54 Friday, January 28, 1977
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Arab Peace Offensive: Smoke-Screen or Indicator?
By GIL SEDAN
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The Arab world may be
deliberately throwing up
smoke-screens and sow-
ing confusion. Or it sim-
ply may be unable to
reach any degree of unity
with respect to future
peace negotiations with
Israel.
In any case, Israel's
leaders and political
analysts are having a dif-
ficult time making sense
of the bewildering array
of contradictory state-
ments that comprise the
so-called Arab peace of-
fensive.
For example:- Two
weeks ago, Egypt's
foreign minister, Ismail
Fahmy, let it be known
that his government
would demand Israel's
withdrawal to the 1947
partition boundaries.
Two days later, Fahmy's
boss, President Anwar
Sadat, told a New York
Times interviewer that
he was ready to give Is-
rael any guarantees it
wanted— provided that it
withdrew first to the
pre-June 1967 lines.
Then, Sheikh Moham-
med Ali el-Jabarri, the
former mayor of Hebron,
returned from a visit to
Jordan claiming the right
of the West Bank popula-
tion to self-determination.
The people of the West
Bank, not the PLO must
have "the first word to
say" about their fate, he long-standing belief that
declared, speaking, pre- all Arab statements must
sumably, with the bless- be taken with a large
ings of Jordan's King Hus- grain of salt.
sein.
But who expresses the
But a day later, Hus- Arabs' true intentions?
sein signed a joint decla- Sadat or his foreign
ration with Sadat favor- minister.? Jaabari, a re-
ing a separate Palestin- tired politician who is a
ian state on the West sentimental favorite but
Bank.
no longer a political influ-
Then, before the riots in ence in his home town or
Egypt, Sadat was quoted the Hashemite King who
by reporter C. L. appears to have reversed
Sulzberger:
--
himself and now supports
"The importance of the the PLO?
American role—and no
Apparently the Arabs
other country can equal are trying to lay the
it—is that the U.S. is Is- groundwork for a joint
rael's lifeline. For arms, stand when the time comes
for food, for budget de- to reconvene the Geneva
ficits.
conference. Their efforts
"If the U.S. is really in- are expected to culminate
terested, it can have peace in March when the Arab
there within a month. (The heads of state are sched-
implication is that Wash- uled to meet in Cairo to
ington could force its will finalize their "un-
on Israel.) We, Egypt and derstandings."
Israel, don't have confi-
The recent meetings
dence in each other—but
between Sadat, Hussein
in the United States."
and President Hafez
Sadat also told Assad of Syria appear to
Sulzberger, He said: "I'll have resulted in a com-
be asking President Car- mon position on the part
ter, Congress and the U.S. of the three confrontation
public for help. After all, states. The next two
the Soviet Union has re-_ months probably will :be-
placed all Syria's arms devoted to trying to ex-
and added heaps, and tend the concensus to the
America has done the more extreme Arab re-
same with Israel. We gimes of Iraq and
Egyptians hold the bal- Muamar Qaddafi of
ance of peace—yet we are Libya.
refused help by both
But if the Arabs are
sides."
joining forces to squeeze
These contradictions
concessions out of Israel,
seem to bear out Israel's it is hard to understand
how they hope to achieve
this by their current
smokescreen tactics. And
if they do adopt a united
stand on the eve of a re-
sumed Geneva confer-
ence, the conference may
fail to materialize be-
cause Israel will not ac-
cept the terms demanded
by the united Arab front.
The joint communique
by Sadat and Hussein in-
dicates some of the diffi-
culties that may arise. It
speaks in favor of a sepa-
rate Palestinian delega-
tion at Geneva, a co-equal
with the other Arab dele-
gations and the "legiti-
mate rights of the Pales-
tinians,- including the
right to establish an in-
dependent political en-
tity."
Israel is not likely to ac-
cept these terms. In fact,
recent reports that such
influential Americans as
Prof. Zbigniew Brze-
sinski, who is Presi-
dent Carter's national se-
curityiadvisoz:, now
a Palestinian state bol-.
sters Israel's opposition.
What needs examina-
tion is the new Jordanian
support for a Palestinian
entity. The Daily Tele-
graph of London reported
that Hussein would soon
meet with PLO chieftain
Yasir Arafat, their first
meeting since Jordan de-
stroyed the PLO presence
within its borders in the
bloody battles of Sep-
tember, 1970.
