Exposure of an Atrocious Lie
Myth of a 'Democratic Palestinian Secular State'
Jews from Arab Lands
Warn Against Threats
THE JEWISH NEWS
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Editor's Note: Concerned that the case of the Jews from Arab
countries should have become a "neglected issue," the newly organ-
ized World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries published a
series of statements exposing the lies emanating about them from
Arab capitals. A major misrepresentation refuted by this organization
is contained in the following important expose. It is part of the fac-
tual compilation compiled by Maurice M. Roumani in cooperation
with Deborah Goldman and Helene Korn, and published in Jerusa-
lem.
"Now I understand why Israel is refusing the suggested
'democratic Palestine" where the Israelis and the Palestinians
would live together. The outstanding example the Palestinian peo-
ple are giving now in Lebanon, is, I believe, more than enough to
warn Israel of such a trap-state.
"I am a Lebanese citizen whose brother and two cousins have
been coldly shot down by the Palestinians in their own homes in
Hitlerian style. I can already see the day when, in order to sur-
vive, our people will join Israel, being bound to the same fate:
SURVIVAL." Eliss Marvun, Beirut
TIME Magazine, July 14, 1975.
* * *
The concept of a "Democratic, Secular State" to which the Pa-
lestinians aspire is both alien to and remote from Arab political
thought let alone from current Arab reality or their political
institutions.
Majid Khadduri, the Iraqi born, distinguished research pro-
fessor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced Inter-
national Studies and Director of the Center for Middle East Stud-
ies, wrote in his book "Political Trends in the Arab World:"
"Today, the fate of the free thinkers in the Arab world is
not much better than in the past; most of those who hold unor-
thodox views have been reluctant to speak openly because of
state censorship and traditional intolerance towards innova-
tions."
"Ever since the Kamalist regime took action to separate
the state from religion — an action often referred to as the
"secularization of Islam" — the term "secularization" has
acquired in the Arab world the connotation of undermining
religion. Thus, any secular proposal intended to reform an Is-
lamic institution has been rejected."
After a serious and painstaking analysis of the trends in the
political development of the Arab world, Khadduri's conclusion on
secularism is as follows: "The principle of secularism, fully ac-
cepted by Turkey, has not yet been finally athrpted by any Arab
country." According to Khadduri one of the elements which influ-
ence current Arab leaders is the Islamic legacy. On this, he says:
"Whenever the Jihad was dormant, diplomatic and com-
mercial ties were permitted, and believers and infidels crossed
frontiers without difficulty. Peace treaties were necessarily of
short duration, but they were often renewed by mutual agree-
ment and observed with good faith. The law that governed Is-
lam's intercourse with other nations, called the Siyar, was a
set of rules and practices derived from Islam's long experience
with other nations as
well as from Islam's
own legal and ethical
system. According to
this law, the Jihad will
come
to an end when Is-
Horrified by the mass murder
lam has engulfed the
caused by a bomb at the TWA
whole world and man-
terminal at LaGuardia Airport,
kind lives in peace un-
Monday evening, authorities and
der the public order of
government officials were equally
Pax Islamica."
outraged by the PLO claim that it
Thus, from the above
was responsible for it.
quotations, one can de-
So shocking was that claim that
duce that the terms
even PLO representatives at the
"secular" or "demo-
United Nations denied responsibil-
cratic" have no basis in
ity.
Arab or Islamic thought.
The PLO claim was branded
It is obvious that the
"boasting" by many in the New
PLO have utilized the
York police force. The.blast cost the
term as a slogan which
lives of at least 11, with more than
(Continued on Page 40)
70 seriously injured.
PLO Bomb Claim
Called, Boasting
A Weekly Review
VOL. LXVIII, No. 17
of Jewish Events
17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Southfield, Mich. 48075
January 2, 1976
Politicized Arab Minority
Presses Israel for a New
National Cohesive Policy
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel leaders in and out of the government are trying to develop a cohe-
sive national policy with regard to the Palestinian problem, now looming as the major issue in Middle
.East peace negotiations, and how to deal with the increasingly politicized Arab minority inside Israel.
The Cabinet's formula of June, 1974 stating that the Palestinian question can be dealt with only within
the framework of peace negotiations with Jordan is generally accepted and there seems to be a grow-
ing concensus that Israel must recognize some form of national identity for the Palestinians.
