Page 14-A vJewisii flcrkMiani Friday. July 18, 1969 Capital Spotlight By Milton Friedman Nixon Administration Realizing (Brutal) Facts Washington - I ITTI.K IIOPK now is hold by ttn- Nixon Administration for its bilateral talks with Russia to produce a settlement of the Arab- Israel situation that Washington or Jerusalem could accept. The Bis; Pour talks have been recessed. but the bilateral American-Soviet discussions are being pressed to prevent miscalcu- lation and aveit a military showdown by the super- powers in the Middle East. An emerging Israeli assessment is that American diplo nats no longer have any illusion that the So- viet Union or Egypt actually want an honest and fair peace settlement, but go on talking because there are other considerations linked with broader global problems. A dialogue still seems mutually useful in this changing and volatile world. Some Israelis no longer share the grave fears voiced by Foreign Minister Abba Kban over the Big Four and bilateral talks. They feel Washington is learning at first hand that you can't get the Arabs to budge and that Moscow is as uncompromising and rigid on the Middle East as on Czechoslovakia. If Washington realises the facts, how can President Nixon expect Israel to make all the concessions for an "accommodation" which would amount to noth- ing more than abject surrender? Russian conditions are unacceptable to the United Between You and Me: By BORIS SMOLAR Chaplain Shortage No Compliment T is IMPOSSIBLE to estimate the number of Jews Berving in Viet Nam or the number of Jews in the armed forces of the United States. be- cause military records do not indicate i serviceman's religion. To do so would be contrary to the spirit of the Consti- tution. The best way to estimate Jewish military participation is by using the number of Jewish I ilitaiy Chaplains as measure. With 2,500 chaplains of all : eligions in all branches of the armed services, the Armed Forces Chaplain B ard set a quota of so full-time Jewish chaplains for l96J>-70. roughly ."..1 percent of the total imber of chaplains. The Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy of the Na- tional .1. wish Welfare Hoard which provides the Jewish Israel Newsletter By CARL ALPERT Are You A Victim? fdf m an ACT OF sabotage a few ^ v. '.- ago caused an explo- ,ii hi i xposc I ill pi|>c in the !: as outskirts. From our perch on Mi Carmcl we i billowing clouds of ,i- thej swelled up- ward from ih" point of explosion Ii >v is most dramatic, bul the fire did nol spn No lives were losl and no one was injured Within two flays the pipe had been repaired V i lill later did we learn thai the Arab p o gand spokesmen had "in i rm d" the world thai the war against Israel had Haifa was in ilame- md the authorities were evacuating the In- habitants. I don'I know what Story the headline, in yoor local newspapers told, but we received letters from several parts of the world expressing sympa- thy and hoping all was well with us. In the propaganda r against Israel which K going on all the time, every minor incident is blown out pri ,i a lion for the purpose ol "proving" the Middle l-'isi is a bubbling volcano about to erupt. 0 course we hove hostU< neighbors. It is true that thej boast and threaten, and occasionally do cause some damage. But the daily life of Israel has noi been affected. The children dance in the streets. the c i lain goes up in the theatres, sightseeing bus- es roam the < uroryslrie, the beaches ate Jammed. fruit and vegetable crops are of record size, tele- vision has swept the country, the melons are oh, so deliciously juicy, the alleys of old Jerusalem are i than the streets of many large American cities, the new postage stamps are attractive, the hitchhikers talk freely, the Coca-Cola i~ cold, the wave-drenched grottoe ol Rosh Hanikra are draw- in.' throngs, Israeli fashion, are breathless, dia- monds can in- bought wholesale, tourists pose for pictures with camels, long-separated families re- unite in hotel lobbies, immigrants arrive steadily from na neless countries, pipe lines, power lines, telephone lines and clothes lines are used to full capacity in short, despiti what your headlines and imaginative Arab propagandists may say. Israel is a safe land, a peaceful land. If you era one of those who have decided t" post]x>nc a trip to Israel because conditions are "un- setth-d," the Arab propagandists have scored a victory Over you! Autumn is a most plensant time of year to he ben. After the holy days, the weather is perfect, the crowds are not too great, there is room in the hotels ... Or do you prefer to be the victim of Arab fantasies? chaplains is now facing great difficulties in complying with the request for SO chaplains. It was short 22 chap- lains last year because of the difficulties it faced: this year there will be a shortage of 27, according to Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow, Commission chairman. The shortages are caused by the strong opposition which developed during the last two years against Amer- ican partici|>ation in the Vice Nam war. Since 1950 Jew- ish chaplains have lxvn recruited through a draft of newly-ordained rabbis imposed by the major rabbinical bodies of which the JWB Commission on Jewish Chap- laincy is composed. This draft plan, adopted during the Korean War. has brought 47.) rabbis into the chaplaincy, each of whom served no le-s than two years. As a result of the growing opposition to U.S. involve- ment in Viet Nam, the Orthodox and Conservative rab- binates lasl year abandoned their self-imposed chaplainc) draft system in favor of a voluntary system The Refomi rabbinate has now followed suit. Early in July, 20 Jewish chaplains will !* completing their two-year terms of duty and two career chaplains will be retiring, while only 17 newiy-ordained rabbis will l>e entering the chaplaincy for a total of 53 rabbis serv- ing as militarj chaplains instead of the so requested b> the Defense Department Elements in American Jewry who are interested in strengthening Jewish feeling among Ihe Jewish youth in this countrj are highl> critical of the rabbinical b di - abandonment <>: their draft system, The> consider this movc del telj detrimental to Judaism, Ii seems to me that they arc right; at a time when there i- so much talk about the need to strengthen Jewish Identity, any move which deprive-, young and lonclj Jewish servicemen of the i" nefits ol rabbinica] guidance and advice will lead to their estrangement from Jewishness. A Jewish soldiei away from homi :m(\ in need ol u friend falls verj easilj the influ.