THE JEWISH NEWS Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing CO., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075. Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $10 a year. PHILIP SLOMOVITZ CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ DREW LIEBERWITZ Editor and Publisher Business Manager Advertising Manager Alan Hitsky, News Editor . . . Heidi Press, Assistant News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 27th day of Shevat, 5735, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Exod. 21:1-24:18 and Num. 30:11-16. Prophetical portion, II Kings 12:1-17. Rosh Hodesh, Tuesdau and Wednesdau Num. 28:1-15. Candle lighting, Friday, Feb. 7, 5:36 p.m. VOL. LXVI, No. 22 Page Four Friday, February 7, 1975 Breaching Difficulties in Path of Amity Conflicting Middle East reports and news analyses have already created many tensions stemming from fears of another impending war. Hopelessness about the developing situa- tions has dominated the views of many in governments, the press and the areas affected. Nevertheless, there is an emerging senti- ment that all is not lost in the negotiaions for renewed agreements for an accord that may lead to an abandonment of despair. There is even a resort to the distantly-expected "peace." When that remotely anticipated term is bandied by such personalities as French President Giscard d'Estaing there is cause for the belief that predicted new bloodbaths can and will be averted. Meanwhile there is the recurring debate over the status of Arabs in Israel-occupied territories. While Arabs have demonstrated against Israel's administration in the terri- tories occupied by Israel in the West Bank, and the much-touted Palestinian issue is re- ferred to as the crucial factor in the problems debated globally, enough evidence is intro- duced to indicate the many advantages to the Arabs under Israel's rule to prove the justice of the Jewish state's approach to the issues at hand. "The bridges" that link Israel with Jordan are the best proof of amicable trading between the two countries. On the Allenby and other crosspoints Arabs regularly appear with their products, which they transfer freely from one country to another. All they need do, under supervision of both Israelis and Jordanians, is to effect the change-over of truck plates from one country to the other. Meanwhile there is profit galore for the trading Arabs. Action speaks louder than words and business goes on "as usual" without interference, sans terrorism, in defiance of whatever the so- called Palestinian leaders may assert. Proof is provided demonstratively in the Free Press Intelligence Report which indi- cated the following: Thanks to an "underground" trade system, a variety of Israeli products—including refrig- erators, air conditioners and tires—are finding their way into the Arab world. Here's how it works: The goods are first sold to Arab dealers on the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Jordan, who remove "Made in Israel" labels, Hebrew stamps and other tell- tale markings — replacing them with phony Arabic, French or English brand names. The items are then shipped to dealers in Jordan, and from there, as one Israeli put it, "They could end up almost anywhere in the Middle East." For instance, $1,500 Israeli refrigerators have been spotted in Egypt and Iraq. In turn, Arab merchandise comes into Is- rael. Things like plastic Jordanian coat hang- ers—with their original labels—have turned up in Tel Aviv supermarkets, and Syrian back- gammon sets, water pipes, belly-dancing drums and other objects are openly displayed in the market of Jerusalem's Old City. Israelis cite their underground trade with Arab countries as proof of the wisdom behind Israel's "Open Bridges" policy — which has permitted an uninterrupted flow of traffic across the bridges connecting Jordan's East and West Banks—even during the Yom Kip- pur War. "This trickle back and forth is just a hint of how real peace could benefit all of us in the Middle East," says one Israeli businessman. "For Arab and Jew alike, peace would mean prosperity." This is only part of the evidence of an available amicability in trade that could and should lead to good relations, with an assur- ance of a possible peace. The New York Times International Economic Survey for 1975 in- cluded a valuable analysis of the phosphates industry in Israel by the prominent Israeli correspondent, Moshe Brilliant, who, in the important review of the experiences revolving upon its development, showed how Israel was prepared to cooperate with Jordan to enable the neighboring country similarly to benefit from such. The Brilliant article ("Israel Profits from Phosphates, Thanks to King Hussein"), pre- sents, inter alia, these important facts: - General Mordechai Makleff, managing di- rector of Israel Chemicals, Ltd., Government- owned organization, has proposed cooperation with the Jordanians, who have been unable to start their own plant on the eastern shore. He suggested to World Bank officials that the Jordanians share Israel's facilities, which would cost a prohibitive $200-million to dupli- cate at today's prices. ,Cooperation would be an obvious boon to the Jordanians, who are heavily dependent on Arab and American financial support, but the Amman Government has not responded. Gen- eral Makleff acknowledged that there was no prospect of