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the Lord to bring us back to Jerusa–
lem. Now that he has - we won' t
give it back." So said Gideon Haus–
ner, the former attorney general of
Israel, with an intensity of emotion
able to shake the skeptic.
He continues, "Why should we
give Jerusalem back? Were others
better custodians of the holy places
than we are? Are we inferior to the
Turks? To the British admínistra–
tion? To Jordan? To go back cen–
turies, to the Egyptians? There were
waves of states coming and going to
rule this Holy City. Díd any one of
them account itself better than we?
This double standard that things are
allowed to others, but somehow are
not fitting for Jews - well, this will
not repeat itself anymore. Not when
we have something to say about it."
The Israelis are a fiercely deter–
mined people. In 1948, approxi–
mately 1,200 Jews died in a losing
battle for the Old City of Jerusalem.
The city was divided - and Israelis
did not have access to their holiest
religious shrioe - the Westero Wall
of the Temple Mount. Sorne nine–
teen years later, in 1967, Israel sacri–
ficed more of her young meo for
Jerusalem - but this time to return,
to unite the city under independent
Jewish control for the first time in
about 2,000 years.
Jerusalem symbolizes much more
than Judaism as a religion. lt almost
epitornizes the Jewish people
as
a
people. Coming out of more than 70
nations, with vast dítferences in cul–
ture, language, and tradition, the
Jewish people somehow acbieve cul–
tural, historical, and religious unity
through Jerusalem.
Jewish resolve regarding Jerusa–
lem is founded on 2,000 years of
wandering in a wilderness of per–
secutions, inquisitions and pogroms.
Genocide is not a hypothetical word
to tbe Jewisb people. It was in the
twentieth century that nearly six
million Jews were systematically ex–
terminated in the gas chambers aod
death camps of Nazi Germany at
Auschwitz, Dachau, Belsen, Buch–
enwald - names that will live in
infamy. To the rest of the world it
24
may be history - to the Israelis it's a
burning reality.
' Arabs also have a vested interest
in Jerusalem.
Arab Resolve
To the Arab peoples, Jerusalem is
one of their holiest places. They see
the Israelis as the bridgehead of
Western civilization - ao irritant in
the Arab body- imposing a foreigo
way oflife on peaceful Arab people.
As a general rule, the Arabs are
not anti-Jewish except for the fanat–
ical few (who all too often attract
the mass media). Arab intellectuals
often point out that Jews were never
treated better than during the great
fiourishing ofArab civilizations dur–
ing the Middle Ages when Arabs
aod Jews lived aod worked together
to bring the world a pinnacle of cul–
ture, education, medicine, and
science. Jews have in the past been
welcome in most Arab countries -
as long as they are citizens, not con–
querors.
Arabs are anti-Zionist. They can–
not understand tbe logic of requir–
ing Arabs to pay the price - in land
and in blood - for the evils per–
petrated on Jews by Europeans:
Germans, Russians, Poles, Hunga–
rians, etc.
Arabs say they are a patient,
peaceful people. They have lived in
Jerusalem for well over a thousand
years.
It
is theirs, and they have
weathered many short-lived West–
ern storms to prove it. The crusa–
ders, they point out, were successful
- for a time - in capturing Jerusa–
lem in the oame of the Christian
religion - but they were eventually
driven out by the people ofthe land.
Geopolitics
In addition, other peoples' inter–
ests converge in this area. Located
between the land masses of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, Jerusalem and the
Middle Eas( have been fough t over
by invaders from time immemorial.
Here lies the crossroads of mankind:
the gateway to Africa, the passage
to the !odian Oceao, the southern
and eastern fiank of the Mediterra-
nean, the bridge to Europe. The
Middle East has always been a criti–
ca} point between the great empires
of East and West.
Today, the world's superpowers
are intimately involved: the Soviet
Union in its historie geopolitical
push southward, the United States
in its moral commitment to Israel,
and Europe and Japan
in
protection
of their vitally needed oil supplies.
Ovinnikov, the Soviet Union's
Middle East expert at the United
Nations, explained bis country's po–
sition: "Of course the Soviet Union
supports the Arab countries, but
there is a big ditference between the
support provided by the United
States to Israel. We are supportiog
victims
of aggression .. .. The
United States is supporting the
per–
petrators
of the aggression."
But to Ezer Weizman, former
Israelí miníster of transportation
and former commanding officer of
the Israelí Air Force, this is a rather
silly comment: ''What always amuses
me is that here we are, two and
a half million people surrounded by
forty or fifty million Arabs, with
North Africa against us, with India
and Pakistan agaiost us, with the
whole Moslem world agaiost us -
and
we
are branded as the aggres–
sors. Quite a compliment for two
and a half million people!"
Jerusalem ltself
But what kind of city is Jerusa–
lem? Who are its people? What are
its problems? How does Jerusalem
compare with the typical Western
city?
We asked Mr. Teddy Kollek, the
dynamic mayor of the city, and he
replied: "Jerusalem is a poor city. It
is an immigrant city. Out of the
210,000 Jews who live in the city,
120,000 are recent immigrants from
Arab or Oriental countries who
carne here without means and with–
out applicable skills.
"I, as tbe mayor of the city, am
always astooisheá to see the sur–
prised faces of our American visitors
when they learn that there are no
policemen outside my house, and I
PLAIN TRUTH February 1974