THE JEWISH NEWS Inco ► pnating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue olJnly 20, 1951 Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial Association. PIMfished every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 \V. Nine Mile, Suite Sti5. Southfield, Mich. 1$075. 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 IIITSK 1 . , News Editor . . 11E11)1 PRESS. .1ssist ant News Editor Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 25th day of Sivan, 5737, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues: Pentateuchal portion, Numbers 13:1-15:41. Prophetical portion, Joshua 2:1-24. Thursday and June 17, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz. Numbers 28:1-13. Candle lighting. Friday. June 10. 8: 19 p.m. VOL. LX XI, No. 14 Page Four Friday, June 10, 1977 Jerusalem on American Agenda Prior to the Presidential election, during and after the Democratic and Republican Party con- ventions, there were the doubters who warned that many of the party platform planks weren't worth the paper they were written on. On one such plank, at least, new testing now is in order. It relates to Jerusalem as the capi- tal of Israel. As a member of the House of Representa- tives, before he was named Vice President, Gerald Ford strongly advocated the acknowl- edgement of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The U.S. is one of the nations which still retains its embassy in Tel Aviv. As candidate for Presi- dent, Mr. Ford still was biding his time on the Jerusalem issue, apparently unable to negate State Department policies to correspond with his deepest feelings on the Jerusalem question. But the Democratic platform was firm in sup- port of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. On the basis of the 1976 Democratic pledge, the Zionist Organization of America has re- newed the Jerusalem question with a petition which will surely be signed by many thou- sands, urging President Jimmy Carter to ascer- tain the seriousness of his party's commitment. In the circulated petition, the ZOA defines the issue clearly by stating: "Move United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—the Cap- ital of Israel." Addressed to President Carter, the appeal for action asserts • "We recor and support the established status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, with free access to all its Holy places provided to all faiths. As a symbol of this stand, the U.S. Embassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Je- rusalem." F. Perhaps the renewal of concern in the matter of Jerusalem is one of the vital necessities at a time when the Middle East issues have become entangled in many uncertainties. No matter what the decisions will be in the Israel-Arab disputes, and Israel's consent to any or all deci- sions will be absolute necessities in all tiegotia- tions, Jerusalem can never again be a divided city. There are differences of opinions in mat- ters of territorial designations in Israel, but not on the question of Jerusalem. The Holy City can not be sundered again. The pledge is on the record and its retention may serve as means of recapitulating the American pledges for strengthened U.S.-Israel friendships. The Democratic Party has obligated itself to Israel and to the Jewish people on the Jerusa- lem question. The President declared himself bound to the Democratic Party platform when he campaigned and then triumphed to become the President of this great nation. Now a moral duty devolves upon those who acted as Demo- crats and are now called upon to fulfill their duties to the existing pledges as citizens and as members of the nation's governing body.- Is it too much to ask the President to act promptly in the fulfillment of recorded pledges? Understanding Begin : Facts Clarified An unfortunate resort to fictional inter- pretation of latest events in Israel demands clarification of a situation that could well poi- son the minds of world leaders, especially the American leadership. Resort to suspicions of the Likud, personal attacks on its leader, Men- ahem Begin, and the yielding to Arab pressur- es may cause serious damage to the Israeli po- sition in the United States. There is a serious and urgent responsibility to set the record straight and to define the Begin-Likud atti- tudes, regardless of anyone's preferences for Is- rael. An important statement published in the Christian Science Monitor demands serious con- sideration. Prof. Uri Ra'anan of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy wrote about an interview with Begin in the Israeli press in which he stated his views and actually emerg- ed as a spokesman for a party that is ready to negotiate honorably with the Arabs. Prof. Ra'anan's statement in the Christian Science Monitor contains the following facts: Eleven days before the elections, Begin gave an interview to the Hebrew press. At a cursory glance, this could be read as one more reiteration of Israel's biblical and, thus, historical and moral claim to "Judea and