The Arizona post., 1957-09-06
Trouble For Isroelis
The Student Delegation
At The Moscow Festival

AT me MOSCOW TeSIIvOI
By CHARLOTTE LUBIN
EDITORS NOTE: Miss Lubn, American news
papervoman in Moscow at the time of the recent
Youth this dispatch she describes the vir
tial bOycOtcamped down by Arab delegates and Soviet
offcals-on the Israeli men and women
who came to the international gathering)
The cry of mir and Druzba, )" "Peace and Friend
ship" repeated throughout the Moscow Youth Fes-
tiva had empty ring for the 200 1sraels who at
tended
DELEGATES FROM nations with long histories
of antagonsms outdd each other in expressing their
peaceful desires Americans and Russians agreed to
disagree amiably Indians and PakinStanS had
friendly chat about the old days under British rule.
Some Indonesans wined and dined a Dutch couple,
and even the Algerians and Frenchmen got together
over bottle of vodka. But every proposal to talk
over problems of the Middle East which the Israes
put forth to the various Arab delegations, was an
swered with emphatic mo!
The Arabs led by the Egyptian delegation re-
fused to talk to the Israeli Zonists; they refused to
talk with the Israeli Communists who sympathlzed
with them on many issues; they even refused to have
anything to do with some 80 Israeli Arabs who were
present.
THE ISRAELI delegation under presSureS
from three sources during the Festival Arab rebuftS
and nti-Israeli propaganda; Russian anti-Zonlsm;
and the Communist-Zonist split within the delega-
ton.
The Egyptians wasted no time in starting vlcl-
GUS anti-Israel campaign. When the Israeli delega-
ton marched into Lenin Stadium at the opening OF
the Festival the Arabs turned their backs on them
and began chanting loudly, "Nasser! Nasser! Mas
ser!" Later they distributed pamphlet showing a
map of Israel at the bottom of which was printed,
eve shall return"
The Russians fear of the influence of the 1sra-
ellis on the Jews of Moscow caused further difficult
ties for the Israeli delegation The international Pre-
paratory Committee of the Festival refused to per-
NIT the Israes to distribute the literature they had
brought on the grounds that it was too political
The Israelis objected that this charge was not
valid considering the extremely political nature OF
the literature distributed by the other delegations.
They pointed to the Egyptian pamphlet described
above the Hungarian literature ustifying the Kadar
regime and Soviet intervention, and other examples
of political distribution
THE RUSSIANS had good reason to fear the
impact of the Israelis on Russian JeWry. The Jews
of Moscow flocked to the ISraelS wherever they
went If the Israeli bus stopped for moment in a
downtown area, they were Immediately surrounded
by Jewish men and women, eagerly waiting to shake
their hands, to exchange few brief words, to pre-
sent them with gifts or just to get glimpse of them
as they drove past Jews from all parts of the
city to meet the Israelis at their hotel.
On the first Saturday morning of the Festival,
the Old Synagogue of Moscow packed so full it
was impossible to enter The crowds jammed the
steps and blocked off half of the street.
"This is the first time in 20 years that I have
been to synagogue" the squeezed in next to me,
remarked 'The same is true of many of the other