64 Friday, ,/ 8, 1983 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Yasir Arafat, Israel's Critics and American Principles By REV. FRANKLIN LITTELL National Institute of the Holocaust PHILADELPHIA The plight of Yasir Arafat is amply covered by the news- papers, but his apologists around the world are strangely silent. For some of them the problem is that the Soviets have been unable to take a public position as yet. When "the Zionists" and "the Zionist state" alone could be blamed they had no difficulty. On hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state they could readily agree, whether fellow-travelers to Russian Communism or "Third World" sentimen- talists. They could even agree in blaming Israel for the mas- sacres in the Sabra and Shatila camps — while the real perpetrators were im- mune to criticism, and more recently exonerated by the Lebanese "commission of investigation."-- But what is to be said and done while the Rus- sians try to decide be- tween support for their Syrian satrapy and their terrorist tool Arafat? All during the IDF police action against the PLO training camps in Lebanon they were univocal in their support of Arafat. Arafat, who had made many trips to Moscow himself, was during that action in constant con- tact — by wire, by couriers, by diplomatic teams — with his real headquarters. When Andropov assumed power he immediately is- sued a statement of support for Arafat. But the scene changed when the Syrian invaders of Lebanon dug in, refused to leave (or even discuss leav- ing as part of a general set- tlement), and set out to con- trol the PLO forces. Syria, which invaded Lebanon at the time of the 1975-1976 civil war, has always held that Lebanon has no right to exist, that it is in fact part of "Greater Syria." - — FRANKLIN LITTELL Now, through the weak- ness of the American and West European foreign pol- icy at the time the PLO infra-structure in Lebanon was shattered, the Syrian dictatorship has seen its chance to implement its traditional claims to Leba- non. The initiative, which at the time the PLO was rooted out of west Beirut was entirely in the hands , of the Americans and their allies, has now passed again to the Rus- sians. They have a chance again to thwart the peace-making proc- ess initiated through the Camp David accords. So far they have been un- able to spring Egypt loose, but great pressure is still being applied. The Russian initiative is temporarily thwarted by indecision. Shall Arafat be salvaged? Or is the rebel- lion of the hard-liners, amply aided by money and equipment through Syria, the best .bet for regaining momentum in the Russian plan of expansion toward the oil fields of the Near East? Saudi Arabia and Jordan, heralded as "moderates" by our appeasement experts in and around the State De- partment, have refused to take even the slightest in- itiative to expand the peace-making process. Prime Minister Thatcher's firing of the ap- peasement expert, Francis Pym, may in time turn British foreign policy in a better direction. But so far the allies in NATO are still muddled. For example, a debate is now raging in the West German press about a possible arms deal with Saudi Arabia. When this decision has fallen we shall again hear clear voices from the ap- peasement crowd, the Communist fellow- travelers, and the useful idiots who sentimentalize about the "poor Palesti- nians." But how silent they now are! — all those who rushed to greet the "revolutionary" (read: "medieval") new gov- ernment in Iran, a gov- ernment now busy slaughtering helpless Baha'is. How silent they now are! — all those who, until the present confu- sion, were so vocal in de- fending Arafat and at- tacking Israel ... Fortunately, Israel has leadership which has long since assessed PLO ter- rorism and Russian expan- sionism for what it is. American independence, which we celebrate in this season, was not primarily important for national rea- sons. The Founding Fathers justified the break from Britain reluctantly, having been driven to the conclu- sion that it was the only path to re-affirm their commitment to liberty and self-government. In making that choice they made a statement about the nature of legitimate government. A legitimate government is one that respects the will of the people and protects the liberty, integrity and dignity of individuals and minority groups. Such indi- viduals and groups need protection from the unre- strained will of the major- ity, especially when they stand up against the mobs. Joint Nazi-Palestinian Plan to Poison Tel Aviv Water in 1944? TORONTO (JTA) — Michael Bar-Zohar and Eitan Haber, two experi- enced Israeli journalists, make the claim in a recently published book that Pales- tinian Arab terrorists and Nazi agents parachuted into the Jordan Valley area in November 1944 with enough poison to kill the 250,000 Jewish residents of Tel Aviv. Bar-Zohar and Haber say in their documentary 'study of Israel's fight against ter- rorism, "The Quest For The Red Prince," (Morrow) that the two Palestinians in- volved in the plot were Haj Amin el Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and Hassan Salameh, the man who took over the lead- ership of the Palestinian Arabs in 1948. The plot to murder Tel Aviv's Jewish population was hatched in Berlin by the mufti, whose hatred of Jews and Zionism led him into an unholy alliance with the Nazis. Husseini was in- vited to Berlin by Hitler after a short stay in war- time Italy. The mufti was feted by the Nazi authorities, given a commodious residential suite in the Bellevue Palace and in- troduced not only to the Fuehrer but to other Nazi bigwigs — including Adolf Eichmann. Of the latter, the mufti said: "I discovered a price- less pearl by the name of Eichmann." Eichmann, however, turned down Husseini's re- quest to act as an adviser on Jewish affairs as the man who was responsible for the shipping of Jews to the con- centration camps. Accordingly, Husseini busied himself with sup- porting the Nazi war effort against the allies by helping to organize SS units drawn from Yugoslavian Muslim elements. By 1944 the mufti had persuaded the Nazis of the need to make a dramatic move in the Mideast, a theater of war in which the Germans had suffered