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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Associate News Editor
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the third day of Nisan, 5742, the following -scriptural selec'tions will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Levitidus 1:1-5:26. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 43:21-44:24..
Candlelighting, Friday, March 26, 6:33 p.m.
VOL. LXXXI, No. 4
Page Four
Friday, March 26, 1982
JITTERS OVER MUBARAK
With the approach of the crucial April 25 date
set for Israel's withdrawal from Sinai, as a chief
concession to Egypt in the interest of peace,
there are jitters.,The doubtful ask whether the
price is not too steep. Will Egypt adhere to the
basic agreements or will its desire to resume
friendships with its presently antagonistic
fellow-Arabs lead to the disruption of the best
laid plans for amity?
Posing these questions, there remain the
doubts over Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak's intentions for future relations with
Israel.
Dan Pattir, who, as Israel Prime Minister
Menahem Begin's closest adviser, is among the
best informed Israeli officials on the is S
. ues in-
volved in the Israel - Egypt deliberations, had
occasion to confront the Egyptian president
with the problems at hand. He asked President
Mubarak the very questions that agonize people
as to the after-effects of the April 25 projected
final Sinai action. Newsweek published the in-
terview and its significance drew widest circu-
lation. Here are the Mubarak views in his re-
plies to Pattir's questions:
PATTIR: "Some Israelis are worried that it's
incompatible for Egypt to resume its traditional
ties with the Arab world while continuing the
peace process with us."
MUBARAK: "You are a very strange people:
You want us-to have peace with you and to have
no relations with anybody else? We are a part of
the Arab world, and for hundreds and hundreds
of years we've had good relations with it.
"There is no conflict between the (Egypt -
'Israeli) peace process and our relations with the
Arabs. I have said many times that if our rela-
tions with the Israelis are good, we can ease any
tensions that might arise between you and the
Arabs. That's a fact. But your people are always
suspicious and they have an imagination. As
(Israel's Foreign Minister Yitzhak) Shamir told
me: 'We are afraid that the Arabs are pressur-
ing you not to visit Jerusalem.' I told him I never
accept pressure from any foreign power at all.
You (Israelis) are suspicious by nature . . ."
PATTIR: "People say that (after Israel with-
draws from the Sinai) Egypt will'go back on its
word and become neutral."
MUBARAK: "You're talking about, our
nonaligned status? Look at the nonaligned
countries: Cuba, Iraq, Syria, India, Angola,
Mozambique. They're all leaning toward the
(Soviet) bloc. Now, we are one, of the founding
members of the nonaligned bloc. But we have
good relations with the U.S. Do you want all of
the nonaligned countries to belong to the Soviet
camp?"
PATTIR: "What do you expect from Israel and
Mr. Begin after (the completion of the Sinai
withdrawal on) April 25?"
MUBARAK: "I'd like to ask you to forget this
term 'April 25.' Forget it. It has no value. We
should continue negotiations under the Camp
David accords to reach a declaration of princi-
ples on (Palestinian) autonomy, and 'then we
can take another step toward the comprehen-
sive solution of the (Arab-Israeli) problem
move the whole game forward so that we can
,
,
live in peace and withstand any foreign inter-
vention .. .
"Israel should be very flexible so that we can
reach a declaration of principles, preferably by
the end of this year. A reasonable agreement
like that would be a good invitation to other
Arabs to join in the (subsequent) negotiations
on (the permanent settlement for) the Palesti-
nians . . . We can't make any concessions be-
cause we're not negotiating (matters) that be-
long to Egypt."
Even a mere month away from the Israeli
evacuation of the Sinai territory, it is too early
to prejudge the future. Any series of actions,
innumerable schemes emanating from Arab
quarters, possible Israeli military movements
to restrain the PLO's expansions, could trigger
either a war or a negation of the Camp David
decisions on the basis of which the Sinai with-
drawal was generated.
Therefore the caution with which Israel must
act, and the patience that must be applied to
judgments Of the issues that have caused so
many heartaches in the peace process.
The inner Israeli experiences are, of course,
especially distressing. The protesting elements
who are refusing to abandon settlements that
have been erected with sweat - and blood remain
the cause for deeprooted hurt.
