Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-02
cLAsHINc VIEWS

TO the Editor Of The Star:
Dorothy Thompson. on July
20, places all the blame for
the present Middle East crisis
on her favorite whipping boy.
Israel. She blames the Zion
lists and the British govern.
ment and rehashes the old
fable about poor Arabs being
dispossessed by the zionists
and the Israelis In 1913.
Every student Of modern
history knows that the Arabs
In May. 1913. were told by
their leaders to leave their
homes In Palestine Just long
enough 70 permit the armed
forces Of the Arab League 10
throw the Jews into the sea.
This didn't happen.
I would like TO call the
attention Of your readers 10
the following excerpts from
three public addresses on Pal
estine made by Miss Thomp-
son In Philadelphia and New
York In May and November.
1913. and March. 1894. at
which time she was president
Of the American Friends Of
the Middle East:
THE Jews in Palestine
have not dealt with the Arabs
rs our forefathers dealt with
the Indians. They are not
'conQuering' a continent.
Every bit Of their land has
been bought from the owners
and paid for at an exorbi-
tant price-not with whisky
and colored beads. The land
they bought was swampy,
deforested and eroded. The
Arab lands are still In the
same condition. The land OF
the Jewish colonists. having
first been purchased. has
been reclaimed by q system
OF cooperative land settle
ments or colonies whose work
Is quite incredible.
THE determination center
for European Jewry is Poland.
It has become the mass death
cell for European Jews.
but those who live have
learned one thing: A peo-
pie without q homeland OF
their own is doomed. What
Theodor Herzl preached long
ago. while the most highly
civilized Jews Of Europe re-
fused TO listen, has been
proved in our lifetime. And
from one end Of Europe to
another, Jews sit down and
weep. aye they weep, because
they remember Zion. And I
say: Their word should 60
out through all the earth and
their cry to the end Of the
world. And there should be
no speech and language
where their voice is not
The opponents Of Zion
ism are hypocrites. They OPP
pose the Jewish homeland on
behalf Of the Arabs.
THE question: Shall there
be q Jewish nation in q Jew
ish homeland?' has been
ssked and answered already.
So let us be ruthlessly clear
in our minds that this ques-
ton is not to be raised again."
With further regard to the
refugees, we have from very
reliable sources information
that In early 1913, when some
Of the delegates of the Is
raeli government were at q
conference in Lausanne with
the Arab delegates, under the
aegis Of the United Nations,
a group of refugees appeared
at the conference, a fifth
delegation, who established
friendly contact with only
one delegation, that Of Is
rael. The Arab delegates
would have nothing to do
with them. As a matter of
fact, they chased them back
to their point Of refugee set
tlement.
Now, why this sudden
change of attitude and phi
losophy in the Middle East
on the part Of Miss Thomp-
son, who since 1913 has made
Col. Nasser her idol, the man
who fomented change of gov
eminent not by peaceful bal
lots but by violence of bull
let's? She forgets conven-
iently that the democratic
processes of elections or any
change Of government or its
administration in the state of
Israel. the only such spot in
the Middle East, is carried
out by peaceful balloting on a
representative basis and not
at the point of a would-be
dictator's gun.
Miss Thompson knows as
well as any casual student Of
the present situation that
the present crisis was brought
on by the age-old determine
ton Of the Russians to gain
a foothold in the Middle
East, and they will use any
one as a stooge to gain these
ends by indirect aggression If
possible. but by violence If
necessary.
Senator John Kennedy, in
q recent address, made this
statement:
Quite apart from the
values and hopes which the
state Of Israel enshrines -
and the past injuries which
1t redeems-it twists reality
to suggest that it is the
democratic tendency of Israel
which has injected discord
and dissension into the Near