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I'age Four THE
The Southern Israelite
rubltkiieo tm-iiii oj southern rtewspupei En<erpr,»e». Inc. Suit*
.'01-20. Jlinn Bulletin* Atlanta s Georgia WAlnui 0791-0792 M
Stephen Schtllei publisher. Adotpb Rosenberg tdlvor. Will* Pels.
n..,m<-s* manaaci Entered as second -.ia*> -nattei at the post olflce.
v.iirtb Georgia undci the Act il March i 1870 Y-arl» suixicrtplon.
'.rre« dot.are The Southern Israell’e nv.tei llterarj -ontrlbutlons and
roi; espondence but I* not tr be considered te iharlna the elews ex-
uiet-Md b» writers, Alt material should o* received bv Wednesday noon
*o meure publication In isaue of that week
■ -1* v '!■ '1* -I- *1* *!• y -1- ■/ 'I* v *1- *1* - *
About Officers and Programs
Memphis Zionists have set the pace for what well
rnif'ht mean new’vigor if duplicated by many Jewish or
ganizations. Assembling at the Menorah Institute a fort
night ago, numbers of the Memphis Zionist District en
gaged in a spirited election for a new president from a field
of two candidates.
This was the first time in the history of the Memphis
District, the Hebrew Watchman reported, that such a thing
has happened. A lively campaign for office preceded the
election and the turn-out was most satisfying and enthus
iastic.
From District 7 of B’nai B’rith comes an official an
nouncement that in answer to criticism, state meetings will
be conducted with more delegate participation.
The Zionist election and the B’nai B’rith decision are
overt admissions of the justly severe and condemning criti
cism that Jewish organizations are too often star-chamber
in operation and management. While many have eonstitu
lions democratic in nature, the close control of election and
policies have veered too sharply away from those principles.
The same is true both of local and national organiza
tions. The political pace has become so fast, so dictatorial,
so confined in The hands of a very few that many national
conferences and conventions are allegedly concluded before
the majority of the delegates even know the score.
We could use more of the old-fashioned town-hall spirit
and less of the dictatorial methods which prevail. Greater
participation is a quality every organization should set for
a goal.
Capitol
Spotlight
By Beatr
WASHINGTON — Palestine
has barely to be mentioned at
the UN and the letallstlcally
minded are off with, a running
start. i
The question of whether to set
tip a special Palestine committee
at this'session of the General
Assembly was the first order of
business at the first meeting of
he General Committee, which
recommends the agenda to the
Assembly. Debate was immedi
ately precipitated by the Syrian
representative, as to the name
of the Palestine commi tec. The
common-sense suggestion was
made by the British delegate
hat it be the "ad hoc Pales
tine Committee!" See-sawing
’ re’e and forth ensued, and the
C 'ninese representative onine up
• th the mouthfuh the "ad hoc
ommitlce on the Palestine
question.’'
At tills point ever-tactfnl and
- ( d-humored Oswaldo Aranha
Brazil, president of the As-
• embly and chairman of the
General Committee, in eroesed
- story. He was reminded, lie
:id, of tlie two fiances who
rvent so much time during their
■ ’jo'Tiren' in arming over the
• 'me of their first child that
?y never did pet married.
In the ease of Palestine the
r ' iaese proposal was adopted,
id in the practical course of
ents. tlie body is now popu-
rly called the Palestine Com-
dttee.
Dunn" the early stages, even
' eforc the Palestine Commit-
'e got down to work, the ques-
^cn uppermost was the policy to
e taken by the United States
-nd by the Soviet Union. Sec
tary of State Marshall, head
■ f tlie American delegation, tip-
?d the scales in his first s'reech
> the Assembly when he said
lat the United States gives
teat weight" to the unanimous
i’d majority recommendations
' the UN Special Committee re-
irt. This, in essence, means
■at the United States supports
rtition. What the United
ates is ready to offer by wav
T put'ing part’t'e-n into effect
mains to be sear. That, among
ther aspects, is tlie subject of
ice Heiman
intensive behlnd-the-*scenes dis
cussions in Washington plus UN
back rooms.
How tlie Soviets will act is
wide open. In last May s spe-
! cial session their stand was: first,
to support a Palestinian, bi-na
tional state and. secondly, if
tills proved unworkable, to sup
port parti*ion. No reference to
Palestine was contained in the
first Soviet speech of this ses
sion to tlie Assembly, by chief
delegate Andrei Vishinsky. It
was brought up only briefly and
in passing, by Ukrnnian repre
sentation -'Dmitri Manulispy
when said, without any quali
fications, that Palestine is en
titled to independence.
The British have said and have
let it be known through a va-
: riety of channels, that anv UN
solution. to be acceptable to
I them, must carry w ith it'assur
ance of execution, by UN or
one or more members of UN.
