The Phoenix Jewish news., 1960-09-16

UeN6lOp ONGI LIlG lLlCluSIOIl OI LIllS
story and the exclusion of that one,
almost unanimous agreement
seems certain that the number one
news event not only of the Jewish
Year 572O but perhaps of the dec
ade was the breakdown and seizure
of the chief executioner of the
NaZi plan to exterminate the Jew
ish people. Whatever will be the
outcome of the trial in Israel of
Adolf Eichmann,. it is unlikely that
it will match the highdrama of
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's
startling announcement in the
Knesset on May % that the master
killer was in the hands of the
people he tried to destroy.
Of similar global impact was the
worldwide outburSt of anti-Semitic
incidents which followed the
Christmas Eve Smearing of the
Cologne synagogue soon after West
German Chancellor Konrad Ade-
nauer personally took part in it's
rededication. More than 1000 such
incidents were recorded in Al coun-
tries. The largest single number
126-was recorded not in West
Germany but in the United States.
THE DAUBINGS evoked a wide
variety of reactions from Jews, as
well as stirring expression of
support for the Jewish victims
from non-Jews, in most countries.
The principal question was: Did
the outbreaks constitute portent
of new Hitlerism? Even as this
was being debated, the rate of in
cidentS trickled down to the usual
erratic volume of such activities
and the issue faded.
David Ben-Gurion's venture into
personal diplomacy in the spring,
which involved face-to-face ses-
Sions with President Eisenhower,
British Premier Macmillan and
French President de Gaulle and
a snub from Soviet Premier
Khrushchev who made it icily clear
he did not want to meet with the
Israeli leader-evoked widespread
pride among Jews everywhere. AS
in the similar ventures in personal
diplomacy by the Western and
Soviet leaders, precisely what was
accomplished in such sessions re-
mained to be determined. At the
very least, the time which Eisen-
hover, Macmillan and deGaulle
spent with the Prime Minister in
dicated that they felt he had some
thing to say worth their attention.
Sometimes news is made by it's
absence. The general tranquility
on 1srael's borders during the year
broken only by minor though
persistent Syrian shooting and one
massive Israel raid which leveled
an Arab village in a demilitarized
zone near Lake TiberiaS on Feb
ruary 1-continued to be welcome
news. Again, the citizens of Israel
enjoyed a year of respite from
widespread border attacks, giving
rise to the hope that the tranquility
might be converted into something
more durable in peaceful relations.
ANOTHER major Israeli story of
the year was the manner in which
the dominant Mapai party cast off
the rigiditieS of success to bring in
new faces and new techniques in
last October'S national election to
score a major victory. The election
emphasized IsraePs increasing
political stability in rejecting
scores of splinter parties. But Is
rael politics remained far from
Ben-Gurion'S cherished dream of a
two-party system.
It was year also during which
dictator NasSer of the United Arab
Republic continued to resist all
forms of Western pressure-none
of which could be said to be drastic
Ito open the SueZ Canal to Israel
shipping. Statements on behalf of
ISraePS rights to peaceful transit
in the waterway were made by the
score in various free world capi-
tails. United Nations Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjold tested
various formulas for movement of
Israel cargoes through the Canal.
The results were zero. The United
States position was summed up
candidly by President Eisenhower
at press conference in April when
he said he did not know what the
United States could do to induce
NaSSer to respect IsraelS shipping
rights in the canal.
The fight against the Arab block
ade, which extended to blacklisting
of ships doing business with Is
rael, sparked two developments
which constituted SetbackS for the
Arab economic war.
ONE WAS the decision of the u.
S. Navy, after wide public outcries,
to cancel last February a contract
clause in it's shipping contracts
which was in effect an assist to the
Arab blockade. The clause made
1t impossible for American ship
perS which had done business with
Israel to bid on the lucrative Navy
transport cargo contracts.
The other was a decision of two
powerful American maritime un-