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Friday, July 6, 1984

THE DETROIT JEWISH-NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Yigael Yadin's legacy

Yigael Yadin commenced his archeological work in
Israel at a very young age — he was only 67 when he died
last week — and his legacies to his people became very
numerous.
His literary works matched his archeological digs.
There were many discoveries resulting from his labors
which were continuations from the archeological activities
of his father, the late Prof. Eliezer Sukenik.
As Israel's Chief of Staff in the first years of statehood,
Yadin inspired a notable record for military traditions that,
in many respects, assured Israel's abilities to defend state
and people.
It was on the question of the authenticity of the Dead
Sea Scrolls that he became especially adamant in disputes
with the late Dr. Solomon Zeitlin who insisted that they
could be traced to antiquity but were to be treated as of the
Fifth or Sixth Centuries of the present era.
Nevertheless, when Yigael Yadin was awarded an
honorary 'doctorate by Dropsie University in Philadelphia
some 15 years ago, Prof. Zeitlin placed the academic robe on
him, thus expressing admiration for a fellow scholar and
Jewish patriot.
Yigael Yadin played a role in Israeli politics, and a
decade ago he formed a new liberal party, gaining 17 seats
in the Israel Knesset. Politics, however, was not in the
cards for him. Fame as historian and archeologist per-
petuates his name in Jewish history, and those of us who
knew him are enriched with great admiration for his name
and his skills.

A measure of justice
in Lebanese cauldron

A continuing negative seems to predominate in the
reports from Lebanon. The unavoidable impression is that
Israel is an outlaw, that everybody, in Lebanon and in the
world's diplomatic communities, hold Israel responsible for
everything that has happened.
One would imagine from the reports being constantly
disseminated that Israel dragged everybody into a conflict.
There is an ignoring of the more than a decade of fratricide
and mass murders that occurred in Lebanon since the
PLO's intrusion there some 15 years ago. Little attention is
given to the fact that Israel's armies ended total PLO domi-
nation there, a menace that can recur, especially if Israel is
compelled into a complete withdrawal from Lebanese terri-
tory without an assurance that the terrorists who threaten
not only Israel but also the very existence of Lebanon are
not permitted to renew their domination of the Lebanese.
This is still a danger with the compliance of Syrians.
There are more positive aspects to the Israeli role in
efforts to rescue Lebanon and to create a decent atmosphere
there. Important details are reported in an article in the
Wall Street Journal (June 21). Writing under the heading
"Lebanon's Power Balance Tips Toward Israel After All,"
Jonathan Kolatch presents important facts which must not
be ignored. A New York writer who recently returned from
Lebanon and Israel, Kolatch presents an important
analysis of existing conditions, based on background occur-
rences of recent years, and indicates the following:

If Israel's hopes for the Phalangists before
Sabra and Shatilla were naive, today they are
practical. The Lebanese forces — the Phalangists,
Guardians of the Cedars and other Christian
militia organizations—continue to be supplied by
Israel. Trade with Christian Lebanon has per-
haps not expanded to the level that Israeli com-
mercial officials had hoped for in the early days
after the war. But, Israeli goods of every descrip-
tion continue to find their way into Christian
territory — and from there to other parts of Leba-
non — through the private Christian ports that
dot the Lebanese coast north of Beirut.
A not-so-quiet rumor tells of the sale of a
million-dollar scanner by the high-tech Israeli
Elscint Corp. to one of Beirut's largest hospitals.
To cement their relations with the Israelis, the
Lebanese Christians recently established in
Jerusalem a semi-official diplomatic representa-
tion headed by a former close confidante of
Bashir Gemayel.
The Druze confer openly with the Israelis,
and it is a gentleman's agreement between the two
that prevents any large-scale PLO re-entry into
Beirut and ensures that the vacuum between the
Israeli Awali River line above Sidon and the
Druze-held Shouf Mountains east and south of
Beirut remains quiet. Very few PLO members
dribble back into the camps in the southern sec-
tions of Beirut, while no shells rain on Israeli
soldiers from Druze areas to the north. Behind all

of this is an effective bridge between Lebanese
Druze and Israel provided by the Israeli Druze
community. If Israeli Druze wailed loudly in the
early days of the war about pro-Christian Israeli
leanings, they are silent today.
Shiite contacts with Israel are lower key,
maintained through the Beirut office and through
emissaries sent to the Israeli-controlled territory
in the south. As minister in charge of South
Lebanese affairs in the new -government, Shiite
leader Nabi Berri is beginning to understand that
if he is to have access to his people and the chance
to establish a strong influence among the long-
neglected 300,000 Shiites in the south, it will have
to be in cooperation with Israel. He might not
have much time. Some Shiites in the south think
he has been too slow to formalize his contacts with
Israel, thereby encouraging radical Shiite unrest,
forcing Israel to clamp down hard and making life
unnecessarily difficult for all Shiites of the area.
The clearest sign that Mr. Berri realizes this is
his position during a recent cabinet debate over
whether the Lebanese should demand that the
Israelis close their Beirut office. Mr. Berri asked
not that the office be closed, but that the matter be
studied. He grasps well the symbolic importance
of the Israeli presence as a foil to Syrian influence
and that it offers his and other minorities in Leba-
non access to Israeli army personnel and Mossad
operatives who work out of this office.
Though Shiite interests oppose it because
their population is, not concentrated as are the
Christians and Druze, Israel's war in Lebanon has
moved the cantonization scheme long proposed
as a solution to Lebanon's ethnic friction very
close to implementation. Now that most of the
Christians have been evacuated, Walid Jumblat's
Druze community is far from unhappy with its
enclave in the Shouf. The Christians, meanwhile,
have built what amounts to a principality, stretch-
ing from East Beirut about 25 miles north to Byb-
los. If life is a little hit inconvenient for the Chris-
tians with Beirut Airport and a principal part of
Beirut harbor closed, the fact that they control
most of the operating ports north of Beirut and
take their cut on goods entering the country —
which are by no means in short supply — compen-
sates them for their inconvenience. In Lebanon,
more so even than hatred, it is still money that
talks.
If only a few months ago it appeared that all
Western influence was lost in Beirut, it is now
clear that in much of the north — as well as in the
south — it is the Israelis who are silently pulling
most of the strings.
The Lebanese cauldron is tragic enough without mud-
dying the waters. Whenever there is a clarification, it must
be utilized. Therefore, the obligation to quote Kolatch in
the hope that it will serve to end misrepresentations and
distortion of facts.