But the framework of Palestinian national expression and how far Israel can safely go in accept-
ing it remains a matter of serious debate. Foreign Minister Yigal Allon stated Israel's dilemma con-
cisely, at a Labor Party meeting at Beit Berl Sunday when he said, "If we return all territories we'll be
left without defensible borders; if we keep them all, the result will be a bi-national state."
Allon, however, ruled out a Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan which, he said,
could turn out to be a PLO state. He reiterated that the Palestinian problem must be solved in
the Jordanian context and said Israel would never sign a peace agreement with Jordan unless
it contained a solution of the Palestinian question.
Former Foreign Minister Abba Eban, who addressed the American Professors for Peace in the
Middle East in Tel Aviv Thursday night, agreed that a Palestinian solution should be sought in nego-
tiations with either Jordan or Lebanon or both. But he advocated Israel's withdrawal from most of the
Arab territories it occupied in the Six-Day War with only slight changes in the pre-June, 1967 map
which would take into account human and population considerations rather than stretches of land.
Eban said that in exchange for a genuine peace pact, Israel should be ready to give up most of the
Golan Heights, part of the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, part of the Jordan Valley and most
of Sinai up to the Raffah salient. According to Eban, the "one-sided" approach of Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger has "run out of gas." He said the time has come for a mutual Israeli-American
position opposed to the Syrian-Soviet attitude.
He warned that Israel must embark on a diplomatic offensive aimed at the Geneva Conference
where an overall settlement with the Arabs would have to be worked out. The present piecemeal
approach of Kissinger only weakens Israel, he said.
The Independent Liberal Party, a partner in Premier Yitzhak Rabin's coalition government,
approved a resolution at a party executive meeting in Tel Aviv calling on the government to
recognize the rights of Palestinians on the West Bank to national self-determination. ILP leader
Moshe Kol, the Minister of Tourism in Rabin's Cabinet, proposed round-table talks between
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians of the West Bank.
Defense Minister Shimon Peres has
also been speaking of late of offering ex-
tensive autonomy to West Bank Arabs.
But in an interview published Sunday in
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
the mass circulation Paris newspaper
Gideon Hausner suggested
France
Soir, Peres ruled out Israel negotia-
Sunday that all Israel Cabi-
tions with the PLO under any circumst-
net Ministers be required to
ances.
take lie detector tests to find
out once and for all who has
He maintained that even if PLO chief-
been leaking classified in-
tain Yassir Arafat recognized Israel and
formation on Cabinet pro-
agreed to negotiate with it directly, Arafat
ceedings to the press.
was in no position to speak in the name of
Hausner, a minister-
the PLO which, according to Peres, em-
without-portfolio of the In-
braced extremist terrorist groups headed
dependent Liberal Party, is
by George Habash, Naif Hawatme and
one of Israel's most promi-
Ahmed Jibril, who demand nothing less
nent jurists who prosecuted
Adolph Eichmann in 1961.
than the dismemberment of Israel.
Cabinet Lie Test Asked
GIDEON HAUSNER
(Continued on Page 8)
(Continued on Page 32)
Sinai Agreement Implementation Hits First Snag
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The first snag has developed in implementing
the terms of the second Israeli-Egyptian agreement in Sinai. A dis-
pute over the location of the Egyptian advance warning surveillance
station in the Gidi Pass region prevented the scheduled arrival Mon-
day of 200 Egyptian technicians and workers who will build the elec-
tronic listening post.
Finnish Lt. Gen. Ensio Siilasvuo, chief of UN peacekeeping forces
in the Middle East, called a special session of the Israeli-Egyptian
Joint Military Commission for Monday which resolved the dispute
over the monitoring station.
Attempts by UN officials to settle the dispute earlier failed and
the arrival of the 17-truck convoy of Egyptian personnel was post-
poned until agreement was reached Monday. Officials expected quick
agreement.
The dispute arose from discrepancies in the maps of the area.
The Israeli and Egyptian maps each show a different site for the
location of the surveillance station on a ridge south of the Gidi
Pass Road. The American map showed still another site, which
both sides agreed was correct.
Israeli circles were also upset by Egypt's insistence that it needed
an area of six square kilometers for its radar post. The Israelis say
there is no reason for so large a stretch of land unless the Egyptian
intention is to establish an enclave that could be used for military
purposes against Israel should hostilities break - out.
It was learned, meanwhile that Israeli forces will withdraw
within the next two weeks from 60 square kilometers southwest of the
Mitle Pass adjacent to the UN buffer zone.
GENERAL SIILASVUO