The Jordanian position
is easier to understand in
the context of internal
Arab politics. Hussein
is preparing the
groundwork for greater
involvement on the West
Bank, not as an in-
terested party but as a
patriotic Arab leader car-
rying out the mandate
given to him by the entire
Arab community.
The joint communique
speaks of an "indepen-
dent political entity" but
also mentions Sadat's re-
cent proposal that a for-
mal link should exist be-
tween Jordan and a fu-
ture Palestinian state.
Hussein, not surpris-
ingly, welcomes the idea.
Although Arab am-
biguity has created a di-
lemma for Israel, official
reactions to the Hussein-
Sadat communique were
positive. Foreign Minister
Yigal Allon told the Israeli
Cabinet that Jordan was
again given a role in the
Palestinian issue, despite
what Allon described as lip
service to the 1974 Rabat
summit meeting.
Political analysts noted
that although there was
reference to a Palestinian
state in the joint com-
munique, there was no
reference to the PLO as
"the sole representative
of the Palestinians," a
figure of speech con-
tained in the Rabat reso-
lutions.
"Anything that brings
Jordan back into the Pal-
estinian issue is positive
since it is the Israeli posi-
tion that the Palestinian
question must be an-
swered in the context of
negotiations with Jor-
dan," Israeli political
sources said.
The Israeli view is that
Jordan is enjoying a
comeback in the Arab
world. Sadat does-not
want to see Jordan t 'y
in the Syrian camp--or
does Hussein want to tie
himself entirely to one
camp.
Israel believes that a
final settlement on the
West Bank is possible only
through negotiations with
Jordan and regards the
Sadat-Hussein com-
munique as a step in that
direction. On the other
hand, the fact that the
moderate Hussein offi- cL—)
cially endorses a separate
Palestinian delegation to
the Geneva talks is viewed
with concern since Israel
will not accept such a pro-
vision.
If this turns out to be
part of the united Arab
stance it may well become
the main obstacle to re-
convening the Geneva
conference. It is expected
to be the subject of talks
between Middle East
leaders and the new
American administra-
tion.
1
Warsaw's Famous Cantors and the Tlomacka Street Synagogue
By MOSHE RON
Jewish News Israel
Special Correspondent
Students
studied
Judaica. They attended
lectures given by Prof.
Schor and the famous
TEL AVIV — The illus- historian of Polish Jewry
trious great synagogue in
and manager of the War-
Tlomacka St. in Warsaw saw rabbinical seminary
was the spiritual and re- "Tochkemoni" Prof. Meir
ligious center of the
Bolobon. The ' Library of
Jewish intelligentsia and the Institute was full of
members of the middle books and old, rare manu-
and upper class of the scripts.
biggest Jewish commu-
Common people did not
nity in Europe.
attend the "aristocratic"
In this synagogue
synagogue and Orthodox
Rabbi Moshe Jehar gave circles boycotted it be-
speeches in Polish in
cause people spoke Polish
favor of building the there, not just Yiddish.
country of o u r
But many surrounded
forefathers. He quoted the synagogue on holy
the Jewish sages in He-- days with the hope to get
brew.
into the building and listen
Guests from Eretz Is- to the famous hazzanim,
rael, who came to Poland
Gershon Sirote and Moshe
as emissaries of the na-
Kussowicky. Polish
tional institutions and
policemen on horses kept,
funds, were received on
order, and the synagogue
the Sabbath and holy
ushers, clad in top hats and
days with blessings by
formal attire, and the stout
the Chief Rabbi.
warden Gonshar watched
On the beginning of a
on the steps, that no one
new school year, hundreds
would enter the building
of children and pupils of without an entrance ticket.
the Jewish high schools fil-
The prayers of the fa-
led the synagogue. The
mous hazzanim in the
atmosphere was solemn.
Tlomacka Synagogue
All pupils came with the
were always an attrac-
flag of their schools and
tion, not only for the per-
Prof. Moshe Schor ad-
manent visitors but also
dressed them and urged
for the guests — high
them to treat their teach-
ranking Jews and high
ings seriously in order to
Polish officials — who
become the future genera-
were invited by their
tion of the Jewish intel-
Jewish friends.
ligentsia.
