. _
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Writer John P. Roche Defines Injustice
in Recent Anti-Israel Condemnations
In a recent syndicated ar-
ticle, nationally known col-
25% DISCOUNT
All Invitations
Exclusive
Hebrew Invitations
H&L Sales
557-1240 eves 837-1555
MEMORIES
AT THEIR BEST
Joe Kash
Photography
968-8542
After 4:00 P.M.
"Quality Need Not
Be Expensive"
umnist John P. Roche as-
sailed the enemies of Israel
and exposed especially the
misunderstanding regard-
ing Israel's land ownership
and the Jewish National
Fund.
He recalled the manner in
which Japanese were swin-
dled in land deals in
California at the turn of the
century, landowners laugh-
ing up their sleeves at hav-
ing defrauded the Orien -
tals, and shows how Arabs
also believed they were
swindling Jews from whom
they extracted large sums
for what was then believed
to be desert malaria-ridden
territory. In his article he
stated:
Early in this century
Japanese immigrants on
the West Coast were trying
to buy farmland. The white
landowners sold them all
sorts of useless, unproduct-
40012* Pa44duet
MIKE'S
QUALITY FRUIT MARKET
12 Mile & Southfield
MIKE KOJAIAN AND THE ENTIRE
STAFF WISH THEIR MANY
FRIENDLY CUSTOMERS A HAP-
PY AND HEALTHY PASSOVER.
FRESH PRODUCE
FRESH FRUIT
FRUIT BASKETS
WHEN YOU ADD IT ALL UP,
MIKE'S QUALITY FRUIT MARKET
IS THE RIGHT PLACE TO SHOP!
MIKE'S
QUALITY FRUIT MARKET
12 Mile & Southfield
Open 7 days:
Mon. thru Sat. 9-7
Sunday 10-5
557-6820
The Quality & The Price Are Right
PLENTY OF FREE PARKING _
ive land and laughed and
laughed. The Japanese
went quietly about their
farming, draining bogs, ter-
racing hillsides, until by
1940 they had a tremendous
stake in truck-gardening.
By this time the white far-
mers were furious: "Those
Japs swindled us out of our
best land!" This was part of
the background of the dis-
graceful expulsion and con-
finement in concentration
camps of West Coast
Japanese and Japanese-
Americans during World
War II.
I am reminded of this
by the current Palesti-
nian claim that starting
in the 1920s the Jewish
National Fund stealthily
deprived Arabs of their
best land. The orange
groves, the grapes, prove
"Those Jews swindled
us!" The fact of the mat-
ter, of course, is that, like
the Japanese, the Israelis
began with marginal
land sold them by Arab
potentates (who doubt-
less also laughed and
laughed) and by dedi-
cated work converted it
to a reasonable approxi-
mation of a land of milk
and honey.
A drastic way to demon-
strate what Palestinians
did with their land is to look
at the Kingdom of Jordan:
the Arab chunk of the old
British Palestine. The qual-
ity of soil isn't all that dif-
ferent on the other side of
the Jordan, but the King-
dom currently is among the
top competitors for world
primacy as an outdoor slum.
It's not that Palestinian
Arabs are by nature inferior
farmers — they comprise
much of Israel's agricul-
tural work force. These poor
people have simply been
treated like dogs for cen-
turies by their Arab mas-
ters.
Indeed, despite the fact
that more Palestinians
voted in the last Israeli elec-
tion than have ever voted in
Jordan, members of the
United Nations (and UN-
ESCO) keep registering
complaints about Israel's
behavior in the occupied
territories. Partly this al-
liance between the Arabs,
the Communists and the
Third World is defensive:
Suppose the notion of free
elections ever got loose?
But let's stick for a mo-
ment to that interesting
term "occupied territories."
The standard meaning is
those Arab lands occupied
by Israel in the wake of the
1967 war: the West Bank,
Gaza and the Golan
Heights. It is, however, sel-
dom noted that chunks of
the "occupied territories"
were stolen from Jews by
Arabs under the British
Mandate and in the War of
Independence.
Take Hebron, one of
the four holy Jewish
cities, which in 1920 had a
thriving Jewish popula-
tion (with roots 2,000
oteArpx old1 Apd Ra good
A Happy Healthy
Passover
To All
deal of land owned by
Jews. I have a friend who
grew up there — until
1929 when the Arabs,
after years of attrition,
staged a savage pogrom
and drove out the sur-
vivors. The British, who
always had a "Lawrence
of Arabia" pro-Arab
syndrome, somehow
overlooked this bloody
episode.
Just outside of Hebron, at
Kfar Etzion, the Jewish
National Fund duly pur-
chased land from its Arab
owners and built settle
ments. When the Jorda
nians invaded in 1948,
these were razed and the
population driven from
their Arab-occupied land
Now the Israelis have re
occupied this land from the
Arabs and rebuilt Jewish =-7
settlements. This was over-
looked at the United Na-
tions.
Finally, the UN resolu-
tion condemning Israel's ac- =
tivities in the "occupied ter- --:
-'
- .
ritories" — with which the
United States shamefully =
concurred — is partly an ob-
jection to the Israelis build-
-
ing decent housing for poor =.-
Arabs and sending their =
kids to school! This appar- —
ently is considered forced —
-
assimilation. E_--
=
Ironically, the Israeli-
bashers did call off one
safari: A group of impartial
experts was to go to Israel
and assess the pay and
working conditions of the
Arab minority. Comrades,
do you really think this can-
cellation was an accident?
21, 1978 25
- Ben & Harry Kosins
KOV
FINE %PI'
FOH MEN
I ri.ii;z1 lot a
2, eit
and
PROFESSIONAL INTERIOR DESIGNERS
Ben Morganroth, ASID
Mark Morganroth, ASID
Sandy Rosenman
Charlotte Carlin
Jill Drolz
Debi Scowley
Elaine Feldman
and LILLIAN FRIEDBERG
S WOOD
FINE FURNITURE TO LIVE WITH
Tel-Twelve Mall, 28674 telegraph Road
Southfield, Michigan 48034
354-9060 —851-5619
Our &of inhe.3
aiiover
/9aiJover wiJIl made jail for you
C.)14 r
JJ
very warm,
and vet iat
May happineii,
c
ool cheer
fill
loo
good health,
Mi3 Paiiover
and all Me Year
"Just the right size"
el-Twelve Mall
Telegraph at 12 MU* Rd., SouthfloM • Daly: 10
•
p.m. • Sunclgy: Soc. - 5 p.m.