THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

sTruman's Attitude on Israel
- Has Been Policy for 40 Years

r

° By DAVID FRIEDMAN

(Copyright 1982, JTA, Inc.)

WASHINGTON — The
Washington Post recently
published in its Sunday
Outlook" section a selection
of letters by President
Harry S. Truman which for
various reasons Truman
never mailed. One, dated
Nov. 24, 1945, which Tru-
_ man did not send because of
"political and diplomatic
— prudence," was to Sen.
Joseph Ball of Minnesota re-
--jecting an apparent request
b all for Truman to sup-
a Minneapolis Zionist
ap's resolution calling
for a Jewish state.
"I told the Jews that if
they were willing to furnish
_ me with 500,000 men to
'carry on a war with the
Arabs, we could do what
they are suggesting in the
_ resolution — otherwise we
will have to negotiate
awhile," Truman wrote.
He went on to note that
the Senate would not sup-
_ port sending U.S. troops "to
_. Palestine to maintain a
Jewish state. What I am try-
ing to do is to make the
whole world safe for the
Jews. Therefore, I don't feel
like going to war for Pales-
tine."
What Truman said in
1945, although not publicly,
in a way has been one of the
pillars of U.S. Middle East
policy ever since. The U.S.
has sought to avoid sending
troops into a Mideast con-
flict and has tried to prevent
_.any Mideast conflict from
developing into a larger war
that would involve the U.S.
directly. -
This attitude is clearly
outlined by William V.
O'Brien, a professor of
government at
Georgetown University,
in an article in the Winter
- 1982 issue of "The
Jerusalem Quarterly"
called, "Reflections on
the Future of American
Israeli Relations."
The' threat of war, accord-
ing to O'Brien, "is more im-
portant than the fear that
the Arabs will use the oil
weapon in raising questions
about U.S. relations with
Israel. The events of May -
July 1981 underscore a
further growing -dimension
of American attitudes
toward Israel.
"The American people
take seriously the threat of
war with the Soviet Union.
They elected Ronald Re-
agan in great measure in
virtue of the conviction that
is threat is real and needs
be addressed with heroic
measures in the field .of
military preparedness.
Americans are, accordingly,
increasingly sensitive to
events that might lead to
superpower confrontation
and a major war.
"However justified from
Israel's perspectives, the
(Premier Menahem) Begin
policies in the Syrian mis-
sile crisis, the Osirak raid
the the July fighting with
the PLO look dangerously
escalatory to Americans."
, O'Brien does not dis-

o

-

count the importance of
the view of some Ameri-
cans, particularly in the
business community,
that access to oil is more
important than Israel's
interests. But he notes
that just as important is
that the American liberal
establishment, -which
once favored Israel
"automatically," now "is
extremely unhappy
about Israel's perceived
military brinksman-
ship."
This is an attitute also re-
flected in the media, as O'B-
rien correctly points out.
In.-his article, O'Brien
demonstrates that the core
of the present U.S. - Israeli
difficulty is a different per-
ception of the Middle East
problem. The U.S. sees the
need first for solving the
Palestinian problem
through Israeli withdrawal
from the occupied ter-
ritories and returning them
to Arab sovereignty, possi-
bly including a PLO-
dominated Palestinian
state. O'Brien observes
from this will flow the abil
ity of Israel to make peace
with its Arab neighbors.
The Israelis, according to
O'Brien, reject a Palesti-

nian state and argue that
Israeli security "is the key
to peace."
Here O'Brien perhaps
oversimplifies. The Israelis
believe that peace will not
come if Israel is not strong
but they have rightly
argued for 34 years that it is
Arab refusal to recognize
the legitimacy of Israel, not
the Palestinian problem,
that has been the cause of
the Mideast conflict.
However, O'Brien's
analysis of the difficulties
between Israel and the
U.S. is a good one and
well worth reading. But
his solution is less realis-
tic. O'Brien advocates
making Israel part of a
"formal Free World
regional defense system
for the Middle East,"
similar to the North At-
lantic Treaty Organiza-
tion.
Disregarding the Arab
attitude toward such a pro-
posal, it is difficult to see
such a program being
adopted by the State or De-
fense Department. Just
think how they had to be
dragged kicking and
screaming into the now
moribund strategic cooper-
ation agreement.

sive research.
Especially interesting is
the inclusion in this volume
of a chapter on the Siddur.
She quotes in translation
the Adon Olam, Migdal and
a section from the Shema.
In a chapter on "The
Golden Age of Spain,"
she utilizes the poems of
Judah Halevi as symbols
of an important period.
Mysticism and the Zohar,
Hasidism and related sub-
jects receive due attention.
Yiddishists are not
excluded from the concerns
shown by Miss Goldreich,
who also devotes chapters to
Jewish writers in Canada
and the United States.
Covering every aspect of
Jewish literature, giving
due attention to the tradi-
tional, the religious, the
secular, the creative of the
Middle Ages as well as the

