, :ticd? , .f)?'
lt 41 4I; 1
Ik 2
24
1 011
'1 4
itl
I
I 4 s, J S J , je
,
, e
f
American Jewi sh Press Meets With PLO in Lebanon, V is its Refugee Camp During Tour
Ow By ROBERT A. COHN
oti
President, American
Jewish Press Association
- AIN ELWI, Lebanon — A
group of 18 participants in
' the first Editorial Conference
on the Mideast were escorted
Eby' representatives of the
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization, the umbrella group
for Palestinians, the AM Elwi
refugee camp, scene of re-
taliation strikes by Israel for
the Ma'alot massacre May
16.
o- -- , The group was later es-
corted to a meeting at the
PLO in Beirut for a discus-
on with PLO representa-
tives in Lebanon, Shafik al-
Hout and Nabil Shaath, di-
rector of the PLO Planning
Center.
Some participants had been
nervous and uncertain about
the camp visit and the meet-
ing with the PLO. The 18
gathered at 7:30 p.m. in the
lobby of the fashionable
Holiday Inn, Beirut. They
were met by a group of
Americans living in Beirut
with contacts with PLO, in-
cluding Jack Dagilaitis, di-
rector of the American Lan-
guage Center in Beirut in
whose car I was driven to
the camp, located on the out-
skirts of the biblical town of
Sidon near the Mediterranean
Sea. With me were William
Pages of Newark and Milton
Movitz of St. Louis.
The camp is located about
35 to 40 miles outside Beirut.
We were met at a pre-
arranged rendezvous spot
near the Mediterranean Sea
at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Some tension was expressed
during the long wait for the
arrival of the PLO repre-
sentative, who accompanied
us to the camp which sus-
tained damage from the re-
prisal raid.
Milling about the rubble
with the 18 journalists were
dozens of Palestinian children
of all ages, all of whom were
friendly and intrigued by the
cameras and tape recorders.
Members of the PLO in
maroon berets with Soviet-
made automatic weapons
about their shoulders kept
the entire scene under close
watch. A PLO member who
called himself Mohamed said,
"My dear American friends,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, June 7, 1974-31 we want peace to come to
Palestine, but if necessary
we will fight for it and die
for it."
From the camp we were
taken directly by cars to the
headquarters of the PLO in
Beirut.
We were addressed in the
PLO headquarters by Shafik
al-Hout, the official repre-
IN PERSON
sentative of the PLO in the
Lebanese republic.
The PLO, headed by Yas-
sir Arafat, has stated in the
past that it would accept a
Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza as an interim
SUNDAY-JUNE 23-7:00 P.M.
step toward its goal of "re-
storation of the national
Special Match Race
rights of the Palestinians."
Arafat had called such a plan
5 Laps—Anything goes!!!
a "cardboard state."
John HalI—T-Birds
However, there appears to
VS
have been an important shift
in that position on the part
Jeff Adams-Chiefs
of the PLO since al-Hout in-
dicated that if the Pales-
tinians on the West Bank and
in Gaza would decide they
wanted a Palestinian state,'
Courtesy of The Jewish News
they would respect the wishes
of those Palestinians. He
SAVE $1.00 on adult ticket
stressed, however, that the
goal of establishing a "dem-
Children (14 and under) and
ocratic and secular state"
Senior Citizens 1/2 price
over all of Palestine, includ-
ing what is now Israel would
With this coupon you may purchase as many tickets as you desire.
not be abandoned.
Nabil Shaath, director of
DISCOUNT DATE: SUNDAY JUNE 23-7:00 p.m.
the Planning Center, pro-
fessor of business adminis-
Reserved Adult Ticket $5.00 for $4.00
tration at the American Uni-
versity in Beirut, said that
Children & Sr. Citizens 5.00 for 2.50
"t a ctic all y, Palestinians
should take what they can
Reserved Adult Ticket $4.00 for $3.00
get," but he said that "the
Children & Sr. Citizens 4.00 for 2.00
Palestinians will never be
satisfied with only 19 per
Reserved Adult Ticket $3.00 for $2.00
cent of Palestine."
Children & Sr. Citizens 3.00 for 1.50
Shaath pointed out that
there. are 1,500,000 Pales-
Total Amount Enclosed $
tinians living in Palestine,
the West Bank and Israel
and another 1,500,000 outside.
NAME
He said that while 50 per
.,
PHONE
cent of the- Palestinians had
lived in the camps in 1948,
1 ' ODRESS
only 15 per cent do so now.
The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine and
the Popular National Struggle
Front have criticized the
I STATE
ZIP
PLO for its wish to take part
Please charge this to my Master Charge. My Account
in the Geneva talks.
Number is
Journalists were shocked
to see the squalid refugee
I
camps in the midst of the
GOOD THRU
master charge
- beautiful and prosperous city
a
of Beirut. One of the worst
looking camps is directly
across the street from the
SIGNATURE
gleaming Kuwaiti Embassy
Tickets may be purchased at Olympia Box Office
and in the impressive row of
no later than 24 hours Prior to performance date.
international banking con-
cerns in this Lebanese capi-
tal.
