k
1.4
l!
54 January 16, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Eileen L. Lansky, 58
Eileen J. Lansky, imme-
diate past president of the
Greater Detroit Chapter of
Brandeis University's Na-
tional Women's Committee
and an active member in
other Jewish women's or-
ganizations, died Jan. 10.
Mrs. Lansky, 58, was a
native of Bay City. She
served as a social worker
with New Horizons of Oak-
land County from 1965-70,
and was a graduate of
Smith College and the Uni-
versity of Chicago.
Mrs. Lansky was a life
member of Hadassah and
the Brandeis Sisterhood,
and a member of Temple
Emanu-El. She served
from 1973-75 as president
of the Greater Detroit
Chapter of the Brandeis
National Women's Com-
'mittee, and was currently
serving as a board member
and regional vice presi-
dent.
She was also servingas a
board member of New Hori-
zons.
Mrs. Lansky lived at
25535 Wareham, Hunting-
ton Woods.
She is survived by her
husband, Dr. Mandell; a
son, Donald; two daughters,
Mrs. Peter (Rosalyn) Bernt-
sen of Colorado Springs and
Mrs. Harold (Barbara) Bez-
nos; her father, Joseph
Hirschfield; and brother
Robert Hirschfield, both of
Bay City; and three grand-
children.
Interment in Bay City.
Louis Edelman, TV,
Movie Producer
Maurice Aronsson, Leader in Printing Industry
Maurice Aronsson, a
leader in Jewish communal
and civic activities, as well
as a leader in the printing
industry, died Jan. 9 at age
83.
in Halmstad,
Born
Sweden, Mr. Aronsson came
to the U.S. in 1908 and to
the Detroit area in 1911. In
1915, at age 23, Mr. Arons-
son set up his first printing
plant with a two-press shop
on Brush St. Today, Arons-
son Printing Co. is one of
the largest in the Midwest.
A noted philanthropist,
LOS ANGELES — Louis
Edelman, producer of the Resignation Letter
first talking movie, died re-
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
cently at age 75.
General `Arik' Sharon has
Mr. Edelman ; who pro- sent a letter to Premier Yit-
duced "The Jazz Singer" in zhak Rabin indicating his
1927 starring Al Jolson, also wish to resign as military
was responsible for films adviser because of the less
such as "The Fighting 69th," than satisfactory state of
"A Song to Remember," organization which exists
"The West Point Story," for the defense of the coun-
"Here Comes the Navy" and try.
"Once Upon a Time," which
At Rabin's request,
starred Cary Grant as a Sharon agreed to remain at
dancing caterpillar.
his post for a further period
He also produced TV of time. Rabin is said to
shows, including "Wyatt have assured Sharon that he
Earp," "Make Room for will see to it the necessary
Daddy" and "The Big Val- improvements would be car-
ley."
ried out.
1939 and headed the initial
fund-raising drive for it.
Communally, Mr. Arons-
son was active in efforts for
the Allied Jewish Cam-
paign. He was chairman of
the special gifts section in
1935 and 1937 and general
chairman of the 1948 cam-
paign. He was on the gov-
erning board of the Jewish
Welfare Federation and a
past Federation treasurer;
Sinai Hospital as vice presi-
dent; Jewish Home for the
Aged, life board member;
Jewish Children's Home as
vice president; and the De-
Mr. Aronsson was known to
loan money without collat-
eral or interest and often
without expectation of its
return. He helped many stu-
dents in the community
with college educations by
providing scholarships.
Mr. Aronsson was a
leader in the building of
the Jewish Children's
Home, Jewish Home for
the Aged and Sinai Hospi-
tal of which he was a
board member. He held an
organizational meeting for
the hospital at his home in
Israel to Export Wankel Engines
Arab states have pro-
tested against the granting
of this license to Israel.
BONN — The Israel firm
of SaW-Kel, which will be-
gin production of Wankel
engines at the beginning of
this year on the license
granted by the Volkswagen
works, has received many
orders from abroad.
Orders for about 40,000
engines a year have been
received from Western Eur-
poe, the United States and
Latin America. The engines
will be for tractors, genera-
tors, boats and various other
vehicles.
Reunions Halted
JERUSALEM — Syrian
authorities have revoked an
agreement to allow Druze
families from the Golan
Heights to meet with their
relatives from Syrian terri-
tory at a point in the separa-
tion-of-forces zone near
Kuneitra, according to the
Jerusalem Post.