bad re- verses. _ In November of that year Salameh, the mufti's Pales- tinian associate in Berlin, and a legendary figure among the Palestinian Arabs during the revolts of 1936 and 1939, returned to Palestine along with sev- eral Nazi agents, one of whom had been born in the German colony in Jerusalem, to plan the poisoning of the Tel Aviv water supply. The plan was not carried to fruition because of a series of mishaps including the loss of several caches of gold coins which the ter- rorists were going to use for negotiating purposes. When the coins began to show up in Arab market places in- vestigations were launched by the British police and ended up with the arrest of the Nazi agents in a cave in the Judean desert. Bar-Zohar and Haber re- late that Salameh skillfully eluded capture and disap- peared completely from sight. At the conclusion of the Second World War the mufti succeeded in avoiding capture and, through the use of several disguises, made his way to Austria and then on to Switzerland. When the Swiss refused to grant him political asylum, the mufti pro- ceeded on to France where he was arrested by French gendarmes. After a short period of in- carceration at the Cherche-Midi prison, Hus- seini was released. The Is- raeli journalists reveal here for the first time that the release was ordered by Gen- eral De Gaulle himself. The reason behind De Gaulle'a intervention? The mufti was seen as an important asset in France's North Af- rican policy. In France he was under special Surete protection. From France and mufti made his way back to the Mideast and set lip his headquarters in Lebanon. His faithful subordinate Salameh surfaced again in 1947, the day after the United Nations partition resolution was promul- gated. On Nov. 3, bus No. 2094 left the central station in Tel Aviv for a two hour trip to Jerusalem. Near the Arab village of Feja the bus was attacked and almost every passenger was mur- dered. The leader of the Arab band was the same Salameh who had planned the poisoning of Tel Aviv. In their historical sur- vey journalists Bar- Zohar and Haber relate that Salameh's son, born shortly after his father's death in 1948, took on the mantle of leadership after the disastrous de- feat of the Arabs in 1967. By the early 1970s the new All Hassan Salameh had become Yasir Arafat's "adopted son," and the commander of the PLO's Black .Sep- tember terrorist group. Salameh junior began to orchestrate a series of bloodthirsty attacks against Israeli airliners, consulates and ordinary Jewish and Israeli citizens. In response to this un- precedented terrorist menace, the government of Golda Meir authorized a counter - terrorism cam- paign which saw Israeli agents track down and liq- uidate virtually every Arab involved in the killing of Is- ral's Olympic team. Their most elusive target, Salameh, however, man- aged to resist detection and from his Lebanese reddubt grew in stature. His mar- riage to a Miss Universe augmented his aura of strength. Bar-Zohar and Haber claim that Salameh's in- fatuation with karate fi- nally led to his detection. An Israeli agent, having made the rounds of all the karate instructors in Be- irut recognized Salameh one_day in the sauna. In 1979 Salameh's car blew up with him inside of it. The story has a poignant if disquieting ending. Salameh's son, who bears the same name as the father, has been dedicated, by his mother, to the Pales- tinian revolution. Diversity Marks Belgian Jews By BEN FRANK ANTWERP—The Jewish traveler to Antwerp has no problem whatsoever in find- ing the Jewish community. Head for the streets "Pelikaanstraat," or "Hovenierstratt," and you'll find synagogues, book stores, restaurants, kosher bakeries and of course, diamond stores. There is no doubt that the Jews of Antwerp are very tightly-knit. They live to- gether. They work together. They pray together. After all, about 90 percent of the Jewish population of 13,000 are involved in the diamond industry. In effect, Antwerp always has been "a Jewish city." As one Jewish leader put it, "the non-Jews of Antwerp 'are so used to living with Jews, they don't see them." But Jews are very visi- ble in this metropolis of merchants on the River Scheldt; a city which is world port, a mecca of art lovers, and a city of con- trasts. Antwerp is a cultural city with 20 museums. For in- stance, paintings by Reubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck can be found in the Royal Art Gallery. Then, there is Reubens House itself, which com- prises the great artist studios and which draws many natives and tourists. There is a National Maritime Museum, for so much of this nation depends on the sea. There is a unique open air museum of sculpture and which in- cludes pieces by Rodin, Re- noir and Moore. In Antwerp, Jewish life is meaningful. There are more Hasidim here than in any city in Europe; five or six different sects. Antwerp is the center of the world-wide diamond in- dustry. Dealers report that since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, some Is- raelis have left the diamond exchange in their homeland (Israel is also considered a leader in the diamond trade) for Antwerp. Among .the half-dozen kosher and deli restau- rants in Antwerp, one can be found on the floor of the diamond exchange that is open only to mem- bers and their guests. The Jews of Antwerp ap- pear ready to pass their religious fervor on to the next generation. Nearly 90 percent of the Jewish chil- dren living in the city go to Jewish day schools or yeshivot. The city's Jewish community center, known as the Romi Goldmuntz Center, boasts a library, meeting rooms, a catering hall, sports facilities and a kosher snack bar. The Jewish community in Brussels, which numbers more than twice the 13,000 Jews of Antwerp, presents a marked difference in its religious outlook. The 30,000 Jews in Brussels are spread out and live in var- ious parts of the city. They are more apt to be profes- sionals, rather than sales- men. The Jewish community in Brussels is more politically involved in Belgium and al- though are strong backers of Israel, they are not afraid to voice differences of opin- ion with the Begin govern- ment's policies. In Antwerp, you will find ar- dent support for the Herut party.