Purely Commentary

How did Secretary of State General George C. Marshall react to a calamitous
situation during the administration of President Harry S. Truman? His comment was:
"We have seen it worse."
That's how the situation affecting Israel today must be confronted by Israel's
friends. The Israelis may see the current conditions as the worst ever. But there
were much more serious situations in Jewish history. There were the pogroms and
the Holocaust. There was the period of anti-Semitism in this country during the Nazi
era, and concurrent with it was the British role of antagonism to those who treasured
a pledge from the nobler sons of the British Isles. -Many dreamed of statehood for
Israel but few foresaw fulfillment of hopes and prophesies.
A major factor in the libertarian Zionist ideal was the recognition of the need
for an address for the People Israel. There were pleaders, shtadlanim, individual
contact people with government who may- or may not have acted under the direction
of organized Jewish communities. But there was no address for the Jewish people.
Now there is an address. Now there is a center, called Israel that acts for the people
by that name. Therefore, no matter how great the calamities, having lived through
worse crises, whatever the challenges today will be tackled authoritatively.

Therefore, the political crisis in Israel must be viewed as calmly as the Israelis
themselves will be compelled to view it and to deal with dt. Golda Meir has difficulty
cementing forces for a unified government, and she is not alone as a sufferer from
diplomatic dilemmas. Other lands experience difficulties. A: nation motivated by the
will to live will overcome them. Israel is not defeatist and a nation of more than
3,0001900 does not go under.
There are pessimists everywhere. In Israel even those who flaunt calamity
in political squabbles do not give up the ship. The ship of state may change captains,
but the boat keeps sailing.

. Israeli and Syrian delegations are due in Washington in a matter of days to
discuss disengagement of troops in the upper Golan Heights. A "huge gap" supposedly
separates the contending nations. Retaining faith in the skillful handling of the nego-
tiations by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, hopes are fostered for an approach
to a measure of understanding even with Syria.
All the developing situations must be taken into consideration, even the com-
ment by Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat, who, in answer to a reporter's question
regarding Israel on the day on which resumption of U. S.-Egyptian diplomatic rela-
tions was announced that "It doesn't mean the war is over." When that day comes,
the entire world will recognize the blessings—for Sadat's people as well as Golda's,
Begin's and Dayan's.
There is so much that may have been distorted in the course of unwholesome
debates in the United Nations and in the capitals of the world! Resolution 242 was
viewed calamitously in some Jewish quarters. Yet, Arthur J. Goldberg, who was this
country's permanent UN representative when the resolution was first adopted, has
insisted that this resolution could serve as a basis for amicable dealings toward an
end to the Middle East conflict. He has emphasized, as Israel's representatives did
at the UN, that the resolution does not explicitly require that Israel withdraw from
occupied territory without considering defensive borders. most recent analysis
of that resolution,_ in an article in Worldview on "The Road to Peace in the Middle
East," Goldberg commented:
"The logic of coupling the territorial and secure boundaries concepts is that
both territorial integrity and secure and recognized boundaries are to be reconciled
in the "give-and-take of negotiations between Israel and the Arab states culminating
in peace agreements._
"The most that can be said of the withdrawal and related language of Resolution
242, in light of its legislative history, is that it neither commands nor prohibits territorial
adjustments in the peace agreements contemplated by the Resolution, although it
"tilts" in favor of adjustments to ensure secure boundaries for Israel. This is not to
say that the Resolution contemplates a complete redrawing of the map of the Middle
East. Further, the withdrawal language of the Resolution would seem to indicate that
its patent ambiguities, and the differing interpretations of the parties, can only be
resolved by an accepted and agreed upon settlement concluded after negotiations
between the parties.
"In certain matters, the Resolution is less ambiguous than in its withdrawal lan-
guage. Resolution 242 specifically deals with free passage through international water-
ways. In precise language it affirms "the necessity for guaranteeing freedom of naviga-
tion through international waterways in the area." This language demonstrates the lack
of sympathy of the powers, big and small, with interference with free passage in inter-
national waterways. With belligerency at an end, no good reason would exist under
international law for denial to Israel of access to the Suez Canal and, particularly, to
the Straits of Tiran — whose closing by President Nasser of Egypt was universally
recognized and forewarned by Israel to be a causus helium. The resolution would
similarly preclude a blockage of Bab el Mandeb."
But in that same issue of Worldview, Richard J. Neuhaus, - editorialized, among
other subjects, on what he saw fit to label "The Death of Israel," and stated:
"There was something improbable about Israel from the beginning. There was
a beautiful improbability in the notion that an idea could give birth to a nation. If
that notion is now discredited it will be at the expense not only of Israel but of
'myriad communities struggling for national identity and liberation. One suspects that
the Third World countries that have rushed to line up with the anti-Zionists have
not fully reckoned what the end of the state of Israel would mean for their own,
often fragile, sense of nationhood. For Western religion and civilization the death of
the idea and the fact of Israel would have incalculable consequences of the most
ominous character. We Americans now have a painfully heightened responsibility to
see that does not happcn. One wishes that such harrowing issues had not arisen at
a time when American leadership commands so little trust both in the world and
among its own people."
If Israel's rebirth is to be judged as having been improbable, then all of history
is a delusion. If a people's unbreakable link with Zion were ever to be questioned,
then every humanitarian consideration would have to be judged as farcical. When
territorialism was projected as a movement for the establishment of statehood else-
where than in the Holy Land for Jews, Chaim Weizmann asked Arthur James Balfour
whether he would ever consider any other than the British Isles as his 'home.
One should be grateful for pragmatism, for realistic approaches that are so
vital to a people's being on guard lest there may, indeed, develop tragedy for _a

2—Friday, March 8, 1974

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

.

