THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 5, 1977 19
5,000 Years of History Being Sifted in Israel
TEL APHEK, Israel—
Hundreds of American vol-
unteers are working on 20
archeological sites in Israel
this summer, including 60
on a 30-acre site at Tel
Aphek.
The site is under the di-
rection of Dr. Moshe Koch-
avi of the Institute of Arch-
eology at Tel Aviv Univer-
sity.
According to a New 'York
Times story by William Far-
rell, the dig is of special in-
terest because the area has
been inhabited for 5,000
years.
Uncovered during six
years of digging at Tel
Aphek are Turkish Empire
grain-storage bins, a rutted
Roman road, and objects
and pottery that date from
3000 BCE, the era of the
first walled cities in Pales-
tine.
Along with their digging,
the American volunteers
also attend classes in a re-
stored vaulted stone room
left by the Turks.
Most of the volunteers
are not archeology majors.
They work under the super-
vision of specialists eager
to unearth evidence of the
past and happy to have the
labor to do the digging.
Dr. Kochavi is involved
at present in digging out a
Canaanite palace dating
from 1200 BCE. The shape
of the building is already
visible, the diggers having
bared some of the walls,
courtyards and the main
stone staircase.
The site, Dr. Kochavi
says, is filled with the past
because it is on a rise near
the Yarkon River and was
a natural stopping place for
ancient travelers.
Daily, Dr. Kochavi and
his volunteers begin work-
ing at 5:30 a.m., and dig
until 1 p.m. after which the
unearthed bits and pieces of
pottery are washed and sort-
ed.
Dr. Kochavi is also in-
volved in a regional survey
taking place within about 13
miles of Tel Aphek, the site
of a place called Aphek An-
tipatris, in which a series
of small settlements that
can be traced to the ancient
Israelite periods have been
uncovered.
There is a major dispute
over how early the Israel-
ites settled here. Dr. Koch-
avi says that 'the settle-
ments dug out so far in-
dicate that the time may
have been as early as the
13th Century BCE. Herod
built on the Tel Aphek site
Syrian Jews Focus of Spy Novel
One fatal misstep will
lead to a slow, tortured
death for Major Ari Ben-
Sion, an Israeli spy on a
dangerous mission inside
Syria in Howard Kaplan's
first novel, "The Damascus
Cover" (E.P. Dutton and
Co.).
Kaplan, a native of Los
Angeles, has lived in Israel
and traveled extensively in
Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
His spy thriller, "The Dam-
ascus Cover," incorporates
much of the accepted news-
paper accounts of the condi-
tion and restrictions im-
posed on the Jewish quar-
ter of Damascus and the
4,50.0 Jews remaining in
Syria.
Ben-Sion must penetrate
both the community of ex-
Nazis living in Syria as well
as the Damascus Jewish
community in order to
carry out his mission for
the Mossad, Israeli in-
telligence service.
Unfortunately, the
middle-aged spy is begin-
ning to slip, and shows a
weakness for beautiful
women, which works to the
advantage of the notorious
Syrian Second Bureau.
It is obvious, even to Ben-
Sion, that the Syrians know
who he is. His mission of
rescuing the children of two
leaders of the Syrian .Jew-
Israeli Soldiers to Be Tried
for Murder of Arab Prisoner
JERUSALEM (JTA)—
State Attorney Gabriel
Bach strongly denied
charges that Israeli secu-
rity agents deliberately tor-
ture Arab political prison-
ers under interrogation and
assailed a report to that ef-
fect published recently in
the Sunday Times of Lon-
don. But Bach, addressing
foreign correspondents
here, admitted that "such
things may occasionally
happen".
He also disclosed that a
dozen Israeli soldiers would
be brought to trial shortly
for alleged involvement in
the death of an elderly
Arab resident of Nablus,
Ahmed Dahloul. who was
arrested for questioning in
March, 1976 in connection
with disturbances on the
West Bank. He said the
prosecution brief was in
preparation.
Dahloul died after he was
taken into custody for alleg-
edly inciting anti-Israel
riots. The cause of death
was initially listed as heart
attack but investigations
showed that he had been
beaten to death. Bach said
that until now only the offi-
cer in command of the unit
had been tried. He was
found guilty of manslaugh-
ter and sentenced to two
years in prison and stripped
of his Major's rank.
But subsequently, eVi-
dence came to light in-
volving 12 soldiers, Bach
said. He also disclosed that
his office was preparing to
prosecute. six Arab inmates
of the Nablus jail who alleg-
edly "interrogated, tried"
and severely beat four fel-
low inmates to find out if
they had "cooperated" with
police. He showed newsmen
photos of one of the four ex-
hibiting extensive bruises.
Bach denounced the Sun-
day Times report as "ten-
dentious. vicious and defi-
nitely unfounded". He
stressed that Israel's mili-
tary courts were as punc-
tilious as civilian courts
and therefore without bias
against Arab defendants.
He noted that the presiding
military judges were usual-
ly reserve officers who prac
tice law in civilian life
"and are therefore fully im-
bued with the sense of natu-
ral justice."
Monument Urged
for Kent State Rift
WASHINGTON (JTA)—
The Union of American
Hebrew Congregations and
the Central Conference of
American Rabbis have
called upon President Car-
ter to declare the site
where Ohio national guards-
men fatally shot four Kent
State University students in
1970 a national monument.
4n 9 BCE; the Romans'
presence has been con-
firmed by the remains of a
temple and the ruins of pa-
trician houses. ,
Herod started building
here after he completed
Caesarea—where major ex-
cavations have been com-
pleted—because he wanted
a new town midway be-
tween Caesarea and Jerusa-
lem. he named it Anti-
patris, for his father.
In the Old Testament, the
site is called Aphek. It was
conquered by the Romans
in 67 C.E. One of the major
recent finds has been the
huge stones of a Roman
street, bordered by remains
of a row of shops and round
stone bins for storing grain.
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orduroy Teamwork
ish community begins
fall apart.
The Israeli spy faces a
losing race with time to sal-
vage the job and not jeop-
ardize a Syrian member of
parliament who is actually
an Israeli. operative.
Kaplan's "Damascus
Cover" is an enjoyable
spine-tingler with ample un-
answered questions. twists
of the plot, bedroom scenes
and suspense to hold the
reader's interest.
His descriptions of Dam-
ascus, the Jewish quarter
and the persecution of Syr-
ian Jewry add an extra di-
mension to a good spy
novel.
--A.H.
Moscow Rabbi
Is Hospitalized
NEW YORK (JTA)—
Rabbi Jacob Fishman of
the Moscow synagogue has
been hospitalized with
acute appendicitis, accord-
ing to Rabbi Arthur
Schneier of the Park East
Synagogue.
In a phone conversation
with Shalom Kleinman,
president of the Moscow
Choral Synagogue, Schneier
said he was told that Fish-
man underwent surgery for
the removal of the appen-
dix and is in stable condi-
tion. Fishman, 64, has had
a history of heart ailments.
Schneier, who is also pres-
ident of the Appeal of Con-
science Foundation, an
inter-faith group concerned
with strengthening religious
life in the USSR and East-
em Europe, maintains con-
tact with the Moscow Jew-
ish community.
A winning combination!
Holocaust Data
Center Established
plus patterned shirts
NEW YORK—The ADL
announced that in view of
"the current trend to erase
the Holocaust to a mere
footnote in modern his-
tory," it is establishing a
Holocaust Information Cen-
ter in its national headquar-
ters in New York.
The ADL will also con-
duct the national in-
vitational conference on
teaching about genocide
and the Holocaust on Oct.
9-11.
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