
ing Zionist Revolution," is an American Nazi Party, which Communist themes of Ger- rection of Prof. Yigael Yadin.
(Copyright 1973, JTA, Inc.)
tence of the underground ci-
indication of the immensity proves the spread of the man propaganda agencies to
ACRE — Movie buffs will ty. "We didn't discover it,"
poison right here among us. American society. By propa-
of this work.
Kossoff was inspired both
Prof. Leland V. Bell of gating such generalities as in his narrative which recon- have no trouble recalling the said Yohanan Rinot, head of
Ankori, for example, con-
the demand for a Gentile- structs the Masada story famous prison-break scene in the Acre Development Com-
eludes his review of the his- Central State University in
tonic movement by stating Wilberforce, 0., exposes the ruled America or the elimin- and in his unique illustra- "Exodus" when scores of Ir- pany which is handling the
that there may be a long bigots in a study published ation of Jews from the labor tions. Here is an example of gunists fled the mighty Cru- excavation of the city. But,
movement, they only spun his work, his personal idea sader fortress here that there were difficulties to sur-
period of no-war no-peace under the title "In Hitler's
Nazi myths and prejudices. of "The Great Ram," de- served as a British prison mount before the city could
"until each side discovers it Shadow — The Anatomy of
They failed to recognize that scribed in the historic record before the War of Indepen- be reached. In the late 1950s,
can profit far more from the American Nazism," p u b -
American politics is oriented as having been used by the dence.
the ministry of tourism pro-
other side's experience than lished by Kennikat Press,
toward pragmatic ends. It Romans to attack the be-
vided the financial backing
from its own pride." He then Port Washington, N.Y.
But that scene speaks of a
Dr. Bell goes into great de- responds to concrete pres- sieged on top of Masada. It former era of this once- for the effort.
concludes:
sures and specific proposals; is one of in a n y drawings
The biggest difficulty was
"Only then will a real so- tail to expose the menace.
sleepy seacoast town, 12
lution emerge. And only then He traces the Hitlerite influ- it rarely delves into ideology which reflect the deep im- miles north of Haifa, along that the Turks had used the
will there come also that ences to the decades preced- or projects utopian goals. pression the historic occur- the Mediterranean Sea.
inside of the old Crusader
Rockwell's Nazis attempted rence had made upon the
The birth of the state of city as a kind of sewage pit,
which you (addressing him- ing the Fuehrer's rise to to deal with a concrete
actor-author-artist.
Israel in 1948 brought in its with mounds of rubble, and
self to the opponent), Dr. power. He does not ignore American problem, the race
Abu-Lughod, pronounce as- Henry Ford's Dearborn In- question, but instead of of-
From 1963 when Prof. wake changes for this city stones heaped on top of the
salaam or as-suth and which dependent or Charles Cough- fering viable solutions, they Yadin began his immense that may give Acre some- ruins. To get at the city,
I call shalom, but which all lin' s Social Justice.
task through the diggers' ex- thing of the prominence it archeologists had to clear
Especially trageted in this called for a world federation
once held under the Crusad- the dirt inch by inch. It took
must understand and accept volume
is the German-Amer- of Nordic nations to combat periences, the story devel-
as PEACE."
oped into revelations of a ers between 1100 and 1300 six years to dig out 20 per-
ican Bund and the 1 i t t 1 e the 'Black menace.' T h i s
cent of the city at a cost of
CE.
Some of the definitive art- fuehrers who headed the de- kind of proselytizing gave the 1st Century drama that drew
IL 700,000 (about $175,000).
the
attention
of
the
entire
icles on the existing antagon- structive movement. Fritz movement an air of unreality
For one thing, the city now
world. Kossoff, writing his has 35,000 residents, 10 times
The city itself lies from 4
isms revive concern over an Kuhn's activities are dealt and alienated the public.
personal
account
as
one
who
"Nazism in the U n i t e d
intensified bitterness in the with in all their aspects of
the population of 1948. For to 10 meters under ground
States today is a curiosity, had heard the voices from another, and perhaps just as level. It was begun in the
struggle for peace that seems inciting to terror.
unattainable. "Arab A n t i - There were years of grave an anomaly that decades afar, first in Jerusalem, then important for the city's 12th Century by a group
Semitism" is evaluated in an danger, when the Bund was after the destruction of the completing his narrative in growth, the city fathers have called the Knight Hospital-
London while pantomiming in
in the last few years found lers. In 1187, the Crusaders
official Israel statement, and a real threat to American Third Reich continues to at-
the Palladium, drew upon the
tract
and
fascinate
a
follow-
"Education in Hatred" is democracy. The evolutionary
the means and the time to were defeated by Saladin at
Josephus accounts.
start the unearthing of the Battle of Hittin, but they
exposed by Dafna Dan who developments of these move- ing. But in the troubled at-
elaborated upon the methods ments are outlined effec- mosphere of contemporary
Acre's
greatest treasure—the returned three years later.
