JAN 1 3 1975

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THE VAN LEER JERUSALEM FOUNDATION

 

 

January 1, 1975

Professor Joshua Lederberg
Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford Medical Center

Palo Alto, California 94304

U. S. A.

Dear Josh:

The times are difficult and the mood in Israel is, to say the least, very
serious. All of us, in addition to our usual work - academic or otherwise -
are trying our best to do something and to be helpful either in advisory
capacities and participating in committee work, or simply participating
in the civil guard and walking the streets of Jerusalem. Needless to say,
in our family the division of labour is as usual : advise and cook, while
Yehudit is on guard witha rifle. This last is very straightforward and
simply helpful. The other activity, advising etc. is very often rather
frustrating. In any case, the burden of overwork is such that very few

of us, and this is true for me too, do not have the time any more for
leisurely reports and conversational letters with our friends abroad.

As a result, together with a few friends, I decided to try to write a
personal circular letter more or less once a month and to make an
attempt at an honest description of what is happening here, what is
bothering us and to share our troubles with you. Before I start this, let
me strike an optimistic note; whatever the mood in the cities and whatever
one reads in the newspapers, the best for the morale is to go on a lecture
tour for soldiers in the Sinai or in the Golan Heights, or to vist some of
the border kibbutzim or border towns where, in addition to their usual
load of work, every man has to guard at least three times a week for

4-6 hours. Every such visit is a revival for the spirit.

43 JABOTINSKY STREET, JERUSALEM P.O.B 4070 PHONE 67131 10 4070 T’N D'wI',43 PoOYvOIIT AIM
THE VAN LEER JERUSALEM FOUNDATION D*2W1'2. "9 jitoin

Page 2.

Events are moving at a hectic speed. Yet, in spite of the embarrassing
richness of ideas, proposals and counter-proposals streaming out of
Cairo, Jerusalem, Moscow and Washington, the recent events in the
U.N. and in UNESCO are uppermost in our minds. True, when it comes
to the U.N. it is very difficult to shock us. Yet the last events in the
U.N. General Assembly and at UNESCO came as a surprise even to the
most cynical among us. You followed the events in the newspapers and
some of you even signed declarations and wrote personal letters. What

I am not so sure about is to what extent it is clear abroad that what
happened by the fact that the General Assembly gave the reception it did
to Arafat is much beyond a simple recognition of the Palestinians as a
"principal party" in the Middle East dispute. Of course they area
"principal party" and many of us - and I used to be one of them - thought
that we had to talk to them sooner or later. This debate had almost
ended in Israel. It is now crystal clear to us that two peoples are fighting
for the same homeland more or less in the same borders. We, or at least
the reasonable among us - and I dare to hope that we are a majority - do
recognize and always did that the Palestinians are a nation with the rights
of a nation. Unfortunately the Palestinains consider Israel as a curious
brand of religious and racist fanaticism and not as a nation with similar
rights.

What happened at UNESCO in Paris at the same time was even worse
psychologically speaking. As you probably know, Israel was excluded from
all of UNESCO's regional groupings and denied any UNESCO assistance
until we stop the archaeological excavations in Jerusalem. These were,
of course, phony issues. UNESCO's own experts have repeatedly
legitimized in their reports Israel's archaeological work. The issue
really was to vote Israel out of existence. UNESCO, by letting the Arabs
succeed on this issue, became thoroughly politicized and corrupt. Ido
hope - I know this sounds awful, but I still do hope - that by this very
action UNESCO sabotaged its own mandate. On the other hand, I think
and fear that this is a preparation for next year's attempt for Israel's
expulsion from the U.N. I wonder how meaningful is the slowly mounting
crescendo of the protest against political manipulation by a majority on
THE VAN LEER JERUSALEM FOUNDATION BYOWIN'2 1° ji Ton

Page 3.

issues contrary to decency, or even the charter of the institutions. We
would like to think that the Arabs have gone too far this time and that it
will boomerang.

As I told you, this is still uppermost in our minds and already Brezhenev's
visit to Cairo is nearing and even the Iranian Chief of Staff is spending a
whole week in Cairo; I am afraid not in order to visit night clubs.

Whether we can weather the storm here it all depends on whom you ask.

I personally do not doubt for a second, with all conditionals and academic-
style quibbles and doubts, all in all I trust our present government and I
fully endorse the present very severe economic reshuffling and austerity
measures. It lessens the waste and the number of calories but it raises
the morale and cleans up the many irregularities and even scandals which
penetrated the fast-growing unjustified economic euphoria after the Six
Day War.

In my next letter I shall give you a down to earth description of daily
economic realities in Israel.

With warm regards.

Your

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