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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Boris Smolar
Friday, Oct. 3, 1969
P. 8 « Four
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Published weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, >9# Court
iano st., N. E., Atlanta, Georgia SM93. TR 6-8249, TE. 6-8240. Sec
•.nd class postage paid at Atlanta, Georgia. Yearly subscription $7.5#
i lie Southern Israelite Invites literary contributions and correspond
euoe.but is not to be considered as sharing the views expressed by
writers DEADLINE is 5 P.M. FRIDAY, but material received earilei
wiU have a much better chance of publication.
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher
Kathleen Nease, Vida Goldgar, Edward M. Katin
Kathy Wood, Paul Warwick, Harry Rose
Betty Meyer, Gertrude Burnham
MEMBEB
GEORGIA PRESS ASSN.
M) /VJBL 7 arts features
rftfMdMMPFR JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC
”• „ AGENCY
Association - Founded 7885 WORLD UNION PRESS
United Appeal Campaign
-Civic Responsibility, Challenge
This week the 11th annual campaign of the United Ap
peal opened in Atlanta and more than 15,000 volunteers are
seeking contributions toward the support of the Community
Chest and its 45 member agencies and the Red Cross which
constitute the United Appeal. This year’s goal is $7,511,712
which is needed to continue the programs and services of
the voluntary agencies engaged in family and children’s
;ounseling, youth work, work with the elderly, recreational,
jducational, and group work programs, and a variety of
jther services which help people achieve a sense of partici
pation in the welfare of the community as well as their
own well-being.
The United Appeal agencies, we are assured, do not
compete with nor duplicate the assistance and help offered
by public welfare or public health programs.
They express in their programs the concern of citizens
for the well-being of individuals, groups and the commun
ity. They cooperate in the planning toward the mobilization
of all human resources for the building of a model com
munity.
Our readers will be interested in knowing that the
Atlanta Jewish Welfare Federation is an affiliate of the
Community Chest and participates in the results of the
United Appeal Campaign. The Federation Central Services,
the Jewish Family and Children’s Bureau, the Ben Massell
Dental Clinic, and the Jewish Community Center receive
in part their budgets from the United Appeal.
The campaign of the United Appeal in Atlanta and
elsewhere is an annual renewal of faith in a free society
where every citizen is given the opportunity to meet his
civic responsibilty, participating with all his neighbors in
an all out community effort to share blessings and to give
^enrously toward benevolent and humanitarian causes.
When a volunteer approaches you for a contribution
extend a hearty welcome and give freely and generously.
JEWISH CALENDAR
SHEMINI ATZERET *SIMHAT TORAH
Oct. 4, Saturday Oct. 5, Sunday
‘HANIJKA
Dec. 5-12
Friday-Friday
•HOLIDAY BEGINS
SUNDOWN PREVIOUS DAY
BETWEEN YOU AND ME
ON THE SUEZ FRONT
The sun is blazing over the hot sands of the
Sinai Desert. It took the ancient Hebrews 40 years
to cross this desert where, even today, one can see
no sign of life for miles and miles. It takes about
6 hours to reach the last inhabited para-military
post, Nahal Yam, which is the closest to the front
positions on the Suez Canal.
We travel in a” special air-conditioned bus and
this makes a difference. The difference in time is
explained also by the fact that in the Biblical period
there was no paved road cutting through the desert
as is the case today. This road, all the way from
the Suez Canal to Gaza, had been built by the
British when the entire area was under their ad
ministration. They needed the road for military
purposes, in order to be able to bring their troops
over quickly from Egypt to Palestine. Now the
road is used by the Israeli administration for sim
ilar military purposes, with troops and military
equipment going this time in the opposite direction
—in the direction of Suez.
We proceeded from Tel Aviv in the direction
of the Suez Canal through the.Gaza area, where the
Arab population is distinctly hostile to Israel, and
where a day does not pass without Arab terrorists
making themselves felt. The Israeli military auth
orities are not keen on having civilians—especially
Americans—visit the Gaza area. An Arab mine
may explode any time under a passing Israeli bus.
A hand-grenade may be thrown from a roof or
from a street corner. Israeli soldiers in Gaza never
appear, therefore,in the street without their
“Uzi” rifles ready at the drop of a hat to open fire,
if necessary.
The streets in Gaza are nevertheless full of
local Arab inhabitants. The Arab stores are all open
and seem to be doing better business under Israel
than under Nasser’s regime. In the Arab cafes, one
can see groups of customers in traditional Arab
garb sitting on low stools and chatting over their
"nargillas” or a cup of Turkish coffee. Women,
appear in the street with their faces veiled, as in
ancient times. Children run around and peddle
postcards, pencils and other ware. They are com
peting with each other trying to tell you a few
words in Hebrew in order to induce you to buy.
On the whole, however, an atmosphere of laziness
is in the air. The hot sun forces everybody to seek
shelter in the shadow of a store, or near a wail,
or at anything that can protect you from being ex
posed to the sun’s rays. Everybody seemed resigned)
to the monotony of the heat. Only the Israeli
soldiers — mostly youngsters — with their “Uzis”
swinging over their soldiers, are on the alert. They
walk in the main streets in groups of two and three
in full awareness that somewhere from a roof, or
a window, or a side door, they may be sniped at
by Arab terrorists whose number does not seem
to be effected by the fact that many of them are
caught.