Hazzan Gershon Sirote
In the court of the great
acted like a
synagogue stood the
"primadonna" at times.
building of the High In-
He disappeared from
stitute for Jewish Wis-
Warsaw on the eve of one
dom, which was recog-
Rosh Hashana, and vis-
nized by the Polish Minis-
itors to the synagogue
try for Education as an
read in the newspapers
affiliate of the University
that Sirote had gone to
of Warsaw.
New York.
me and said, "We are
going to Eretz Israel, but
only for a visit, not for
public_prayers and con-
certs".
When he got to Eretz
Israel Kussowicky sub-
mitted to the pleas of his
admirers to give some
concerts and lead public
.
J451,0*65,,,, ,S>
Bernard Altshuler
Warsaw's Tlomacka St. Synagogue
After some arguments,
Sirote was finally fired
and Moshe Kussowicky
engaged as chief hazzan.
I remember a nice
episode during the Nile
Prayer by hazzan Sirote.
He became ecstatic, his
voice reached a high
pitch. He lengthened the
prayer, it became dark,
but Sirote carried on. One
of the ushers approached
him and showed to him
his watch.
Sirote became angry
and raised his voice even
more, like a roaring lion.
The audience was fasci-
nated.
After the prayer, many
people congratulated and
embraced him with tears
in their eyes.
To the Yom Kippur
services of Kussowicky
came famous Polish sin-
gers from the Warsaw
Opera, like Digaz Gros-
sinsky and others. They
often said that Sirote and
Kussowicky were worthy
of being proclaimed "in-
ternational" singers and
they were sorry that the
two had become haz-
zanim instead of opera
stars.
I remember an episode
after which Moshe Kus-
sowicky came to Eretz Is-
'rael. It was in 1934, when
the famous singer Yosef
Schmidt visited the
Tlomacka Synagogue.
After prayers, Kus-
sowicky invited Schmidt
and some friends to his
house --for "kidush".
Schmidt told them that
he intended to visit Eretz
Israel. He asked Kus-
sowicki if he had already
been there?
Kussowicky answered
that he would like to go
there, but Moshe Dan-
sigerson (Ron) is to be
blamed for it, because he
doesn't help him.
Schmidt reacted, "Haz-
zan Kussowicky, it is not
fit that the chief hazzan
of the Tlomacka Syna-
gogue has never visited
Eretz Israel".
Kussowicky took out
his passport handed it to
Bernard B. Altshuler, a
supervisor with the
Michigan Employment
Security Commission,
died Jan. 24 at age 55.
Born in Russia, Mr.
Altshuler was the direc-
tor of the MESC's WIN
program. He was a
member of Temple Israel
and its men's club and a
board member of the
temple school board. He
resided at 27336 Selkirk,
Southfield.
He lea7es his wife, Syl-
via; two sons, Jeffrey and
Gordon; and a daughter,
Lisa.
prayers. He then visited
Eretz Israel yearly.
In the 1960s, I was sent
by the Israeli Journalists
Association and the Is-
raeli Foreign Office to an
international convention
of journalists in Warsaw.
I visited Tlomacka St.
Only part of the former
great synagogue stood.
In it I found the Jewish
Historical Institute.
There were historical
pictures and documents
about Polish Jewry,
which numbered 3.5 mil-
lion before the Holocaust.
Rabbi Mindar, 81,
Ex-CCAR Head
MINNEAPOLIS (JTA)
— Rabbi Albert G. Minda,
a pastpresident of the
Central Conference of
American Rabbis and
spiritual leader of Temple
Israel here from 1922-
1963, died Jan. 15 at age
81.
A former internat
Ll
vice president of '-c-ne
World Union for Progres-
Rabbi Schindler
sive Judaism, Rabbi
is Re-Elected
Minda was born in Hol-
NEW YORK (JTA) — ton, Kan. He was gradu-
Rabbi Alexander 'M. ated in 1918 from the
Schindler has been University of Cincinnati
unanimously re-elected and was ordained by the
Hebrew Union College in
chairman for a second
year term of-the Confer- 1919.
Rabbi Minda was active
ence of Presidents of
Major American Jewish in civil and religious af-
fairs in Minneapolis
Organizations.
Urban League and of the
Jewish families made city's Round Table Con-
their way into Gary, In- ference of Christians and
diana's sand dunes and Jews.
swamps along with the
In 1940 the Minnesota
earliest pioneers, and in Territorial Centennial
September, 1908 the first Commission named him
Orthodox Jewish house of to the list of 100 great liv-
worship was dedicated.
ing Minnesotans.