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The Southern Israelite
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TJ
A Weekly Newspaper for South©
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Vol. XLVI
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August ,fj
Janner, BBC Fued Over
Use of Underground Titles
LONDON (JTA) — A Jewish
member of Parliament is en
gaged in a dispute with the
British Broadcasting Corpora
tion over its designating Pales
tinian terrorists as “guerrillas”
and “commandos” while it calls
the Northern Irish revolution
aries “terrorists.” Replying to a
complaint by MP Greville Jan
ner, BBC chairman Lord Hill
wrote that it was “misleading to
draw a close analogy between
events in the Middle East and
events in Northern Ireland.”
As he explained the differ
ence, “In Northern Ireland there
exists a group of men bent
through armed force and mur
der on the subversion of law and
order in a part of the United
Kingdom ... In the Middle East,
however, a state of war exists
between Israel and her neigh
bors, some of who are giving ac
tive support to terrorist activi
ties within Israel as a means of
continuing the fight, notwith
standing the existence of the
cease-fire.”
Lord Hill concluded that “the
terms ‘guerrillas’ and ‘comman
dos’ have gained wide interna
tional currency,” and that “for
the BBC to use these terms is
not to imply any greater merit
for Arab acts of terrorism than
for similar acts by terrorists in
Ulster ...”
Janner retorted in a written
reply that ‘To my mind the
word ‘terrorist’ is clearly an ac
curate description for anyone
who attempts to achieve polit
ical change through' terror, no
matter in what part of the world
he happens to operate.”
Janner continued: “I am afraid
that I cannot see that the issue
is any less clear-cut in Israel as
it is in Northern Ireland . . . The
fact that your audience have
now come to recognize the Mid
dle East terrorists by the name
In Brief. . .
NEW YORK (JTA)—A com
prehensive study published
jointly by the American Jewish
Congress and the Anti-Defama
tion League of B’nai B’rith has
charged a widely circulated
Quaker report on the Middle
East with “blatant bias” and
“recommendations detriment a 1
to the cause of peace in the Mid
dle East.”
LONDON (JTA) — An esti
mated 12 million viewers tuned
in to British Broadcasting Corp.
television Aug. 9 for an hour-
long presentation of Israeli Pre
mier Golda Meir views includ
ing a definition of her aims as
Premier and a disclaimer of any
interest in another term. BBC
officials said copies of the film
have been sold to many dther
countries. Mrs. Meir said she
had striven to make sure that
“tt
— m
JERUSALEM (JTA) — In
formed sources said here that
Israel will probably vote for the
admission of the People’s Re
public of China to the United
Nations but not for the expul
sion of Nationalist China.
■
- Established 1925
is—12 Pages
No. 34
; o0
of commandos is precisely the
basis of our protest.”
The MP, son of Lord Janner,
former president of the Board of
Deputies of British Jews, asked
Lord Hill to reconsider the
BBC’s nomenclature. He added
to the Jewish Telegraphic Agen
cy that he planned to consult
with his colleagues in thp House
of Commons who join in his
complaint as to the best means
of raising the issue in the House.
oizzling Deadline Fizzles,
^mes and Goes Without Incident
JERUSALEM (JTA)—One of
the strangest trial balloons of
Egyptian diplomacy—a warning
in an authoritative Cairo news
paper on Friday that President
Sadat had set Monday as the
“final date” for settling the
Egyptian-Israeli deadlock— was
defeated when the appointed day
came to an uneventful close. The
report in A1 Ahram, as written
by its editor, Mohammed Hu-
sanein Heykal, a confidant of
President Sadat as he was of the
late President Nasser. The re
port gave no indication what
ever as to what action Sadat
might order to implement the
purported deadline warning.
The A1 Ahram report said that
the alleged fixing of the date
had been conveyed to Washing
ton by Sadat in an exchange of
messages with President Nixon
but one highly placed Israeli
source told the Jewish Tele
graphic Agency on Friday that
Assistant Secretary of State Jos
eph Sisco had not informed his
Israeli hosts two weeks ago
when he was in Israel of any
such ultimatum. (In Washington,
the White House and the State
Department denied on Friday
any information from Sadat to
.Nixon of an Aug. 15 deadline.
Presidential press secretary
Ronald Ziegler said Nixon had
not received a letter from Sadat.
State Department spokesman
ii(i be rnuld
at no com
munication had stipulated “any
thing like” the purported dead
line.)
The Cabinet, at its regular
meeting today, was reported not
to have taken the “deadline”
seriously. Reliable sources said
Israel had chosen the State De
partment version over that of A1
Ahram. Foreign Minister Abba
Eban was reported to have told
the session that Egypt has been
conducting a “selective offen
sive” against the United States
since the Sisco visit, on its
handling of the Mideast prob
lem. Eban reportedly said that
Egyptian diplomats have ac
cused the United States of seek
ing a permanent settlement un
der the “guise” of a provisional
one, a reference to U.S. efforts
to achieve an interim Israeli-
Egyptian interim agreement for
reopening the Suez Canal. The
Egyptians were reported to be
saying that since the U.S. had
not put forward any views of its
own, Egypt was free to act as
it chose. The Israeli evaluation
was reported to be that this
Egyptian stance had put an end
to silent diplomacy as far as
Egypt was concerned. The Cab
inet also was told that the U.S.
has not informed Israel as to its
contacts with Egypt since the
end of the Sisco mission and
there is no authoritative infor
mation here as to whether the
results of the Sisco mission — as
viewed by the Nixon Adminis
tration — have been transmitted
to Egypt.