The M.E.Refugees: Palestinian and Jew
By MAURICE ROUMANI
Editor's note: Outlining
"The Case of the Jews in
Arab Countries; on behalf
of the World Organization
of Jews from Arab Coun-
tries, Dr. Maurice M. Rou-
mani has exposed many
distortions and little-
known acts about Jewish
and Arab refugees in the
Middle East. Dr. Roumani
is a research associate at
Bar-Ilan University and
head of the research divi-
sion of the department of
Sephardic communities of
the World Zionist Organi-
zation.
A refugee is defined as
one who flees in search of
shelter usually as a result of
political persecutions. Were
the Arabs compelled to
leave Israel? To what degree
were they subject to politi-
cal persecutions?
4
These questions have been
neglected during the past
two decades of public con-
.cern over the plight of Arab
refugees. It is time we pose
these questions and start re-
vealing the origins of the
"Refugee Problem."
In the 1920's and 30's, the
land of Israel changed from
a country which was tradi-
tionally one of emigration
for Arabs to one of immi-
gration. This was primarily
due to Jewish settlement
which provided increased
economic opportunities and
made immigration attrac-
tive to the Arabs living in
the surrounding, underde-
veloped countries.
During the years
-1922-39, the Arab popula-
tion grew heavily in the
following cities: Haifa,
216%; Jaffa, 134%; Jerusa-
lem, 97%; Nablus, 42%;
, Hebron, 40%; and Bethle-
mem, 32%.
ill
By 1946, the British Man-
datory Government records
1,200,000 Arabs living in Is-
rael, an increase of 65 per-
cent over 1922, composed
mainly of recent immi-
grants seeking a more pros-
perous lifestyle.
What then caused the
dramatic change which mo-
tivated thousands of Arabs
to leave Israel by late 1947?
On Nov. 29, 1947 the UN
issued a resolution calling
for the partition of Pales-
tine into separate Jewish
and Arab states. Within two
days, the neighboring
Arab countries denounced
the resolution and an-
nounced to Palestinians
that they should flee before
great battles occur. This
happened despite the fact
that the partition resolution
gave the Arabs by far the
lion's share (82.5 percent) of
the country — in addition to
their vast holdings all over
the Middle East.
This historial fact is
substantiated by Mr. Em-
ile Ghoury, secretary of
the Palestinian Higher
Command, in an interview
with The Beirut Telegraph
on Sept. 6, 1948:
"The fact that there are
these refugees is the direct
consequence of the act of
the Arab states in opposing
partition and the Jewish
State."
Further evidence of the
Arab leaders' incitement of
Palestinians is recorded as
late as Oct. 12, 1963 by the
Cairo daily Akhbar in the
following report:
"15 May, 1948 arrived . . .
on that very day the Mufti
of Jerusalem appealed to
the Arabs of Palestine to
leave the country because
the Arab states oppose
partition and the Jewish
state."
Moreover, the incitement
of Palestinians to flee was
further facilitated by reli-
gious and nationalistic im-
plications. On Oct. 2; 1948,
the London Economist re-
ports: ". . . it was clearly
intimated that those Arabs
who remained (in Haifa)
and accepted Jewish protec-
tion would be regarded as
renegades."
Clearly, then, it was the
Arab leaders, who by
creating panic and fear,
caused the Arabs to flee
from Israel. The Arabs
were not compelled to seek
refuge nor were they
forced to leave by the
Jews. On the contrary,
British police reports of
April 26, 1948 record that
Jews were making every
effort to persuade Arabs to
remain and to carry on
with their normal lives.
The Haifa workers coun-
cil appealed to the Arab res-
idents of Haifa on April 28,
1948:
"For years we lived to-
gether in our city, Haifa, in
security and in mutual un-
derstanding and brother-
hood . . . Do not fear! Do
not destroy your homes
with your own hands; do not
block off your source of live-
lihood; and do not bring
yourself tragedy by unnec-
essary evacuation and self
imposed burdens. By mov-
ing out you will be over-
taken with poverty and hu-
miliation. But in this city,
yours and ours, Haifa, the
gates are open for work, for
life and for peace for you
and your families".
The Arabs were not com-
pelled by Israel to leave.