IN THE SINAI DESERT
Khan Yunis, Rafa, El Arish—we are moving
deeper into the Sinai desert . . . Here and there we
pass a small group of Arab nomads—Bedouins—with
their families, sheltered from the blazing sun in
tom black tents, far from civilization, far from
water, far from anything that can be called normal
life. Some of them have a few sheep, others have a
camel, others have nothing. How do they manage
to live? Where does their bread come from? How
do they get their water in this arid wasteland?
Col. Benny Mattes, Military Governor of the
area, has a lot to tell about them, their way of life
and their problems. They come to him with their
problems and he is in constant contact with them.
Barefooted, they trek to him from all parts of the
desert. Some ask for relief, others come for advice,
many come for needed permits. He listens to them
attentively and tries to come to their aid. He helps
to send their children to Arab schools in the dis
trict. He arranges medical assistance for them. He
even developed for them a hospital in El Arish
which caters to the needs of the Bedouin popula
tion.
High and proud flies the Israeli Blue-White flag
over the small white building of the El Arish hos
pital, breaking the monotony of the grey sky and
of the landscape. The hospital was “adopted” by
the large government Tel Hashomer hospital in
Tel Aviv. One finds there two Arab physicians—
the only two physicians in the area who did not run
away to Egypt after the Six-Day War—but most
of the doctors and the nursing personnel have come
from the Tel Hashomer staff. In case of a serious
operation which cannot be performed at the El
Arish institution, the patient is flown by helicopter
to the Tel Hashomer hospital.
The Arab patients are friendly and seem to he
satisfied. Never has the desert population been
treated medically with such care and attention.
None of them speaks or understands any other
language but Arabic. But the entire medical staff—
especially the doctors and the nurses—speak Arabic.
The other personnel is all Arab, each of them
doing his work with devotion and loyalty. A wom
en’s auxiliary group, headed by Mrs. Ruth Dayan,
wife of Gen. Moshe Dayan, and composed of vol
unteers from Tel Aviv, has taken this desert hos
pital under its wing and is bringing a new and high
ly improved standard of medical service to the
entire Arab population of the Sinai.
VOLUNTEERS AND WARRIORS
We reach Nahal Yam—the last inhabited point
in the desert and the closest settlement to the
Suez Canal. It is a recently established para-miiitary
kibbutz of youngsters, some of them civilians and
some of them here on their military trucks.
There are girls here among the civilians who
came as volunteers as well as among those on
military duty. The kibbutz is engaged primarily
in fishing in the nearby' Bardiwil Lagoon, an out
flow from the Mediterranean, not far from the
Suez Canal. The civilian girls are engaged in making
and repairing the large fishing nets, in doing the
cooking, in serving at the dining barracks and in
taking care of household needs. The girls in the
military section perform military functions which
are numerous at this remotest para-military post in
Israel.
Three large motorized fishing boats, heavily
armed, are pulling out from the small harbor into
the waters of the lagoons with huge fishing nets
all ready for the day’s catch. They are also ready
for the eventuality of coming under fire from an
Egyptian warship or submarine. The fishermen are
all men, obviously trained in fishing and probably
also in the navy. They will return at the end of
the day with the fish they caught and will storage
them in the huge refrigerator in one of the wooden
buildings. It is from there that the fish—live and
fresh—will be shipped in special ice-cooled trucks
to Tel Aviv to be sold on the market.
The heat in Nahal Yam is -unbearable and the
thirst is great. But there is no shortage of fresh
drinking water which is brought from inside Israel.
You can even get lemonade and Coca Cola in the
kibbutz dining room. They come bottled from Tel
Aviv and are kept in the same refrigerator where
the fish are stored.
A fish meal in this remote war zone kibbutz is as
tasty as in any of the best fish restaurants in the
world. You feel the freshness of the fish which
have been fried only hours after they have been
caught. They taste like fish you just caught in sweet
water although the water in the Bardiwil Lagoon
is not sweet.
Military installations can be seen side by side
with the dormitories in which the civilian members
of the kibbutz live. Watch is kept from high towers
heavily armed and well provided with a modem
signal alert system in case of danger front the
Egyptian side or from Egyptian planes. To be on
the alert—this is the job of the military members
of the kibbutz. The entire kibbutz is under the
supervision of Captain Mordecai, an Israeli com
mander who, like all warfront commanders, is
known only by his first name, the last name being
a military secret.
Copyright, 1969, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.
SHAW & THE
ATLANTA
SYMPHONY
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY EVENINGS, OCTOBER 9 AND 10
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 12
SERIES A. B, C & D
ROBERT SHAW, conducting
Assisting Artist: LEONARD ROSE, 'Cello
Symphony No 3 (1938) Roy Harris
Concerto for 'Cello and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 85 Elgar
Mr. Rose
Intermission
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (“Pathetique") Tchaikovsky
For reservations call: Memorial Arts Center Box Office, 1280 Peachtree Street, N. E.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30309, Season Tickets at Substantial Discounts — Phone 892-2414.