The Arab-Nazi Alliance: Inhumanity Revived • A Test for Zionist Congress Planners Commentary, Page 2 VOL. LXXII. No. 6 Holding Aloft the Torch of Learning • Community Put to the Test THE JEWISH NEWS A Weekly Review of -Jewish Events Editorials, Page 4' 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-'8833 $12.00 Per Year: This Issue 30° October 14, 1977 . German, Arab Spokesman Attack Holocaust Studies in NY Schools No Conditions Are Attached to U.S.-Israel Geneva. Pact JERUSALEM (JTA)—An important but so far unilateral step by Israel toward reconvening the Geneva Conference was taken Tuesday night- when the Cabinet unanimously approved the workirig paper on procedures drafted last week by Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in New York. The Cabinet's endorsement, without qual- ifications or amendments. after a five-hour special session that ended at midnight. was apparently in compliance with American urgings that Israel attach no conditions that would make it more difficult for the U.S. to "sell" the working paper to the Arabs. The contents of the working paper were not divulged. Vance will now bring it before the Arab governments for their decision. Officials in Israel expect further diplomatic contacts during the coming weeks before actual preparations to resume the Geneva Conference can be made. Only hours before the Cabinet convened. it was disclosed that Premier Menahem Begin had received a personal message from President Carter urging that his government approve the document. Officials said the mes- sage was written in a friendly style and contained no hints that pressure might be applied if the Cabinet rejected the draft. The State Department issued a statement in Washington Tuesday night that said, "We welcome the decision announced by the Israeli Cabinet accepting the working paper. We will now be in touch with the Arab gov- ernments concerned." The statement added, "We believe the Israeli gov- ernment decision is a further step toward working out practical pro- cedures for convening the Geneva Conference by the end of this year." However, the State Department cautioned, "What has been accepted is still a working paper which may require further negotiations after the Arab governments have given their views on it." The Cabinet had been expected to approve the paper but to spell out that its approval was conditional upon acceptance of Israel's refusal to nego- tiate with the PLO, refusal to negotiate a Palestinian state on the West Bank and refusal to accept the U.S.-Soviet joint declaration cif Oct. 1 as any sort of basis for the Geneva talks. Such conditions were not attached. Cabinet Secretary Arye Naor. briefing newsmen after the meeting. stressed that the decision "speaks for itself" and that "no appendices or stipulations" had been added. The absence of conditions led some observers to deduce that the Carter Administration had urged Israel very strongly to give its approval unbur- dened by any qualifications that would impair chances of Arab accept- ance. According to political correspondent Yosef Harif. writing in Maariv. Begin himself had tried to get the text amended as late as last Saturday because he was unhappy with a clause which permits Egypt to participate in negotiations over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the course of the Cabinet session. the longest ever held by the Begin government. some ministers are understood to have expressed doubts about the paper. But Begin and Dayan eventually prevailed upon - (Continued on Page 18) NEW YORK (JTA)—New York City Board of Education officials say they have no intention of agreeing to demands from German-American and Arab-American spokesmen for withdrawal of plans for an experimental curriculum on the Holocaust which may lead to mandatory courses in the city's high schools next year. The board introduced a curriculum guide on the Holocaust as a case study of genocide and held a three-hour meeting at its headquarters in Brooklyn for reactions to elements of the curriculum. Dropping of the proposed course was demanded by George Pape, - president of the German- American Committee of Greater New York, described as a cultural organization; and by M. T. Mehdi, president of the American-Arab Relations Committee, who called the experiment "an attempt by the Zionists to use the city educational system for their evil. propaganda purposes." A similar course introduced recently in Philadelphia was criticized by the German-American Com- mittee of Greater Philadelphia on grounds it stressed Nazi atrocities while avoiding other examples of genocide. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of - the Jewish Community Relations Committee of Greater New York, said Pape's "revisionist approach" to history — only underscores the urgent need for Holocaust - education in our schools," a reference to a reported statement by Pape that there was "no real proof" the Holocaust ever happened. School board chancellor, Irving Anker, responding to Pape's reported demand that the school board either drop the Holocaust project or add to it the study of slavery and other genocidal acts, said he was "shocked" that anyone would object to the plan to expand the study of the Holocaust in the city's public schools, which is now being. taught in some schools at the initiative of particular teachers. Anker, said there is now an extensive study of Black slavery in America in the city school program. A board spokesman said the two-volume experimental curriculum was developed to help teachers at the city's more than 250 inter- mediate, junior and senior high schools develop units--of study, as well as mini-courses and some elec- tives so that students could learn about the Holocaust and the ramifica- JERUSALEM (JTA)—Uneasiness is growing in Israel tions of that event. that Premier Menahem Begin, hospitalized three times Stephen R. Aiello, Board of Educa- since April for heart ailments. may be too ill to discharge tion president, said the project and the duties of his office and that his physical condition could the board decision to test it on an affect his political judgement. Such speculation was heigh- experimental basis during the 1977-78 tened Tuesday when Begin, school year originated with Dr. Sey- looking pale and weak. was mour Lachman, the former board discharged from Ichilnv president. Hospital in Tel Aviv. The curriculum was prepared by He was admitted to the the board's division of educational hospital 12 days earlier suf- planning and support, which is fering from fatigue brought .headed by Dr. Arnold Webb, its exec- about by overwork. the offi- utive director. cial bulletins said. But his The foreviard to the curriculum doctors disclosed several said, "The history of mankind days later that Begin was includes several major episodes of being treated for per- human tragedy: the religious per- icarditis. an inflammation secution of early Christians in the of the membrane enclosing Israelis Are Worried About Begin's Health (Continued on Page 6) MENAHEM BEGIN (Continued on Page 16) lir ally Shows Dulzin Should Win Zionist Vote Cease-Fire Being Used JERUSALEM (ZINS)—Political experts say that even if Labor succeeds in contesting for the position of head of the Zionist movement, its cause will be hopeless. They point out that because of their losses in the May Knesset elections the Labor Party can only count on coming to the World Zionist Congress in February with 146 delegates that would be expected to vote for their candidate. That delegation would consist of 121 representing the Labor Party, 27 from Mapam, 2 from the Independent Liberals, 2 from Sheli, and 2 from Shulamit Aloni's list. Leon Dul- zin, on the other hand, is already guaranteed to have 237 delegates ready to vote for him- (90 from the World Union of General Zionists, 56 from Herut, 87 from the Mizrachi Hap- oel-Hamizrachi, and 4 from Shlomzion ). According to a report in Ma'ariv, the executive director of the Confederation of United Zionists, Kalman Sultanik, has said that his group will vote for Dulzin, Sultanik explained that his delegation always voted for the candidate put up by the government. The position of Prof. Yigael Yadin's Democratic Movement for Change is not known. but he will be entitled to 27 delegates at the Congress. The total number of delegates expected is 559. For Terrorist Build-Up TEL AVIV (JTA)—Major Sa'ad Haddad, commander of Christian forces in southern Lebanon. has warned that the Palestinian terrorists are using the cease-fire to improve their positions. "It is clear to me they are preparing an attack on us," he told journalists who were guests at his command post in Marjayoun village north of Metullah. He said he would ask Israel to warn the Palestinians against violating the cease-fire. "If these (violations) con- tinue, I intend to use force against the Palestinians." Had- dad said. (There were reports of artillery exchanges in the region on Monday and Tuesday. and 500 Lebanese Chris- tians demonstrated at the "Good Fence" near Metullah on Wednesday. demanding Israeli artillery support.) He charged that the Palestinians were sending heavy , (Continued on Page 6)