More accurately, they were
fugitives, forced to flee by
the incitement of their own
leaders who later aban-
doned them and caused
troit Service Group, Hebrew
Free Loan Association,
Downtown Synagogue,
House of Shelter, American
Red Cross, Cong. Shaarey
Zedek, North End Clinic and
the Jewish Social Service
Bureau.
what we know today as "the
Refugee Problem."
By contrast to the efforts
of Jews to maintain peace-
ful civilian relations with
Arabs, when the state of
Israel was established in
1948, the position of Jews
in the countries of the
Arab Middle East and
North Africa became in-
creasingly insecure.
Hightened governmental
discrimination, in addition
to religious and national in-
tolerance caused Jews to
seek foreign support. This,
consequently, branded Jews
as disloyal and caused them
to be treated as hostages in
their own countries of birth.
During the debates in the
United Nations General
Assembly in 1947, the head
of the Egyptian delegation
Dr. Mohammed Hussein
Heykal Pasha, did not hesi-
tate to warn that, "The lives
of a million Jews in Moslem
countries will be jeopard-
ized by the establishment of
the Jewish state."
In a similar vein, Jamal
Al-Husseini, chairman of
the Palestine Arab Higher
Executive, stated: "If a Jew-
ish state were established
in Palestine, the position of
the Jews in the Arab coun-
tries would become very
precarious," adding the om-
nious warning, "Govern-
ments have always been
unable to prevent mob ex-
citement and violence."
With the establishment
of the state of Israel, these
dire threats were carried
out. Jews in Arab coun-
tries became the subject of
riots, pogroms and mass
arrests. Legislation con-
fiscated their property,
restricted their employ-
ment and limited their
freedom of movement.
Hundreds of Jews were
murdered.
In Aden, in December
1947, a mob attacked the
Jewish quarter killing 82 ,
Jews, wounding 76 and
burning the shops of 100. In
Egypt, in July and Septem-
ber of 1948, more than 150
Jews were killed. In Iraq,
300 Jews were arrested in
May, 1948 when Zionism
was made a capital crime.
As a result, more than
750,000 became refugees,
compelled to flee their
homes and seek refuge, the
majority in Israel (over
500,000) and the rest in
other parts of the world.
•
REFUGEES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
1948-1975
Immigrated to Israel
Immigrated to other
countries
Total
Jews
586,268
in 1948
Arabs
539,000
200,000
786,268
in 1967
Total
250,000
789,000
In effect, the Middle East has undergone an exchange
of populations. Jews dispatched from Arab lands found
shelter in Israel; Arabs leaving Israel migrated to the sur-
rounding Arab countries. However, almost half the total
Arab refugee population (1,050,000) is now in Israel or in
Israeli administered territories.
MAURICE ARONSSON
By appointment of the
governor, Mr. Aronsson was
chairman of the Michigan
Crippled Children's Com-
mission. Other civic posts
include director of City Na-
tional Bank during its form-
ative years and director and
member of the executive
committee of the bank for
16 years until he retired in
1967; and director of Union
Investment Co. since 1947.
Some of his Jewish affi-
liations included the na-
tional board of the Ameri-
can Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee,
Free Adoption Committee
of New York and National
Jewish Hospital at Denver
of which he was Michigan
chairman.
Mr. Aronsson was a foun-
der and past president of
Knollwood Country Club,
Standard Club and Coopera-
tive International. He also
was a founder and stock-
holder of the Michigan lthc-
ing Association and its trea-
surer; president of Blair
Distillery Corp of Louisville,
Ky.; People's State Bank of
Hazel Park, Prudential Ac-
ceptance Co. and Gaylord
Finance Co.
His memberships in-
cluded Cong. Shaarey Ze-
dek, Downtown Synagogue,
Franklin Hills Country
Club, Zionist Organization
of Detroit, Hillel Founda-
tion, United Hebrew
Schools, Economic Club of
Detroit, Detroit Round Ta-
ble of Christians and Jews,
Michigan Conservation
Club, Knollwood Country
Club, Moslem Temple, Scot-
tish Rite of Free Masonry,
Friends of Detroit Public
Library, Detroit Historical
Society, Adcraft Club, De-
troit Board of Commerce
and the Masonic Home for
Crippled Children of which
he is a life member.
Mr. Aronsson leaves his
wife, Dora; a son, Herbert;
two daughters, Mrs. Sam
(Margie) Shell and Mrs. Lois
Kottler; three brothers,
Martin of Florida, Lewis
and Janies, both of Sweden;
and eight grandchildren.