Golda Meir Declines
To Run for 2nd Term
LONDON—Golda Meir always wanted to be premier of Israel
but having done it once she does not want to do it again.
Mrs. Meir told the British Broadcasting Corp.’s “BBC Pano~ ‘
rama” television program she would not seek a second term in the
1973 elections. “No I’ll be 75 then,” she told interviewer Alan
Hart.
Mrs. Meir also said the reason people claimed she became
stronger after her election as premier mas that she always wanted
to be the headiof state.
“The ailment was that I wanted to be prime minister. When
I got there most of my problems were solved,” she said.
Hart asked her how long she intended to remain in politics
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not ruMksWS! '
Mrs. Meir also said she had forbidden her children to hold
an eulogy for her after her death. "And I forbid anything to be
called in my name,” she said in rejecting any memorials to her.
She rejected the idea she was someone important in the
creation of the state of Israel.
The program traced her life from birth to the present day,
highlighting her rise to power in Israel.
New York to Moscow: 'JTA Calling David & Esther Markish'
By BORIS SMOLAR
JTA Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
NEW YORK (JTA)—Peretz Markish, the outstand
ing Jewish author and poet who, together with 23 other
foremost Soviet Jewish writers and intellectuals, was
executed on August 12, 1952, in the mass liquidation
of Jewish cultural leaders by Stalin, was after Stalin’s
death rehahbilitated by the Khrushchev regime.
A volume of his works in Yiddish was even pub
lished in Moscow in recognition of the fact that his
“liquidation” was a “mistake.”
Yet, his wife Esther and his son David—both lit
erary people—are still virtually imprisoned in the So
viet Union They have applied for permission to leave
for Israel, but their applications have been rejected.
They now live in Moscow in the hope that the day
SPECIAL JTA INTERVIEW
will come when Soviet higher authorities may recon
sider the rejection and permit them to leave the
country.
Information reaching the Jewish Telegraphic Agen
cy recently indicated that they are both no longer
practicing their literary professions—probably because
they are being viewed with suspicion, seeking to mi
grate to Israel—and that David was compelled to
become a porter in order to make a living for himself
and his mother. ,
The JTA telephoned them Aug. 11 from New York
to ask how they are being treated and whether they
believe that they might still have a chance to secure
emigration visas. What follows is a transcription of the
tape-recorded telephone conversation between this
writer and Esther and David Markish, which throws
light on their moods and hopes:
JTA—This is the Jewish Telegraphic Agency speak
ing to you from New York. Am I talking to Mrs. Esther
Markish?
Esther Markish—Yes, you are talking to Mrs. Mar
kish and David Markish.
JTA—We would like to know what are the chances
for you and your son to obtain the exit visas for
which you applied.
EM—Dear Friend! If we could only know what we
can do, we would have been happy. We do not know
what to do.
JTA—Have your applications for the visas been
i-ejected?
EM—Yes. We were refused the visas.
JTA—And have you reapplied for them?
EM—Upon the rejection of our applications we
wrote several times to the authorities and asked for
re-examination. And we are still waiting. So far, our
applications have been rejected twice. We again asked
for a revision (review) of the refusal but I have little
hope. Maybe it is possible to bring our case to the
attention of the government (high Soviet leaders), but
I do not know.
JTA—Is it true that your son lost his employment?
EM—My son did not lose employment. He is a
writer, However, after his application for a visa was
rejected, he decided not to engage any longer in lit
erary work. That was his decision. He is now a portei
in a bakery. ,
JTA—And for whom did he write before he gave
np his literary career?
EM—He had no position with any particular institu
tion. He was doing his literary work at his desk al
Mine. Since neither he nor I are now making a living
from writing, but must live, he decided to take any
work as an ordinary worker. The income is not much,
but he thinks that it is better this way. This is his
opinion. He does not want to earn a living from literary
work.
JTA—Have yea any special message you would like
to convey. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency serves the
Jewish press. We can carry your message.
EM—One moment, please! I will ask my son. He is
right on my side. Talk to him. He hardly talks English,
however.
JTA—He can talk to me in Russian.
EM—Very well.
David Markish in English—I am David Markish.
Do you speak Russian?
JTA—Yes, I speak Russian.
DM—Fine. Then talk to me in Russian.
JTA—There is an interest in our country to know
in what kind of a profession you are engaged now.
Your mother told me that you gave up your literary
career and became a porter in a bakery.
DM—That is correct.
JTA—She also told me that your application for
emigration was refused twice.
DM—Yes. We received a rejection of our second
application for exit visas.
JTA—Were you given any explanation for the re
jection?
DM—No. No reason was given.
JTA—And what is the attitude generally toward you
and your mother?
DM—Generally we are among friends who, like
me, want to emigrate to Israel. It is also natural that
people of the intelligensia and honest people should
maintain a normally good attitude towards us. We
did not encounter honest people who are not friendly
toward us.
JTA—I want you and your mother to know that
the fate of both of yon is being watched by many
here. They would like to see both of you being granted
Soviet exit permits. Both of yon will be received with
open arms. ^
DM—We are very grateful for thinking of us. We
hope that your interest in us will be of help to bring
about our emigration. Thanks to all for remembering
us. V
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