Problems Galore, But Never Insoluble . . . Israel
Confronts Challenging Issues, All Demanding
the Loyalties of Friends and Kinsmen Everywhere

By Philip
Slomovitz

people's historic hope. Admonitions of impending dangers, coupled with hopes and
with insistence upon friendship to prevent disaster, invite gratitude. Yet, how can
anyone treating Jewish history despairingly be considered realistic? Does Jewry die?
By the same token, could Israel possibly be subdued even if surrounded by
enemies on all sides? Hasn't Israel been an oasis in a sea of hatred all the years
of her existence? "The death of Israel" is like an echo of the days when American
magazines were writing about "the vanishing Jews." They did not then, as they
do not now, realize that there has never been a time when a shearit Yisrael—a sur-
viving remnant of Israel—did not carry the banner of the Jew wherever he may
have been and wherever he may be functioning to this very day.
The "improbabilities" of Israel? The more improbable, the more certain the
survival. Some balk, some vanish, a few are among the fearful. But the stiffnecked-
to resort to biblical taunting—happen to be the indestructible. -
Simply stated: the negatives have not materialized and the redemption of
Israel is not being negated.
(Judd Arnett, reporting on his visit at the Holy Places in Jerusalem, in
Detroit Free Press, Tuesday, stated: "Your commentator has visited 'he Holy Pla
which are open to all corners. Guards at the historic gates search hand baggage as
precaution against an infestation of explosives, but otherwise there is freedom of
assembly." This contributes toward the refutation of the falsehoods regarding Israel's
treatment of religious minorities.)

There is still the unfriendly world. The United States keeps reacting to Israel
on the basis of an inheritance of justice from the Scriptures and the Prophets which
have been guides to freedom for all peoples. It is an ideal that keeps emerging
whenever there is danger for Israel. There are others who are not so kind. The
British people are Jewry's friends, the British diplomatic corps has not been
cooperative. The French are kindly, their statesmen are among the enemies. As
has already been indicated earlier, with reference to an expose in Forbes Magazine,
the French continue to play a destructive game in the Middle East, and Israel is
the scapegoat. Note this expose of the French attitude, which was entitled "The
Hand That Gives" and which should serve as a warning to those who fail to see
the demoniacal in the energy crisis 'and in a policy of providing arms for Israel's
destruction to the oil magnates.

Indeed, the trek toward peace, the road to amity, the hopes for an end to
bloodshed, 'are not easy. The path is strewn with dangers. But the hopes are marked
by the stubbornness that keeps asserting: life goes on and the aim is for the glory
that spells survival.
Indeed, there have been greater disasters than the present. Now the road is
marked by a trait never abandoned: toward peace, and with life never ending.
That's the optimism of a people which, when under strain, gains strength.

Realism of a Non Jew's Vision of Israel in Agony
Judd Arnett went to Israel as an observer. He returned with dispassionate,
honest reporting. He witnessed the problems, and he has compassion. A few words
from his concluding—Thursday's—column deserve quoting:
people I met in all walks of life, there was
"In nine days of traveling the land,
a common struggle for economic sur-
northern tip to southern border, I fre-
vival. And none could tell me how the
quently asked a question to which there
economy works, for it was a mystery to
was no clear answer: 'How does this
economy work?' You should remember them, too.
"Life is not easy but not all of the
that approximately 50 per cent of the
idealism has been smothered by an un-
people are employed by the government,
wanted and unexpected war.
one way or another. Immigrants who are
"Beyond all of this, there is a para.
still received with open arms quite often
of greater perplexity. Israel is a very
arrive with nothing, and must be housed,
fed and trained in Hebrew before they young government with very old leader-
ship. In America we accept Golda Meir
are produCtive.
as a stellar stateswoman, which she has
"Agriculture does not yet feed and
fiber the nation and may never be able been, but she is 75 and in Israel there
is also a generation gap. Cabinet shuffles
to. Exports have lagged since the war;
find old faces moving into new jobs and
there has been a rate of inflation which
enthusiasm for this leadership has been
empties the pocketbook and staggers the
dampened by the coursing of events. The
imagination; and there is a serious 'have-
political structure, including proportional
not' situation involving the Oriental im-
representation, makes it very difficult for
migrants in particular.
"A small European sub-compact costs the 'young Turks' to gain the recogni-
$9,000 (American) in Israel. A modest tion they deserve."
Arnett noted in his column:
apartment sells for $50,000.
"One returns to this garden of affluence
"Three of us went to dinner at a not-
(U. S.) with the feeling that he has
so-exclusive restaurant and the tab was
$75, one libation each. The holding of left behind in Israel new-found friends in
need of more succor than they are apt
more than one job—`moonlighting'—is
common, and wives work as well. Of the to receive in the normal order of affairs."

-