acceptance at this time. It is clear that realism is needed to achieve the desired means of elevating the standards of living and of trade relations between na- tions now nominally at war in the Middle East. When one of the parties in the discord keeps denying the neighbor's right to exist, the outward appearance is one of endless war and hopelessness in a tragic situation that is per- petuated inexcusably. If trading can go on so freely, why can't there also be a political approach, a neighborly act, an end to quarrel- ing? If farmers can travel freely from border to border, why can't diplomats meet at the green table of statesmanship to arrive at a measure of agreement to end disputes? Hussein surely knows the facts, as the minor factors in the phosphates developing aspects indicate among many other concrete examples of available industrial cooperation emphasizes; and the Israelis keep pleading for - a meeting of minds to arrive at an understand- ing that is both neighborly and statesmanlike. But there is a bitterness engendered by ene- mies, saber-rattlers and warmongers who are bent on destroying Israel that stands in the way. It is reasonable to believe that the aspirants to Israel's destruction may, after all, be in a minority. Perhaps this is the difficulty, now in the way of President Gerald Ford and Secretary of -State Henry A. Kissinger, that may yet be breached. '• • Funny Road from Riadh If it weren't so serious, it would be funny —an Arab from Riadh telling an American newsman that Jews need not worry about him because there are Jews on the board of Mobil Oil Co. That's how an Arab intruding into the Detroit banking system seeks to ex- onerate a fanatical government from shocking practices against all Jews. It's a funny road for a Saudi Arabian from Riadh to a bank in Detroit, but the ruts are for Americans to be seriously concerned with. If Americans keep shouting "Beware", perhaps FDIC will recognize the menace and the Saudi will use his return ticket home. - Theological Dispute Christian Anti-Semitism Roots Traced in Re-Printed Volume The growth of Christian anti-Semitism during the first eight cen- turies of the Christian movement, was catalogued in detail in James Parkes' definitive volume "The Conflict of the Church and Synagogue." First published in 1934, this major work has been re-issued by Sepher-Hermon Press. A compilation of years of research by hundreds of scholars, Parkes' volume has a bibliography for each chapter, and ends with five apendices. Beginning with the Jews in the Roman world, Parkes takes the reader through the initial break with Christianity, the developing anti- Jewish codes and Jewish persecution, the Byzantine Empire, -and con- cludes with Visigothic Spain. Parkes says that, "In 1096 there were wild outbreaks against the Jews in all the cities of northern and central Europe. What made this possible? The answer could only be found by a study of the earlier period, a period incidentally which is little known, by either Jewish or Christian scholars . . ." He said he became convinced that the real roots of the problem of anti-Semitism lay in the conflict between Church and Synagogue, and in his volume he presents as much of the material on the subject as possible. Parkes' introduction bridges the gap between the last nine cen- turies of Christian-Jewish conflict and the first 1,000 years covered in his volume. Parkes says, "We are concerned with the clash of two religious organizations, and only indirectly with the conflict of theological con- ceptions which was involved. "It is not the Christian doctrine which has been the main external influence in the Jewish life of the last 1,500 years, but the Christian Church. "The Jewish problem today expresses itself primarily in ecom and political phraseology. False racial theories have been substituted for false readings of the Old Testament. "Jewish observances are perhaps more colored by Roman influences than by Christianity. Sephardic Judaism owes much to its contact with Arab civilization. But the whole of the Jewish world even today bears the marks of the environment, friendly or hostile, created by the Christian Church. "For throughout all those centuries a large portion of the Jewish people have lived under the domination of a Christian majority. The Jews of today are the direct inheritors of the life of medieval Jewry, and the life of medieval Jewry was built upon foundations laid in the earliest centuries of its daughter religion." Parkes continues by giving an example of the difficulty scholars have in tracing the early differences between Church and Synagogue: "Both the historical development of the event and the historical development of the literature describing it have to be traced." He relates how in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' efforts with a certain group of Jews is described. In succeeding gospels, the group is referred to as the Pharisees, then the scribes, and finally another party. "In the fourth gospel all are included together under the general term 'the Jews', and all are considered to be, and always have been, the enemies of the new teaching." Parkes' "Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue" easily remains a standard reference for reviewing the literature on the roots of anti- Semitism, and its re-printing is a valuable addition to currently available volumes.