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2 Friday, January 13, 1978
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
It Stands to Reason That Israel
Must Be Apprenhensive of Dangers
Jordan's King Hussein, confronted with the matter of
Israel's concern about her security on her borders, necessi-
tating retention of a military force in the Judea-Samaria
areas, said he did not know why Israel should anticipate
trouble.
What he failed to recognize and to acknowledge that
while he was, by implication, suggesting that Israel should
ha'e confidence in Arab assurances, there were murders of
Arabs who were cooperating with Israel in educational
functions and there were bombings in numerous areas.
Proof that there is the urgency of being on guard against
repeated terrorism is provided in some research that was
conducted in a study of the thinking of the Arab children. A
Reuters news story from Beirut is more revealing than
anything else that may be related about the poisoning of
young minds. Especially in Lebanon, where the children
were witnesses to the horrible bloodbath among kinsmen,
the bitterness that has been perpetuated is frightening.
Children have become experts on guns, and the frequent
revelations of the extent of their hatred for Israel taught
them by a terrorist generation is something with which to
be seriously concerned.
The news story referred to states:
Children who remained here throughout the civil war
that took thousands of lives over a year and a half
showed scant interest in toy guns this Christmas,
according to a magazine survey.
But children who were taken out of the Christian-
Moslem country during the fighting still,cared for war
toys, the investigation of Christmas shopping habits by
the magazine Monday Morning discovered.
Of the children who endured the 19-month civil war,
one toy shop owner was quoted as having said:
"They know the difference between the real thing
and the toy. They can identify every gun and name its
function easily. They do not seem interested in make-
believe weapons anymore."
It would have been well to have confidence in pledges and
in politically maneuvered promises. But the poison that has
set in causes concern. Egyptians have been greeting Jews
with "Shalom," but with a turn of events what certainty is
there that the friendship of this hour will be perpetuated
into tomorrow and the months and years ahead?
The euphoria hopefully will last, but caution is an
especially vital matter in the Middle East, more than
anywhere else. If only the poison could be removed from
young minds! The hope for a happier morrow would be
more realistic.
A 'Mistake in Judgment' Proves
Need for Accurate Research
Henry Ford Sr. went through a libel suit and apologized
to the Jewish people, in a letter to Louis Marshall, for
, having encouraged anti-Semitism by publishing one of the
most outrageous canards, - The International Jew," which
accused Jews of an -international conspiracy."
Aaron Sapiro and Herman Bernstein leveled libel suits
against him. He escaped, appearing on the witness stand
with his apology. But he never really abandoned his anti-
Semitic feelings. As late as the early 1940s he told the
Associated Press automobile editor, David J. Wilkie, that
the Jews were responsible for World War II. The Six
Million Jews were the major victims of Nazism, but to the
elder Ford they were warmongers, international con-
spirators.
These facts should always be stated in their fullest
context in reviewing the history of Detroit and its great
auto magnates. But a Detroit Free Press writer, Remer
Tyson, most regrettably overlooked the facts and merely
mentioned the "international Jewish conspiracy" in a
reference to Henry Ford, thereby giving credence to the
canard.
He corrected the blunder, calling it a "mistake in
judgment." It was inadvertent and it is good that an honest
newspaperman acted promptly to avoid leaving a bad
impression.
There is a lesson in this "mistake in judgment."
Especially when dealing with accusations involving an
entire people, the facts should be researched for their
accuracy. In the Henry Ford case this was especially vital.
The Ford-sponsored anti-Semitic literature, like that of
Father Coughlin, still is being circulated in Latin American
and Arab countries, together with the "Protocols of the
Elders of Zion" falsifications. The moment they are
presented as facts the anti-Semites gain new ground for the
activities.
Remer Tyson's explanatory correction appeared in his
column entitled "Things Change — But Not Very Much."
How true this is of anti-Semitism!
Only a Sensible Peace Can
Assure Security for All in M.E.
Many of the speculations and puzzles affecting the Middle
East agonies are, unfortunately, clouded in a lack of
understanding of the basic problems that emerge into
When Children Become Experts in Gunmanship: The Arab
Hatred and the Middle East Problem...`Error in Judgment'
and Fact-Finding...Security Means Sensible Peace for M.E.
dangers. While, in the main, the problems revolve around
security and border issues, there is a failure to appreciate
the fact that Israel, more than the antagonistic states, has a
trump card in its ability to destroy and to cause havoc.