The locally deluded

Christians are murdering Moslems. Moslems are mur-
dering Christians. The tragedy of Beirut is a human
tragedy. Yet, in Dearborn, Mich., blind to realities and to
the need for Lebanese to labor together toward ending the
inhumanities, deluded Americans are demonstrating
against Israel.
Instead of recognizing the problem of their compatriots
in Lebanon, the unfortunately misled demonstrators are
making Israel the scapegoat. Instead of laboring for an end
to Lebanon's troubles an end that should mean eviction
from Lebanon of both Syria as well as Israel, the hatemon-
gering is directed at Israel, whose troops more than any
other foreign element prevented a measure of Lebanon's
tragedies when it was enabled to act in that direction.
What's wrong with the leadership that encourages such
hatemongering which is dependent upon making Israel a
scapegoat?

In the days of yore ...
when a monumental `Boesky'
was available for a dime

Who remembers Hastings . . . Farnsworth . . . Boesky
Delicatessen?
That's when a monumental corned beef sandwich was
a dime, a large-sized pop was a nickel, when the "cream of
the society crop" met in the delicatessen which size-wise
would today be a cubby hole, yet then, in the 1920s, it was
like an assembly hall for the eventual leadership in a great
metropolitan community.

The New York Times (June 24) Sunday Business Sec-
tion provides the recollection for that era in the person of
Ivan Boesky. In the five-column, full-sized essay (in the
eight-column paper), sensationally headlined "Top Arbit-
rager Ivan F. Boesky: The Secretive Life of an 'Arb',"
Robert J. Cole unveils a fascinating story about a fellow
Detroiter.
First, the definition of
an Arbitrager: the Random
House Dictionary defines it
as "a person who engages in
arbitrage"; and arbitrage is:
"Finance the simultaneous
purchase and sale of the
same securities, com-
modities or foreign ex-
change in different markets
to profit from unequal
prices."
That's why and how the
Detroit financial product is
credited with possession of
$500 million wealth.
To this community, it is
the recollection of the
Hastings-Farnsworth
Ivan Boesky:
legend and the family name
the 'Arb'
that went with it that
creates the nostalgia about an interesting age. That the
"Arb" should also be credited with a $2 million gift to the
Jewish Theological Seminary for the Boesky Library is
equally significant.
Ivan names portions of his estate "Hastings" and
"Farnsworth." In a British environment it could be judged
as royalty. That's what it is in the history of the Detroit
Jewish community: a measure of royalty; and the "Arb"
makes it so — with the memory of a delicious sandwich to
enhance it.

Is there a limit to
insanities still being
perpetrated by sick-minded?

In behalf of the activists in the Michigan ranks of the
Anti-Defamation League, Peter Alter expresses the hope
that a most sickening outburst of anti-Semitism in the
Chicago area (Oak Park, Ill.) will not be introduced in this
state — or anywhere else.
Readers of the revealed bestiality will be strained not
to be overly shocked by the canard revealed in the ADL
comments by Mr. Alter. There is a warning atticherl to the
revelation that when confronted by sickening anti-Semitic
stickers, don't be in a hurry to remove them. It was in the
Chicago area that a woman tried to remove an anti-Semitic
diatribe stuck to a parking sign. She cut her finger on a
razor blade that was concealed on the sticky backing.
The stickers are described by Oak Park Police Chief
Keith Bergstrom as three-quarters of an inch by four to five
inches in width. He said the inscription was "typically sick
and strident, with anti-Jewish caricatures." There were
about 15 such stickers located in the Oak Park area and
were removed by police assignees who were careful to avoid
the razor blades which were double-edged and broken in
half.
The sickening message on the stickers read: "Jews are
parasites. How many stores in your area are Jew owned?
Buy Christian."
Sickening? Of course — and it will be labeled as such,
emulating the Oak Park, Ill., police chief. Yet, the un-
American, inhuman appeal "Buy Christian" has also been
in evidence in Michigan. It was not accompanied by broken
razor blades but it was in evidence even in church publica-
tions. Hopefully, it will not be repeated. While being on
guard against repetitive evidences of insaned 'minds, there
should be the additional anticipation, in view of the animus
invited against "Jew owned" establishments and
businesses, that the condemnation will come from Chris-
tians and outraged Americans of all faiths. How can anyone
tolerate the evidenced sick-mindedness?

Sick minds in abundance

Sick minds are in abundance, yet it would be sheer
panic or blindness to realities even to suspect that too many
Americans succumb to the bestialities. The outrageously -
insaned actions of a Black Muslim leader brought the con-
demnations that were to be expected from Christian whites
and black intellectual leaders. The Farrakahan insanities
should have caused him to hide in shame and to disappear
from public view. The question now is: will those who
cheered-him hide in shame, and will the black community
force him out of view? ,