-nee of a chapl In h i befriends him. II this chaplain i- a Jew, the soldier returns home later fully conscious ol hi-: j, visti obligations Without this friendly influence, the ch inc an he will return home completely assimik ted The fact thai the rabbinates of the three branches ol Judaism cannot fill the quota of SO military chaplains for all branches of the U.S. am* d forces is no compliment to American Jewry in general. The issue i- all the more conspicuous, since it is related to the forces opposing the Vil I Nam war. BOOK RIVHW States, because they are so obviously impossible for Israel to accept. Total withdrawal from all occupied territories is demanded, for which the Arabs a,-e willing to offer only a temporary cessation of hos- tilities. They refuse to sign a peace treaty or to normalize relations. All that has yet emerged from the bilateral talks Ls a "give and take" projiosal the Israelis would give; the Arabs would take. On the eve of the transfer of bilateral talks to Moscow, the Arab-Israeli crisis remains at an im- passe. The Russians want to keep the crisis at mod- erate heat to further exploit the situation. A limit- ed war of attrition against Israel is useful to the Kremlin, keeping Nasser totally dependent while facilitating Soviet penetration of Moslem lands. The talks, meanwhile, provide insulation against an American-Soviet showdown touched off by a big Israeli-Arab eruption. No reasonable nation could expect Israel to ac- cept the present terms Compliance would m an nothing less than total and unconditional with- drawal from all territories occupied in 1987 Including the old city <>f Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Also, the Arabs would get a bonus through unrestricted right ol access to pre-1967 Israel as "refugees." Since nothing can be expected from the bilateral talks, grim facts mnsl lie faced. Tensions will increase, more Russian arms and advisers will arrive in Egypt, the war of attrition will lie esca- lated. Israel can expect sabotage, guerrilla raids. minings ami murders is the Arabs seek to turn the Middle East into another Viet Nam As We Were Saying: By ROBERT E. SECAl Thai Black Manifesto |J \\ inc. BEEN slav.^ in Egypt and having obtained some rep- arations from Germany, the Jew- ish neopi,. are perhaps in a better position than others to si/e up the h for James Forman and his Colleagues In the National BJ Economic Development Conference to p half bill! i dollars in comrontations with re units across the land. The prospects of rinding the cash laid on the barrel heal aren't good; the chance- of shod .i lai i i .".'< nt ol the Ami rican people into a new re Ii; ition if how determined Black militants are to dramatize the burning anguish over centuries "i denial and lr. itiol il be !i, I... n though the instant reaction of many who read about the hold approach to churches and synagogues is al- most physical recoil teamed with severe backlash, experience shows thai in the long haul, audacious protest does effect change There's been plenty ol surprises, ups Is ind cries of "Go slow, go slow' lot everybody, yet progress, nol retrogression, ap- P< ars on i he scon b ird. This lime, the stakes are huge and the approach spectacular. Indeed, the e is evidence that the 40- year-old Jim Forman. who personifies Black mili- tancy, mav prove the m >st potent force for imme- diate white-black polarization in America. i By Seymour B. Liebman Eshkol: The Man And The Nation ......* '' TI1K DIPLOMATIC correspondent of | the Manchester Guardian. Terence Prittie is known to readers of quality publications on both sides of the At- lantic. His book, K-hkol: The Man and The Nation (Pitman Publishing Co,, $7.951 is based on numerous personal interviews with the late prime minister of Israel and manj of his colleagues. It is a big book and a good book. Prittie presents a readable comprehensive account of the pre-hisior> of Israel, both In Europe and Palestine. interlaced with biographical details of Eshkol and all Woven into world events. The author applied himself to .. monumental task in a scholarly manner. The book in- cludes ample footnotes and an index. The title is slightly misleading, since the nation and the events of the century preceding it and the past twenty years occupy more pages than the personalia pertaining to LeVi Eshkol. It has been said that Israel and the Zionist organiza- tions have been less effective in their efforts to preaenf the purposes and |wer." he writes, -the Soviet Union has preached East-Wesl detente in Europe primarily tor tactical reasons There would he no me ting of the minds. For, to the Soviet ruler., the West is still the enemy The Soviet Union is not Interested in an Ideal society; it is Interested only in its own." He contrasts the Jewish initiative in Palestine and their accomplishments in the swamps and desert hind that they bought with "the helpless Ignorance end in- grained indolence" of the Palestine Arabs. He chaws on many authors and recalls to mind many early pioneers and minor details that should lie preserved for historv He carries his account to 1H69. when LevI Kshkol. born as Shkoinick In Orotowa, near Kiev, died after spending the last 53 years of his life in the Holy Land as a laborer, fa inner, soklier in the British Army in World War 1. an economist and politician. A Jew always devoted to his people and dedicated to his tasks, he was a humble man, who was never ambHious for titles, power or grandeur There are numerous ihotographs and maps in the book. It is interesting to note that the area in the map showing what was intended to be the Jewish homeland in 1917 and 1922 is larger than what Israel owns and ad- ministers today. Those who would have Israel revert to the borders- of the United Nations of 19-j" should study these maps thoroughly. f