His voices become dia-
resorted to by Arab educa- tively in Dr. Bell's "In Hit. America an extremist group logues and monologues. The mysterious underground city
Although they couldn't re-
tors in implanting hate in ler's Shadow," and the title is potentially dangerous and surviving women — two are of the Crusader kingdom.
conquer Jerusalem, the Cru-
school children at every for the book is well chosen. warrants attention. American recorded to have remained
When the Crusaders held saders conquered Acre and
There is also a thorough society is plagued by a cult out of the 967 on Masada—
mention of the Israeli name.
established it as their capital
From kindergarten through expose of the late-comers in of violence, race polarization, tell the tale as it emanated sway over Palestine during in the Kingdom of Jerusa-
period
(a
Pales-
that
200-year
college the lesson is that "the the movement of the bigots— the alienation of a large seg- from the role of the Zealots.
lem. They stayed for the
Jews are wicked criminals." the American Nazi Party. ment of youth, and the break- It becomes a vastly pano- tine that was much larger next 100 years, and most of
than
the
state
of
Israel
is
The intentions of the two George Lincoln Rockwell's down of traditional status ramic account of a great today), this underground city the halls in the fortress of
editors of this volume, both role is described and the ad- s y m b o 1 s and authorities. battle, and it emerges as a contained a huge fortress, the city were built then
professors at American Uni- herents to such destructively Scorn is directed at the gov- Kossoff tale — the narrative part of which was later used 1291 the halls were rt
versity, 'becomes clear in undemocratic move- ernment, encouraging a be- of an artist who re-enacts as the British prison. It when the Mamalukes car,-
their statement in their pref- ments. Dr. Bell's work is "an lief that a new political order the occurrences on a stage housed military units, the tuned Acre. With Moslem rule
ace: "We hope that this anatomy" of the terroristic of any tenor would be better literarily depicted.
government and a large hos- under Sultan El-Ashraf, Cru-
than the present one. Mod-
unique volume will furnish causes.
All
the
characters
in
the
pital. The fortress is only a sader rule came to an end
In the main, it is the anti- erates and radicals engage drama are accounted for, and small part of the under- throughout the country.
a large number of interested
American and other readers Semitic angle that figures in in bitter dialogue, each dis- the basic sources are cred- ground city. However, arche-
At one point, some 100,000
with the unadorned back- each of the bigotries de- Playing a loss of will, a re- ited. Thus Kossoff gives a ologists began their digging people are 'believed to have
g r o u n d information from scribed. The hatred for Jews, luctance to exert control over brief account in the chapter in the area of the fortress inhabited Acre under the
which they may make their the spread of venom to un- the course of events. A deep on "The Encirclement;"
because that is where the Crusaders. It is still not
malaise penetrates intellec-
own informed decisions re- dermine their freedoms, even
"We were not a thousand. pulse of the Crusader city known how many of these
tual circles, and prophets of
garding the justice of the the extent of advocating vio- doom and despair find recep- We were 967. We were people throbbed 800 years ago. To- actually lived in the fortress,
Arab and Israeli causes. It lence against Jews — these
tive audiences. The likelihood from large cities and tiny day, the former prison is but Rinot said "several thou-
is hoped that additional in- are fully recounted in this ad-
nd is probably a good
big-
that
a small extremist group hamlets. We were scholars used as a mental institution. sand"
sights into the mutual claims, dition to the studies of
estimate.
can exploit these circum- and priests and cattlemen
One
of
the
main
reception
fears, anxieties and gropings otry in America.
and farmers. We had workers
The excavation covers
for a solution might help the Dr. Bell points to the fail- stances is doubtful, yet exces- in metal and in wood', a halls in the fortress has col-
antagonists themselves or in ures of the lunatic fringe but sive optimism is dampened dealer in precious stones, a umns in a pre-Gothic style about 100 acres. Thus far,
relinquishing heroic despair he warns that prophets of by the knowledge that power- court hairdresser and a that some historians have there are no plans to forge
with othere
th
ru oftheer
in favor of a search for corn- doom often gain adherents. ful political movements in jeweler. We had a muleteer, suggested may have marked hawi
He concludes his expose by the past originated with fana- who missed his mules sadly the beginning of a style that unearthing of
Crusader
promise and hope."
tics, and in the right situation
eventually found its way to city until the hospital moves
Presentation of both sides stating:
their program became the but was a patient teacher of
its quarters overhead.
small children in the ways Europe.
consensus of a nation."
Documents from Israel and
Arab sources fill an immense
work on the Middle East sit-
uation published by the AMS
Press in New York.
Edited by Yonah Alexander
and Nicholas N. Kittrie,
"Crescent and Star," sub-
titled "Arab-Israeli Perspec-
tives on the Middle East
Crisis," contains data that
will be helpful to all elements
in the confrontation. T h e
Arab statements will irk the
Jewish reader, yet there is
sufficient material from of-
ficial Israeli sources to make
this a documentary not to be
overlooked by students of
the issues involved in the
battles that have divided the
two related peoples.
Hitler's Supporters in U.S.
Exposed by Prof. L. V. Bell
Acre's Dramatic, Historic Role
40 Friday, August 31, 1973 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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