Samaria" (or "The West Bank") and a warning of the mortal dan- ger which its control by inimical forces would pose to the very centers of Israel's population. However, on this, as on sub- sequent occasions, in Hebrew as in Eng- lish, he went to considerable trouble to re- frain from stating that he would "annex" this area or "extend Israeli jurisdiction. " Actually, Mr. Begin confined himself to the ambiguous term "control" concerning the areas under dispute between Israel and Jor- dan. "We do not require that the Arabs accept our views as a prior condition of our partici- pation in serious peace negotiations and we won't submit to demands that we accept their views as a prior condition for their participation in such negotiations." This carefully phrased pronouncement im- plies willingness to negotiate untrammeled by any artificial prior fetters. This impression is reinforced by his re- sponse to the question whether Likud's views on territorial matters would not pre- vent a coalition with other elements that subscribe to entirely different principles: 4i • • • when the time comes, we shall nego- tiate the government's basic platform and I have reason to believe that we will find the path to an agreed formulation." Further reinforcement is provided by his answer, when asked whether a Cabinet headed by him would publish its peace plan: "No. It will bring this plan, crystal- lized and formulated, to the table of peace negotiations. Only then will it be unveiled, but not before then." There is an obligation to avoid partisanship and to judge the situation realistically and truthfully. This is not a time to encourage ani- mosities. The Begin view quoted here is of great value for an understanding of the man who is soon to lead the Israel government. Let the truth be known and the American-Israel friendship will be assured. Dr. Jacob Tsur's Authoritative Definition of Zionist Cause Originally published in French under the title "L'Epopee du Sio- nisme," an impressive paperback by Dr. Jacob Tsur has just been made available by Transaction Books of Rutgers University defining Zionism and tracing its historical background and accomplishments. Dr. Tsur's "Zionism: The Saga of a National Liberation Move- ment" is the product of one of the movement's outstanding advo- cates and one of Israel's most distinguished leaders. A former Israel ambassador to France, until last year president of the Keren Kayemet 1'Yisrael, the world body of the Jewish Nation- al Fund, Dr. Tsur is the author of several volumes dealing with the Zionist cause and Jewish historical experiences. Most of his works appeared in French and have been translated into English and other languages. In the current volume Dr. Tsur not only defines and interprets Zionism but also offers a history of the events that led to the forma- tion of the political movement by Theodor Herzl, the events that preceded and followed the Holocaust, the tragedies suffered by world Jewry and the state-building Israeli developments. 1 To have packed into this 100-page book the complete story of Zionist en- : deavor and to have chronicled all of the events that have marked the liber- ai tarian movement, with a record of Jew- ish agonies and the challenges that are inherent in state-making is a notable achievement. Included are stories of the first pioneers in Palestine, the founding fathers of Zionism as well as of Israel. The fact that Dr. Tsur has taken into account "The Attacks on Zionism and Petro Anti-Semitism" emphasizes the thoroughness with which he has dealt with the totality of the issues relating both to Zionism and to Israel's role in the world. DR. JACOB TSUR Zionism and the libertarian ideal of world Jewry is viewed as a turning point in history and on that score Dr. Tsur declares: nation does not cease to exist unless it has willed itself to die—and the will of the Jews to survive was stronger tha- the so-called reality around them. Palestine was the answer to t: impending threat. "Israel as it now reflects in large measure the vicissitudes of that vanished European Jewry and also its inexhaustible energy and pas- sionate dedication. Other branches of the Jewish population also threatened with extinction in their places of dispersion and absorbed by the state in the course of its existence have contributed their share to the melting pot of the nation, for example, the Jewries of the Middle East and of the Islamic countries, who have never crossed the Mediterranean, and the remnants of the flourishing com- munities of medieval Iberia and heirs to their glorious tradition. "The character of Israel is thus an amalgam of the characteristics of its various ethnic components, yet also of its environment and the conditions of its birth. All the obstacles it has had to surmount are ineradicably engraved on the countenance of the new state. Thus, the national movement that nurtured Israel into existence will be immortalized in history as one of the most fructifying and constructive impulses of modem political thought." - . -