Israel's aerial power could, for example, cause a lot of
destruction.
Another example: Israel could cause a lot of damage to
the Arab oil lines. But Israel won't resort to such tactics
because anything dekructive can react damagingly to
herself. Then there is the obligation to the United States not
to yield to the temptatiori of vandalizing or destroying her
neighbors' valuables. There is too much at stake in such an
operation because the U.S. is, virtually, a partner with the
Arabs in producing the energy providing oil so vital to
industry.
Jonathan Broder, writing for the Chicago Tribune from
the Golan Heights last July, thus dealt with the Saudi
Arabian issue explaining why. Israel would not bomb its
neighbor's oil wells:...
Every Morning, an Israeli goverdnielit technician
patrols the vital oil pipeline that cuts across this
volcanic plateau looking for trouble. He checks his
instruments for leaks and ruptures while an Israeli
army unit keeps alert for signs of Arab guerrilla
sabotage.
Then the technician returns to his headquarters and
reports to an American oil official in Beirut by radio,
telling him the crude is flowing as usual.
The pipeline belongs to the Trans-Arabian Pipeline
Co. (TAP), an American-owned subsidiary of the
Arabian-American Oil Co. (ARAMCO).
Running 1,000 miles from the Ras Tanura oil fields in
Saudi Arabia through Jordan to its Mediterranean
terminal at Sidon, Lebanon, the 30-inch pipe also
passes through the Israeli occupied Golan Heights in a
strange setup that defies virtually every obstacle in the
Middle East conflict.
An American diplomat in Tel Aviv called the
situation "weird." "What you've got is the Israelis
making sure that Saudi Arabian crude oil continues to
flow through Israeli-held territory," he says. "The oil
starts out from an enemy country, travels through a
pipeline owned by a pro-Arab boycott company, and
forms a tributary that feeds the Arab oil weapon
against Israel. It's all quite contradictory."
ARAMCO and Israeli officials are reluctant to give
details of their arrangement. But government energy
authorities here have confirmed that a little publicized
contract exists to insure the flow of Arab oil through
the line since a 30-mile section of it fell into Israeli
hands in the conquest of the Syrian Golan in 1967.
"We have a maintenance contract," says Dr. Zvi
Dinstein, Israel's top authority on energy and
oil. "We make sure, through technical and military
patrols that nothing happens to the line, and ARAMCO
has supplied us with special equipment to help prevent
ruptures in the line and possible pollution of the area."
According to an Israeli military spokesman, Palesti-
nian Arab saboteurs blew up two points along the
Golan Heights segment in 1968 and 1969, causing
extensive pollution in the Sea of Galilee, several miles
down the Golan slope.
Since then, Dr. Dinstein says, ARAMCO. has built a
small dam and provided Israel with an oil-collecting
barge and special pumping equipment. At the same
time, Israeli army patrols have stepped up their patrol
along the mineladen pipeline route, killing several
Arab guerrillas on sabotage missions.
Dr. Dinstein declines comment on the apparent
conflict of interest, saying only, "The Israeli govern-
ment has decided not to use the TAP line as a weapon
against the Arabs."
Reliable sources say that before 1967 the Israeli
army formulated a plan to destroy the line but former
Premier Levi Eshkol vetoed the idea out of wider
Israeli foreign policy considerations.
"The TAP line is a totally owned American enter-
prise belonging to Texaco, Standard Oil of California,
Exxon, and Mobil—the U.S. oil companies that make
up ARAMCO," said a U.S. Embassy official.
"If Israel ever purposefully damaged the TAP line,
the U.S. would not take something like that lying down.
Israel needs the Americans a little too much to risk
that kind of business," he said.
ARAMCO built the line in 1949 for $200 million to
unseat British oil interests in the Middle East. Until
recently, it was the only major crude oil pipeline in the
world successfully competing with the ocean tankers
carrying Persian Gulf oil to the West.
According to British oil author Anthony Sampson, the
TAP line plugged the U.S. into the vast wealth of
Middle East oil and "committed the (U.S.) government
to a fixed foreign policy for at least 25 years."
