ישראל והיחסים עם הערבים (אנ')

ISRAEL— ARAB RELATIONS U.S. AND U.K. INTERVENE Our Special Middle East Correspondent, Robert Gee, writes: Arab diplomatic circles have been aware, for several weeks now, of im- portant attempts to bridge their coun- tries' differences with Israel. Seizing the opportunity offered by a spell of luke- warm relations among members of the Arab League, the British and American Governments have taken up the subject at high level with the Egyptian Govern- ment. The situation now created by these discussions is tricky and very delicate for all concerned. Little headway has so far been made in these talks and less still transpired from the local press. But it is possible now to describe in more detail the Arab reaction to some of the prob- lems. Israel's Frontiers: The talks have been discussed by the independent Cairo news- paper Al Ahram. It said on May 14 that the main stumbling block on the way to a settlement has been the divi- sion of opinion among the Arab military experts. Several—among them the Egyptians—welcomed the recognition of Israel's present frontiers as permanent. The others—led by Iraq—opposed this. They argued that such recognition of Israel would be contrary to the inter- Arab agreement of the Political Com- mittee of the Arab League. This has ruled by a unanimous vote that: "No League State shall negotiate a separate peace treaty or any political, military or economic agreement with Israel or to commit any act which would be synony- mous with such peace or agreement." Huleh: The Huleh area is still the major problem in Syrian eyes. The Syrians resent the authorisation given by General Riley to Israel to resume their drainage of the swamps. They point out that the Security Council ruled that all drainage work should be stopped im- mediately until this question is settled by the mixed Armistice Commission. Arabs driven out of this prohibited zone were to be repatriated and, should some of them wish to dispose of their lands, General Riley was to see that suit- able compensation was paid. Instead, says Al Ahram, General Riley did not even await the opinion of the Armistice Commission; he simply notified the Security Council of his decision. Arab Property in Israel: On the following day, Al Ahram dealt also in some detail with the second problem under discussion: the fate of Arab land and assets left in Israel. After examining the "Absentee- Owners' Bill" passed in Israel and regu- lating the position of abandoned pro- perty belonging to Arab nationals and Palestinian refugees, the Permanent Palestine Commission of the Arab Lea- gue proposed retaliatory measures. It recently urged Arab states not to allow Jews living in their territories to leave the country or transfer their assets to Israel. This recommendation, says Al Ahram, belongs however to the "easier said than done" class. In a Report prepared by Dr. Wahid Rafat Beyd, the highly esteemed adviser to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the "Absentees' Bill" has three objects: ¶ The desire to throw the responsibil- ity for the Palestine war on Arab states and the Palestinian refugees themselves; ¶ To stake a claim for war reparations from the Arabs; ¶ The seizure and freezing of Arab property and assets as security against the Arab demand for re- parations. Retaliation: Dr. Rafat's report dis- tinguishes two kinds of Arab property in Israel. The first, and by far the largest class, includes the holdings of Palestinian Arabs who left the country. The second group, comparatively un- important, includes the property of Arab nations such as Egyptians, Iraqis, etc. This could rightly be considered "enemy property," says the Report. But this does not apply to the property of "Pales- tinian population." No such distinction, says the Report, was made in the "Ab- sentee's Bill." "We consider," the report con- cluded, "that in order that retalia- tory measures may be acceptable in this country, their application should be limited to such property as is proved to be owned by Israel or her subjects and thereby falling under the term "enemy property." 100 Jews Arrested: On Wednesday morning the Egyptian police said that on Tuesday night they had discovered a clandestine branch of the International Jewish Organisation, whose aim is to repatriate Jews to Israel. In recent house raids in Cairo and Alexandria police arrested 100 youths, a police official said. Pamphlets with the title "Voice of Hope" were reported to have been seized as well as 220 forged Egyptian passports. EGYPT POPULAR DIVORCE Latest person to take up the cudgels for women's rights in the Moslem world is India's Moslem Education Minister, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad. The Minister expressed his "astonishment" at the Mufti of Egypt's statement that the Islamic Code did not recognise "women's so-called rights." Commenting on the Mufti's statement, Kalam Azad said: "To be a good wife and mother is certainly one of the greatest attributes of woman, but Islam does not therefore preclude the woman from having a career of her own. "So far as religious injunctions are concerned there is nothing in Islam which justifies exclusion of women from political or public life." Six Months Marriage: Quoting the example of the Prophet Mohammed's widow, Hazrata Ayesha, who led her followers at the Battle of Jamal, the Minister said: "This was hardly twenty years after the prophet's death." In the meantime, latest statistics re- leased in Cairo reveal that Egypt has still one of the highest marriage, divorce and birth rates in the world. This is undoubtedly due to the ancient Moslem right of polygamy and divorce—a man has only to utter "bel tala'k" ("I divorce thee") three times before witnesses before putting in his divorce application to the Religious Court. According to official statistics, one in every three Moslem marriages in Egypt ends