-

NY Synagogues Sponsor
Anti-Nuclear Conference

NEW YORK More for Social Responsibility,
than 500 people attended a described the probably med-
conference calling for ical affects of a relatively
Jewish opposition to the nu- small nuclear attack.
clear arms race at a Man- -- Several speakers invoked
hattan synagogue last images of the Holocaust in
weekend.
their addresses. "Because of
The conference, which our recent experience in
ran for five hours Sunday at history, we as a people know
the Stephen Wise Free that the unthinkable. can
Synagogue, was sponsored happen," Rabbi Leonard
by nine Reform temples in Beerman, of Los Angeles
New York. .
said.
Speakers at the forum in-
cluded rabbis, doctors and
When a lot of remedies
lay leaders, Dr. Jonathan are suggested for a disease,
Lorch, president of the New that means it can't be cured.
York chapter of Physicians
—Anton Chekhov

the card caterer

NYU Hebrew
Institute Gets
$425,000 Grant

COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL STATIONERY

25% OFF SPRING SALE

NEW YORK (JTA) —
: The Institute • of Hebrew
Culture and Education at
New York University has
received a $425,000
endowment from the estate
of Louis Solomon.
An additional $50,000 to
$60,000 from the Solomon
estate will be used to reno-
vate a small chapel op cam-
pus which is under the di-
rection of the Jewish Cul-
ture Foundation and a
long-time supporter of the
Institute. The endowment
will enable the Institute to
provide more financial as-
sistance to graduate stu-
dents.

invitations, social stationery, informals

call Vicki Barnett 855-3598

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Jewish Wood
Carving Returns

JERUSALEM (JNI) — A
Jewish art form which
seemed to have been lost for
half-a-century, the carving
of Jewish ceremonial ob-
jects in rare wood, has been
revived by Catriel Sugar-
man.
After immigrating from
the United States in 1968,
"Catriel the Carpenter" be-
came quite well-known in
Jerusalem for his custom-
made furniture.

Treasury of Jewish Literature'
Summarizes the Ancient, Modern

"A Treasury of Jewish
Literature" (Holt, Rinehart
and Winston) contains a
series of summaries. It is
filled with comments on the
most important Jewish
literary creations. It starts
with the Torah, includes
explanatory resumes relat-
ing to Apocrypha and Tal-
mud, provides the reader
with the basic ideas in-
cluded in the Zionist and
Holocaust libraries, in addi-
tion to many other topics
dealing with major Jewish
subjects and interests.
Gloria Goldreich, the
editor and compiler of this
highly-informative volume,
studied at Brandeis Univer-
sity and the Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem and
has to her credit earlier pub-
lished works.
This volume evidences
the author's devotion and
shows the results of exten-

Friday, May 1, 1982 21

modern, Miss Goldreich is
justified in calling her work
"a treasury." Her entire
work is performed briefly,
in a mere 240 pages. The
very brevity gives sub-
stance to the summaries
which are intended to in-
spire the reader to go into
depth for total ac-
quaintance with dll the
subjects in Miss Goldreich's
treatise.

The Sixty-Third Annual Meeting and Elections

of the

UNITED HEBREW SCHOOLS

will take place on
Monday, May 24, 1982, 8 p.m.

in the Louis and Esther LaMed Auditorium
of the United Hebrew Schools,
21550 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield.

President
Vice-Presidents

Julius J. Harwood
Debbie Altman
Jeffrey Borin
Dr. Paul C. Feinberg

Secretary
Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer

Renah Bardenstein
Benjamin Weiss
Dr. Joseph Epel

Board Members (3 year term) Debbie Altman
Renah Bardenstein
Dr. Arthur Fischer
Donald Katz
Frederick Kunick
J. Vernon Leopold
Betsy Loomus
Abraham Pasternak
Dory Shwedel
Mel Seidman
I. William Sherr
Edwin Shifrin
Joseph Shulman
Amelia Steiger
David Tanzman
Julian S. Tobias

Board Member (2 year term) David J. Lieberman
Board Member (1 year term) Barbara Cook
Advisory Committee
Mitchell Feldman
Norbert Reinstein
Abraham Pasternak, Chairman
Nominatiohs Committee

Sholem Aleichem Institute's

15th Annual
Moishe Haar Memorial Presentation

THAN WYENN

Actor, Dramatist, Writer, Lecturer

In an evening of readings in
English and Yiddish

Saturday, May 15, 1982
at 8:00 P.M.

Southfield High School
24675 Lahser Road

NO ADMISSION CHARGE