Much is done to attain peace. The fact is that
in the few years since Anwar Sadat came to
Jerusalem to speak of amity face-to-face with
Jews, there have been no casualties on the Is-
rael - Egyptian, border. Had the other Arab
states learned the lesson of benefits to be de-
rived from genuine peace aims, there would be
an end to doubts.
What is left, for the coming month at least, is
the duty to be patient.
Dan Pattir, bringing his nation's message to
the Allied Jewish Campaigners here this week,
did not cover up the issues. He did, however,
emphasize the major responsibilities — and
those of American Jewry are apparent.
Hopefully, the dreaded April 25' date will
prove a continuity toward peace and not a re-
version to destruction and annihilation of
human values. The duty of Diaspora Jewry is to
uphold the hands of those struggling for free-
dom and striving for a lasting peace. This duty
was well defined by Dan Pattir and the reply
will no doubt be in the spirit of cooperation with
the builders of Zion., always upholding the
hands of those battling for freedom, for peace
and justice.
The road is strewn with obstacles, and they
are less from the Israeli actions than tho8esof the
Arab elemental influences. Mubarak's planned
visit to Jerusalem was originally postponed by
the fears that generate from opposition to the
entire Camp David document from all of the
Arab states. Therefore, Mubarak is less adam-
ant in his partnership than was his predecessor.
The entire peace move began with the Anwar
Sadat courage of visiting Jerusalem. Mubarak
may be unable to fulfill the same aim. Israel's
restrictions on Mubarak represent a consis-
tency that cannot be obviated and must be re-
spected.
"
Isaac Bashevis Singer Picks
47 of His Best Stories-
When a Nobel Prize winner selects the best of his published
stories for an anthology, it is an occasion for special interest in the
literary sphere.
This is what Isaac Bashevis Singer did. "The Collected Stories"
bearing his name (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) represent this pheno-
menal occurrence. -
With Nobelist Singer himself doing the chosirig, the anthology
becomes not only a self-study by the author but .1so a lesson in
literary judgment.
Singer is a specialist in characteriz-
ing the occupants of the shtetl, the
people whose activities, whose mis-
eries and joys were the echoes of an old
and nearly=forgotten world. He makes
the characters live and reconstructs
their ways of living under stress and
duress. What he produced is sociology,
sexuality, the religious influences.
Having chosen from more than 100
stories — he is the author of perhaps
twice as many and of a score of books
— the literary students will be in-
terested in his preferences.
It is not surprising that he com-
menced with `"impel the Fool."
Then there is "The Spinoza of
Market Street," "Taibele and the De-
I.B. SINGER
mon" and mote like them who are in
the preferred.
"Yentl the Yeshiva Boy" merits special mention, now having
been given special status as a movie starring Barbra Streisand.
Thus, down the line, the short stories emerge anew as literary
creations, some gaining added importance in their excellence as
translations from the Yiddish. The list of translators also emphasizes
prominence. They include Saul Bellow, Isaac Rosenfeld, Elaine
Gottlieb,' Norbert Guterman, Mirra Ginsburg, Marion Magid,
Elizabeth Pollet, Joel Blocker, Joseph Singer and a number of others
Singer himself collaborated with Dorothea Straus, Elizabc
Shub, Roseanna Gerber, Herbert R. Lottman, Laurie Colvin and Ruti.
Schachner Finkel in translating a number of the stories in this collec-
tion
Singer's introductory note merits attention. In it he asserts in
part:
"Although the short story is not in vogue nowadays, I still believe
that it constitutes the utmost challenge to the creative writer. Unlike
the novel, which can absorb and even forgive lengthy digressions,
flashbacks, and loose construction, the short story must aim directly
at its climax. It must possess uninterrupted tension and suspense.
Also, brevity is its very essence. The short story must have a definite
plan; it cannot be what in literary jargon is called 'a slice of life.' "
Commendable in the selection of Singer stories are the narrativeS-
relating to his life in America and the interpretative about the New
World which became his home.
Also indicative of the perceptive about Jewish life everywhere
are his stories relating to life in Israel, thus making the anthological
work a totally Jewish account of a Nobel Prize winner experiences.