in divorce and the average length of a marriage is six to nine months. MORE SOCIAL SECURITY The second half of Egypt's social security scheme was launched two weeks ago on the same day that Egyptians cele- brated the sixteenth anniversary of King Farouk's accession to the throne. While the day was being feted as a national holiday, the first 15,000 people drew their first monthly allotments under the new scheme. Next month a total of forty social security centres are scheduled to be opened. REFUGEES SYRIA AND JORDAN PLAN Syria and Jordan authorities are studying a new refugee land settlement plan to turn the eastern parts of the Jordan Valley into a fertile, productive region. The sixteen-year scheme which was proposed by a Birmingham engineer- ing firm, would cost £23 million and would employ 7,000 workers throughout that period. The chief problem, according to the firm's report, is the control of the waters of both the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers and their tributaries. This would necessi- tate complete co-operation between Syria and Jordan, as the Yarmouk has its source in Syria. Settling 90,000: The project would make it possible to cultivate the entire Jordan Valley; more than 600,000 dunams (150,000 acres) of land could be irrigated, and 90,000 refugees could be settled on the land. The scheme would be divided into four phases, of which the first would en- tail the irrigation of the Zerga Valley area. This phase would thus cover one of the "Pilot Projects" envisaged in the U.N. "Clapp Report" on the Middle East. The other stages of the scheme involve the reclamation and irrigation of 110,000 dunams along the Jerusalem-Amman road; the storing of rain water sufficient to irrigate lands lying between the Yarmouk and the Dead Sea, and the storing of the Yarmouk flood waters for the irrigation of 339,000 dunams on both sides of the Jordan. Dead Sea Drop: The main problem of the scheme, according to the report, is that the level of the Dead Sea would drop if deprived of the water of the Yarmouk used for the irrigation of their lands. It is also still uncertain what effect this scheme will have on the present irri- gation scheme in Israel and how Israel would react to it. In the meantime, Mr. John Blandford, director of UNRWA for Palestinian Arab refugees, had further talks with Colonel Selou, Syrian Head of State, presumably about the U.N. three-year $250 million resettlement plan for refugees in Arab countries. Syria holds an especially important position in this plan; this was emphasised in a recent report by the Damascus cor- respondent of the "New York Herald Tribune." "Syria," he wrote, "in a sense holds the key to success or failure of the U.N. plan for relief and reintegration. It is one of the two Arab countries— Iraq is the other—which could pro- vide land for a majority of the surplus refugees. It is reckoned that places could be found in Syria for as many as 500,000 refugees if the government were willing." TURKEY THE BIG BROTHER For two years now Turkey has been preparing the ground for a rapproche- ment with the Arab states. But, as long as the line dividing the Arab community from the rest of the Moslems was strictly maintained she had little opportunity to promote closer relations. During that period there have been more than one occasion for friction; the Arabs, for in- stance, repeatedly allege that Turkey is the centre for smuggling Arab goods into Israel. Turkey's closer association with the Arab bloc raises a number of questions to which the Arabs, but especially the Egyptians, want to know the right answers. For Turkey is the only country in the Middle East to compete with Egypt in wealth and number of popula- tion, a fact which accounts for the marked lack of enthusiasm which the Egyptian press has shown regarding Turkey's renewed role of big brother. An interview given to Al Misri's correspon- dent at Istanbul by Turkey's acting Foreign Minister Ismet Agaoglu on April 28th presents a good illustration of the questions and answers involved. "Q.—What is Turkey's policy in the Middle East? A.—Our sole desire is to introduce into the Middle East stability and secur- ity, to create a military and politi- cal bloc for its defence against any aggression with which it may be threatened. Q.—What is Turkey's attitude to the Western Bloc? A.—Turkey's safety depends on a close co-operation with the Arab peoples in the first instance and on a co- operation with foreign countries in the second. Q.—Is the policy of the Turkish Gov- ernment on this issue supported by the remaining political parties? A.—All parties support the government on the issues of Turkey's co-opera- tion with the Arab States just as they support her foreign policy in general." TRUCKS FROM HAIFA The first 100 Mack Diesel trucks assembled at the Kaiser-Frazer works in Haifa are expected to be shipped to Turkey by September, according to the chairman of the company. The plant should turn out about 1,000 of these trucks by the end of the current year, most of which are to be exported. SYRIA JEWISH EXODUS A census of the Jewish population taken in Syria has shown that 80% of Jews in that country left for Beirut and Israel after the Palestinian war. A committee formed by the Syrian Government has now reported that the number of Jews in Aleppo is now 2,000; another 900 live in the Jezireh district. Before the Palestine war the Jewish colony in Aleppo was 12,000 strong and 2,500 Jews lived in the Jezireh district of the city. POPULISTS DISCHARGED Dr. Maarouf Al Dawalibi, former Syrian Prime Minister, was dismissed from the Syrian University where he held the chair of Moslem Law. Al Dawalibi was released from prison only at the end of April after being jailed in the last Syrian coup d'état. Three other professors, all members of the former Populist Party, have been discharged from the University in the recent purge.