Tlie imnlication there points
clearly !o the United States.
Now. ask the curious, suppose
the USSR says that they want
to be included among the trus
tees or sunervisors or executors
of tins UN solution. And sup
pose their company is not want
ed. In tile long run. it is tlie
big powers who will decide the
Palestine Question. Britain and
the United States call the plays.
China is in the backfield. Prance
is deeplv in'crested because of
her colonial possessions and their
Arab population. The USSR is
increasingly interested in the
Mediterranean and the Near
| Esat.. has a large Moslem popu-
j lat ion. and is geographically
I close to Aiab areas.
As the Palestine moves further
on in i‘s deliberations, the lines
will be drawn more sharply The
fact that the British Cabinet has
already indicated that it wants
* to give up tlie MaiTdate. provid
ed .the UN fills up the aching
void, does not by any stretch of
the imagination mean that the
British would not work to trans
fer the Mandate into a trustee
ship with themselves as chief
kse^er. and the United States
as ^anker-’n-chief and sheriff»
. extraordinary.
SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, October 3, 1947
BOIRS SMOLAR
Disadvantages to Proposed State
UN TRENDS
Not all the aspects ot the ma
jority recommendations of the
United Nations Special Com
mittee on Palestine seem to be
as favorable to Jews as original
ly believed . . . Upon closer ex
amination. it turns out that even
the inclusion of the Negev, the
southern desert of Palestine, in
the territory of the projected
Jewish state, is not much of an
asset . . . The Negev is a desert
which can be developed only if
irrigated . . . But in order to do
any irrigation in the Negev, the
waters-of the Jordan River are
needed . . . And the Jordan is in
the pa/t of Palestine marked by
UNSCOP for the Araba state . .
Similar is thp situation with the
Dead Sea. Die section where
potash and other minerals are
developed—the richest part of
the Dead Sea—is assigned to the
Arab state . . . Another of the
negative features of the borders
set. by UNSCOP is the large
number of Arabs left in the Jew
ish section. ... It is well known
that the birth rate among Jews
111 Palestine is much lower than
that of thp Arabs. . . . Even of
the UNSCOP recommendation to
admit 150 000 displaced Jews in
to Palestine within two years ts
Implemented, the danger exists
that, tlie Arab population in the
Jewish state may be equal to the
Jewish with a few years. . . .And
if Jews are not allowed to emi
grate from Soviet-dominated
countries in Europe, then tlie
dancer is even greater. . . . The
Jewish population in the Jewish
state may eventually be out
numbered by the Arabs. ... So
tlie Jews may yet find them
selves a minority in their own
state. . . . Naturally, it can be
expected that many of the Arabs
will move from the Jewish state
into Arab Palestine. . . How
ever. this may not be the case,
since conditions of life in the
Jewish state will be better for
them than in the Arab slate
• • •
INSIDE DOINGS
Jewish Agency leaders are
conducting active negotiations
w ith non-Zionists to bring them
into the Agency. . . . The latest
approach was made to David
Dubinsky. leading American la
bor leader and president of the
Jewish Labor Committee. . . .
Dubinsky, who was approached
by Moshe Shertek, left the mat
ter open for a later decision by
the Labor Committee. . . . Sev
eral private conferences were
also arranged by the Agency in
New York with leaders of the
American Jewish Committee and
the Agudas Israel ... Of all the
non-Zionist groups approached,
the American Jewish Commit
tee has so far taken the most
friendly attitude to the plea for
a united Jewish front before the
United Nations. . . . The big
question now being asked by
Zionist leaders is—will the Slav
ic states, which include Soviet
Russia. Byelorussia. Ukraine.
C/.echslovakia. Yugoslavia, and
Poland, form a “Slavic Bloc" on
Palestine?" . . . Judging from
their actions during the Special
Assembly in April, the answer is
by no means obvious. ... In the
one hand, the members of the
group were united in their de
sire to have the Arab item on
the agenda, to give the Jewish
Agency a hearing, and to have
independence included in the
therms of reference. . . On the
oilier hand, ttieir attitude with
regard to Jewish aspirations re
vealed differing degrees of sym-
paihv. nderstanding and support
| . . A similar situation existed
with the Latin American delega
tions. . . . Nothing developed
during tlie deliberations of the
I Special Assembly to justify the
j notion of a I^itin-American bloc.
1 . . . Argentina and Cuba voted
I with tlie Moslem bloc on a num-
! ber of questions, while other
. Latin-Ameriean countries were
restrained and seme went down
the line to display their friend
liness towards the Jewish claims.
NEW GROUPS JOIN
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS
NEW YORK. (JTAI—The Cen-
I tral Committee of Liberated Jews
in the British zone of Germany.
