111.111111111111U Purely Commentary A U. S. State Department map recently reproduced on this page was utilized to show the minuteness .of Israel when likened to the vast areas occupied by the Jewish - state's neighboring countries whose poten- tates are bent upon a course of destruction in the Middle East. A mere speck on the map of enriched Arab lands is begrudged the people of Israel in their process of re- deeming their ancient homeland. Even More impressive is the study that has been made of the population density of Israel as contrasted by the enormity of Arab possessions. The Quest for Truth in a Poisoned Middle East Atmosphere . . . Analysis Exposes Arab Strength and Israel's Minuteness in Vast Sea Among Enemies areas in the interest of peace. The term non-belligerence has been coined, and Israel has asked for a pledge to restrict 'belligerent actions especially by Egypt. But even such a pledge is not forthcoming. That is why Krivine's comments in his analysis are so vital. He states: that are not under Jewish sovereignty. Can one or two per cent of the Arabs live under a Jewish flag? The answer, it should hastily be said, is no; and we accept that. Israel is pre- pared to waive a part of the national heritage in order to avoid any substantial concentration of Arabs having to live in a country where another ethnic group constitutes the majority. Israel has therefore proclaimed herself as ready to negotiate a territorial com- promise with Jordan. But creating a separate Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan would generate pressures that must build up into an explosion. That is why the Arabs devised the new "Palestine" ethnicity. If they have ter- ritorial sovereignty over a continent big- ger than all Europe, at least the Palestin- ians can be described as a land-lacking nationality. But then, where does this end? There is no reason why Arafat The accompanying map on this page, should not create a G.L.O. next — Gali- provided by Features of Israel, tells the . lean Liberation Organization. Many story bluntly — factually. political innocents will be moved to tears by fervent Arab pleas for a return of An analysis of the density factor was their national home in Galilee (capital: made recently for the Jerusalem Post by Nazareth) as well. The Jewish state will, David Krivine. It serves to dispel the bit by bit, dwindle away to nothing. charge of Israeli expansionism. Distorted interpretations of Israel's current role in Recognition of Palestinian, as against the Middle East may have led many to Arab, rights means acceptance of the fol- 'believe that Israel is imperialistic, that the lowing principle: that wherever Arabs handful of Israelis in comparison with the dwell, the Arabs are sovereign. The pop- large masses of Arabs are imperialistic ulation of the West Bank and Gaza to- and arrogant. gether in 1970 was 965,000, or 0.88 per cent of the population of the Rabat Krivine is conservative even when he powers. If we add another half million states that the state of Israel even with Arabs in Israel, and one million Pales- the inclusion of the Gaza Strip, the Golan tinians outside Palestine who might con- Heights and the Sinai area, when matched ceivably be induced to return if they had by the Arab territories, is like matching autonomy, that is still only 2.25 percent Corsica with France. Thereupon he points of the Arab people. to these facts: It is the Arabs who are gorged with territory, not the Jews. If we take all Paleitine, omitting Sinai (that is, Israel plus West Bank plus Gaza plus Golan) the area comes to just over 10,000 square miles, less than half the size of Lake Michigan. _111.1 Assuming a maximum Israel with- drawal (to the 1967 borders), the size of Arafat's state, including Gaza, would be 2,410 square miles. This is smaller than the Hebrides, smaller than the Canary Islands. The West Bank has no railway, and is separated from the Gaza coastline by Israel territory. For her part, Israel would find herself in a tactical trap. The "waist" between Haifa and Tel Aviv is eight miles wide, from frontier to sea. Every Israel airfield would be within shooting distance of Arab guns. If we wanted to avoid this suicidal pro- pinquity and negotiate "secure and de- fensible, borders," we would come up against the incapacity of Arafat to make any concessions whatever, because his own diminutive principality is a geo- graphic farce even as it is, without con- The rest have sovereignty in more than a dozen independent Arab states. Today 80 per cent of the Jews live in countries By Philip SlOffioyitz sidering any of the modifications that Israel would require. There are Jews, and even Israelis, who have long been clamoring for a surrender of what they consider to be ill-gotten gains and a return all the way to the 1967 borders. To refresh our memories and theirs, let us take another look at com- parative figures: Sq. Miles Israel (1967 borders) 8,017 Israel (present borders. excluding Sinai) 10,874 Jordan (without the West Bank) 35,468 Syria (without Golan) 70,784 Golan 444 —Egypt 386,550 Gaza Strip All the Arab Rabat powers together 4,562,340 The misfortune is that the reality of Israel's role as depicted in the map that appeared on this page in the Dec. 6 issue may have gained only Jewish attention; that the destructive chart on this page may not draw the interest it should from those who exert influence on public opinion. How can truth gain ground in a world already sickened by selfishness and indif- ference to human needs? What can little Israel do in an era of spreading anti- Semitism? How will a world considered civilized rise to heights greater than pre- scribed by an international community that has become degraded by the smell of oil? Under such circumstances, is it any wonder that there is so much fear over an impending revival of warfare? - Listing the Arab countries that press for Israel's - withdrawal, we find that Jordan is 31/2 times larger than Israel- Palestine, Tunisia six times larger, Syria 61/2 times larger, the Yemen Republic seven times larger, Muscat and Oman 7% times larger, South Yemen 10 times —larger, Egypt 35 times larger, Libya 52 times larger, Saudi Arabia 76 times larger, Algeria 84 times larger, and Sudan 89 times larger. Some people may be under the impres- sion that the Arab states are heavily pop- ulated and need sizable areas for sub- sistence.. Statistics (for 1970) indicate otherwise. The number of inhabitants per square mile in Libya is 2.75, Saudi Arabia 7, Muscat and Oman 7, and South Yemen 10. Algeria has 14 inhabitants per square mile, the Sudan 15, Iraq 51, Jordan 55, r the Yemen Republic 66, Tunisia 75, Syria 80, Egypt 82, Morocco 86, and Kuwait 90. The figure for Israel is 374 inhabitants per square mile (again, using 1970 fig- gures). Assuming that immigration continues to flow in and the number of inhabitants reaches seven million persons by the turn of the century (including one million Arabs), populatiOn density in Israel will then be 873 persons per square mile. Arguments have broken out already inside this country over the disposal of the piteously limited acreage available. Meir Zorea, chief of the Lands Adminis- tration, opposes point-blank the minister of housing's plan to take over 7,500 acres of agritidtural land for housing during the next five years. Zorea points out that the country has only 1.4 dunams of farm- land per head of'the population as it is, and that is a minimum in his view. Yet it is only a matter of time before the 7,500 acres and much more is used up — to house the multitude of Jews who are waiting patiently in Russia for permission to immigrate to Israel. In more than one sense, Israelis are hemmed in. The minute territorial gains that have been made serve protectively to prevent destructive attacks on the tiny state. Yet there are increasing sentiments favoring Israeli withdrawals from some 2—Friday, Dec. 27, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Population* ALGERIA EGYPT IRAQ JORDAN KUWAIT LIBYA MOROCCO 15,270,000 34,839,000 10,070,000 2,470,000 910,000 2,080,000 15,830,000 Density (in- habitants per square mile) 14,i; 82 * 51 55 90 2.75 86 * Population MUSCAT AND OMAN SAUDI ARABIA SOUTH YEMEN SYRIA TUNISIA YEMEN ISRAEL Figures are from the 1974 World Almanac. 700,000 8,000,000 1,510,000 6,680 ;000 5,380,000 6,060,000 3,200,000 Density (in- habitants per square mile) 7 7 10 80 75 66 374