With the advent of the supertanker--a cheaper
By Philip
Slomovitz
method of oil transportation—ARAMCO reduced the
TAP flow of 470,000 barrels a day by about half. Today,
the TAP pumps crude oil into the Zerqa refinery in
Jordon and Lebanon's Zaharani facility at Sidon, from
where ARAMCO tankers ferry some of the crude to
refineries in Europe.
Israel receives no transit fees from ARAMCO, Dr.
Dinstein says. ARAMCO does pay transit fees to Saudi
Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. An ARAMCO
spokesman in the Hague said the payment figures are
secret.
Some oil industry experts doubt that ARAMCO's
transit payments stop with those four countries.
"After all," says one knowledgeable source in Ni-
cosia, Cyprus, "a payment to the Lebanese govern-
ment these days is no insurance that radical Palesti-
nian guerrillas won't dynamite the line in southern
Lebanon, where the Palestinians and the Christians are
still fighting for control. I wouldn't be surprised if PLO
chief Yasir Arafat also received a hefty transit fee."
Restraint, in the form analyzed by Broder, is seldom con-
fronted in the fashion suggested here. Yet it is reasonable
to believe that both in dealing with the oil wealth of her
neighbors and with various other aspects of a conflict that
has assumed international proportions there could be dam-
aging temptations for vengeance that could be catastrophic.
Good sense regulates diplomacy and this is to the credit of
the Israelis. Perhaps the U.S. relationship is the calming
factor. In any event, good sense has become an effective
weapon in monitoring restraint in the Middle East. One
wonders whether the Saudis and even Sadat understand this
aspect of a trying situation that affects them as well as
Israel.
Zionist Roles and Enigmas
Now that the elections for the 29th World Zionist Congress
have ended, it is time for some reflections.
As had been indicated, the elections could have been
avoided and delegates' representations could have been
agreed upon pro rata, according to the memberships of the
respective Zionist bodies. But the blunder became irrepa-
rable. Now there is a duty incumbent upon all Zionist
parties to work cooperatively for the advancement of the
aims of the World Zionist Organization to labor coopera-
tively for the advancement of Jewish cultural needs, for
increased aliya to Israel, for encouragement to the youth.
The educational departments must be assured the sup-
port so vitally needed to assure knowledgeability both about
political factors and historical backgrounds leading to
identification with present-day objectives.
Aid for youth movements and efforts to enroll the
younger generation in Zionist tasks is a necessity in behalf
of all tasks that demand enrollment of the younger people
in all Jewish undertakings.
Then there is the matter of aliya. Crises in a number of
countries seem to be encouraging emigration. There is
already an increased aliya movement from South Africa.
The Argentinian situation is menacing. An increased trend
toward Israel among emigres from the Soviet Union has
been reported in recent weeks. These are trends that
demand practical treatment of efforts toward an increased
aliya to Israel.
The elections to - the World Zionist Congress were marked
by the entrance into world Zionist affairs of a new party,
the Reform Zionist Bloc. This is a spectacular devel-
opment. It was from the Socialist Bund and the Reform
Jewish ranks that the anti-Zionists gathered their strength.
These two elements were bitter in their hatred of the
Jewish nationalist aspirations. Because these antagonisms
have nearly vanished, the creation of a Reform Zionist
party is an amazing development.
Conservative Jews rejected a proposal for the formation
of a new Zionist party among their members. The Conserv-
atives' feelings are that their members can join any of the
existing movements: Labor, Centrists, General, religious
existing as Mizrachi. Why a new religious movement?
What the Reform Zionist movement does is an intrusion
into the available delegateships. If the new party should
win two or three seats at the World Zionist Congress it will
mean a loss of that number to one or more of the previously
functioning parties.
Meanwhile. one of the major problems at the WZCongress
which will be held in February in Jerusalem will be the
selection of a new chairman, of the WZOrganization as well
as the Jewish Agency. There is a perpetuated movement
stemming from Labor ranks to prevent the elevation of
Leon Dulzin to that post. Dulzin's supporters view this as a
devilish machination based only on a desire to retain
power. To prevent power-seeking, it is to be hoped that
Dulzin, who has the backing of Menahem Begin, will
succeed in attaining the chairmanship for which he pos-
sesses all the necessary qualifications. The belief pre-
dominating now is that he will emerge triumphant against
the forces that kept him out of that leadership until now.