; the Jew ish Association of Calcut
ta. and the Jewish communities
< f the Belgian Congo, and of Cy-
renacia have joined the World
’ lewish Congress, it was announced
I here tills week by Dr. Inacy
Schwartzbart, head of the or-
j ganization department of the Con-
j less. This brings the number of
i countries where the Congress has
| affiliated local groups to 59. the
announcement said.
JEWISH CALENDAR
HOSHANAH KABBAH
Sunday, Oct. 5
SHEMINI AZERET
Monday. Oct. 6
SIMHAT TORAH
Tuesday. Oct. 7
EREV HANUKKAH
Sunday. Dec. 7
FIRST DAY HANUKKAH
Monday, Dec. 8
EIGHTH DAY HANUKKAH
Monday, Dec. 15
GO THOU AND DO LIKEWISE!
Oct. 5-1 1 Proclaimed "
President Truman has proclaim
ed tlie week of October 5-U as
National Employ the Physically
Handicapped Week.
The chief executive called upon
governors of states, mayors of
cities, and heads of other agencies
of government and other public
officials, as well as leaders of in
dustry. labor, and civic groups, to
make every effort to enlist public
support for a sustained program
aimed at the employment and full
Help Handicap" Week
use of the capacities of physically
handicapped workers,” according
to an official dispatch received toA
day by Commissioner of Labor Ben
T. Huiet.
The Georgia State Employment
Service, a division of the Depart
ment of Labor, is heading tht*
Geoigia phase of the national
drive and has given that phase the
shorter title ‘Hire-the-Handicap-
ped Week.’’
170 DELEGATES
World Agudas Israel
Seeks Reorganization
Of Jewish Agency
MARIENBAD, Czechoslovakia,
j <JTA> — A demand that the Jew-
I ish Agency be reorganized to give
| greater representation and funds
to opposition parties within Pal
estine was voiced this week-end
at the conference of the central
committee of tlie World Agudas
Israel which is being held here
Rabbi I. M. Lew in, chairman of
the Agudah executive, and H. A
Goodman, political secretary, will
j go to New York after the sessions
to attempt to obtain a greater
share of tlie funds collected for
Palestine projects for tlie use of
tlie Orthodox movement's projects.
Following receipt of an appeal
from Hie Agudah members among
the Exodus refugees, the confer
ence decided td appeal to tlie Brit
ish Government to permit tlie vis
aless immigrants to enter Pales
tine. even if regular monthly al-
\ lotments of certificates must be
used for them. Some 170 delegates
I have already been accredited to
| the conference, but some repre-
j sentatives from Poland, Hungary
| and Rumania have still to arrive.
Meanwhile, a world conference
' cf the women's Agudah chapter
j opened here. The delegates ha\«
j decided to organize a World Union
of Agudah Women.
Earlier, the council meeting
heard extremism in Palestine
strongly condemned by several
I speakers. Rabbi I. M. Let in, of
Jerusalem, Agudah leader, pointed
\ out that the organization lost
j 1.000 000 members in the Nazi mas-
1 sacres since its last world confer-
| ence in this city in 1938. H A,
Goodman, political secretary of tlie
Agudah. stressed that although the
Agudah is ready to cooperate with
other Jewish organizations, it
strongly objected Jo groups which
claimed to speak in behalf of the
entire Jewish people.
Army-Navy
V rr irr r ■ rf
Xes Crossfire
By LEON GUTTERMAN
HOLLYWOOD _ Although gar
nering plaudits generally as a
tightly-drawn and thrilling mo
tion picture, RKO's “Crossfire."
which depicts thejnelod ramie kill
ing by an Amtilcan soldier of a
L T . S. citizen solely because the lat
ter is a Jew, the U. S. Army lias
red-lighted this film for showing
to its personnel in this country,
abroad or in the fleet. It has
been labeled "Not suitable enter
tainment.” It has also been turned
down, unofficially, as yet. for dis
tribution overseas by the Motion
Picture Export Association. Both
the Army and the MPEA feel that
it would give foreigners a wrong
impression of the U. S. The Army,
however, is showing the picture at
its domestice posts.
“Crossfire” has received excel
lent notices from the critics, but
the anti-Semitism angle seems to
have created some controversy
among Jews themselves. A great
many of them favor the picture,
but one group takes the view that
the subject is better left untouched,
at least in this type of film.
The picture hasn’t started into
general release yet, but wherever
it has been shown (currently going
into its seventh week in New York *
it has played to good grosses.
DEATH FOR 3 AUSTRIANS
VIENNA. < JTA)—Three Aus
trian Nazis were sentenced to
death by a British military tribu
nal in Graz, Austria, on charges of
shooting Jews they had under es
cort while transporting them from
a concentration camp.