THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
38 Friday, September 5, 1975
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Embattled Sinai History Told
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(Continued from Page 37)
ous fedayeen raids into Is-
rael.
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At that point, Israeli
leaders indicated readi-
ness for final withdrawal.
Herut leader Menachem
Beigin, then in Washing-
ton, cabled Ben-Gurion:
"You have declared we
will not withdraw from
Gaza and Sharm el-Sheik.
Keep your word."
But the Ben-Gurion gov-
ernment placed its hopes in
the U.S. declaration that it
considered the Tiran Straits
an international waterway,
that the U.S. would bring oil
to Eilat in American tank-
ers, and • in Eisenhower's
promise in a March 2 letter
to Ben-Gurion that Israel
NW you have
Health, Happiness
and Prosperity
in the Coming Year !
"will have no reason to re-
gret this decision" for total
withdrawal.
There followed stormy
debates in the Knesset and a
huge Herut demonstration
in Jerusalem prompting pol-
ice to send in reinforce-
ments.
The Labor Party and its
allies countered by dis-
patching kibbutzniks and
other supporters of the gov-
ernment to the scene. No in-
cidents took place, however,
as foes of withdrawal
marched the streets of Is-
rael's major cities.
The political struggle
following the Sinai • cam-
paign lasted four months
— from early November
1956 to early March 1957.
Those months were ex-
hausting and fraught with
anxiety for a nation only
12 years old.
The parallels between
1956 and 1975 can be carried
too far. President Ford has
never talked about imposing
sanctions during the pres-
sure campaign to bring Is-
rael acceptance of a second
withdrawal in the Sinai, nor
has the Ford Administra-
tion demanded Israel's total
withdrawal.
Allon, who opposed with-
drawal in 1956, now favors
withdrawal, though a much
more limited one. Beigin
has been totally consistent.
He opposed withdrawal
then and opposes any with-
drawal now.
Ben-Gurion said in 1957
r
"If we had not accepted the
American demand, we
might have lost our source
of supplies for our defense
forces" — a theme familiar
in August, 1975.
Ben-Gurion also declared,
"I am proud of the civic
courage that our govern-
ment revealed in adopting
this unpopular decision, yet
a wise, helpful and correct
one" — also a familiar
theme in August, 1975.
Israelis have not forgot-
ten that after 1956, the
Tiran Straits were closed
again, Gaza became a nest
of terrorists again and Is-
rael had to go to war again
in 1967.
T h e
demonstrations
against the Ford-Kissinger
pressures have, therefore,
been more hectic than those
of 1956. In addition, the So-
viet Union, which in 1956
still had diplomatic rela-
tions with Israel, is appar-
ently a foe of the Jewish
State.
The Israelis feel they have
reason to fear that, in ac-
cordance with the ancient
wisdom, history may once
again repeat itself, despite
the U.S. assurances in sup-
port of the second Sinai
withdrawal.
In Israel, in order to be a
realist you must believe in
miracles.
—David Ben-Gurion
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