Despite the presence of
armed members of the PLO
in the headquarters, the con-
895-7000
5920 GRAND RIVER
oiler Games
LIVE
LOS ANGELES THUNDERBIRDS
vs
NEW YORK CHIEFS
1
SPECIAL OFFER
";
versation with the PLO lead-
ers was relaxed and free-
wheeling. At 12:30 p.m. the
journalists ended their meet_
ing at the PLO and returned
to the hotel.
In the afternoon, the dele-
gates heard a speech by Dr.
Charles Malik, former presi-
dent of the UN General As-
sembly and member of the
Parliament as head of the
Progressive Socialist Party,
who said that the conference
was held at a "most propi-
tious moment in the history
of the Mideast when peace
between the two peoples —
Jew and Arab — and the
three faiths—Judaism, Chris-
tianity and Islam — might
be closer than at any pre-
vious point."
He called for "setting our
sights high toward that day
of peace." Along with Prime
Minister Takieddine Solh,
Malik and other high Leb-
anese officials praised the
disengagement agreement be
tween Israel and Syria which
Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat has also termed a
"miracle." Other countries
on the itinerary are Syria
and Jordan.
*
Shavuot was observed by
40 journalists in a remark-
able prayer service at the
90-year old Ismailia Syna-
gogue in Cairo May 27.
About 35 members of the
congregation, which no
longer has a rabbi, were on
hand for services. There are
500 Jews in all of Egypt to-
day, including 146 families in
the capital city.
The 40 journalists, repre-
senting half of the total on
the trip, participated in wor-
)
. 7
ship service led by hazzan
Emile Pinto, 74, and com-
munity president Felix As-
cali, 65, both natives of
Cairo. Robert A. Cohn, presi-
dent of the AJPA, extended
warm greetings to the syna-
gogue from the American
Jewish community. Jewish
editors from St. Louis, Oak-
land, Kansas City, Albany,
Houston and Newark were on
hand. The scene was highly
emotional for both congre-
gants and guests. The aging
community ' has very few
young people, and there have
been no Jewish circumcisions
or weddings here in recent
years.
One of the editors, Sam S.
Clevenson of the Albany Jew-
ish World, in a dispatch
phoned to his newspaper
from Cairo, said that the
Shavuot visit to the Ismailia
Synagogue "seemed to be a
propaganda success" for the
Egyptians. Clevenson said he
was almost sorry that he had
suggested that the synagogue
be visited. He said the visit
bore out on the surface the
assertion by the Egyptians
that there is religious free-
dom in that country.
But Clevenson noted that
"Many of the dozen men and
women in the synagogue had
been told to attend, they told
this reporter. Thus it became
an unusually large number
of Jewish people in one
place." He added that at the
end of the synagogue service
a glass window was broken
when someone threw an old
battery through it.)
Earlier in the day, the con-
ference was welcomed to
Cairo by Dr. Adel Taher,
Egyptian undersecretary of
state for the ministry of
tourism, and Yahia A. Rizk,
director of public relations
for the ministry.
The 96 delegates were
greeted at the airport by
Gamal Hassan, a tour guide
here since 1947 who said he
was delighted to welcome
American dole ates and that
all Egyptians applauded the
resumption of iiplomatic re-
lations with the United States.
MOVIE
GUIDE
Americana Complex 1, 2, 3, 4
Greenfield Rd., N. of 9 Mile
358.3920
358-1414
Wed. MATINEES ALL
THEATERS-1 Show only
at 1:15-51
AMERICANA I
"THE STING" (PG)
AMERICANA II
"THE EXORCIST" (R)
AMERICANA III
"SERPICO" (R) and
"LADY SINGS THE BLUES" (R)
AMERICANA IV
"BLAZING SADDLES" (R)
BERKLEY
12 Mile-Coolidge
LI 2-0330
HELD OVER 3RD WEEK
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Mon-
day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs-
day.
Open 7:00. Featurette, "FEVER
IN RIO", at 7:20 and 9:10.
Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal in
"WHAT'S UP DOC?" (G)
at 7:40 and 9:30
Saturday matinee, open at 1:00
"FEVER IN RIO" at 1:25,
"WHAT'S UP DOC?" at 1:45.
Over at 3:15.
Re-Opening Saturday eve. at 7:00.
"WHAT'S UP DOC?"
at 7:40 and 9:30.
Sunday open at 1:00, "FEVER IN
RIO" at 1:25, 3:20, 5:10, 7:00, 8:50.
"WHAT'S UP DOC?" at 1:45, 3:40,
5:30, 7:20 and 9:10.
.
Film FROM THE MIRACLE COUNTRY...
" KAZAMAN ff THE Biq NEW
MUSICAL FROM ISRAEL
VIE MIRACLE
1 1
11
I
IIIIIII
II i
L
I
OLYMPIA STADIUM
mcm PREsEms
YEHORAM GAON --
MENAHEM GOLAN'S "KAZABLAN"
PANAMSION' METROCOLOR
"SOUNDTRACK ALBUM AVAILABLE ON MGM RECORDS"
PG
PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED
To•■■•
nay r,e1.1,6C,
r-e Irt+s,•••
EXCLUSIVE DETROIT
PREMIERE
ENGAGEMENT
T 111§ Cinema
TELEGRAPH RD. N. OF 10 MI., 354-9660