; Semen is a small country. Its population numbers only some 244 million—less than -Manheitan. However, its signi- ficance on the world scene far exceeds its mere size. A _ two-week visit scarcely qualifies one as an expert. But there are certain features of the country which are strikingly evident to the newly-arrived vi- sitor. To begin with, Israel is a land of great variety and sharp con- trasts. Within its 10,000 square miles the old and the new, pro- gress and reaction, are found side by side, intermingling, yet clearly distinct. An advanced capitalist coun- try with a modern industrial economy, Israel is situated with- in the heart of an Arab world marked by economic backward- ness and extreme poverty. Mo- dern factories exist alongside relics of past civilizations and the highly-mechanized’ agricul- ture of the kibbutzim alongside the primitive peasant economy of the Arab villages and the no- madic existence of the country’s Bedouin population. Israel is also_a land of rapid growth and change. Since (948 it has had more than a million immigrants and its population has nearly tripled. This has been accompanied _by a high rate of economic growth. Originally the immigrants were mainly European Jews; more recently the majority have been Oriental Jews, mostly Yemenite and Iraqi. There is also Israel’s Arab population which makes up about 12 percent of the total. The swiftness of change is re- flected in a pronounced contrast between the older and younger generations. The former are of diverse national origins and speak a variety of languages— Yiddish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Ru- manian, Hungarian, Polish, Ger- man, English, French. They cling to accustomed habits and cul- tures and many have- never learned Hebrew. In fact, the Communist Party of Israel, in addition to a daily newspaper in Hebrew and a semi-weekly in Arabic, has had to publish weeklies in Yiddish, Bulgarian and Rumanian, as well as a mi- meographed paper in Hungarian. (in an atmosphere of extreme Jewish-Arab hostility it is re- grettable and damaging that a split has taken place in the Com- munist Party in the past year). The younger generation is _ very different. Its language is Hebrew (and where a second language is learned at school, it is most apt to be English or French). Its manners, outlook, culture (though displaying con- siderable American and West European influence) can only be described as uniquely Israeli. In these young people, bright, eager and alert, one sees an emergent Israeli nation, the fu- ture of Israel—a hopeful future. A striking feature of the Is- raeli scene is the great contrast between the conditions of life of Jew and Arab, and between -- European and Oriental Jew. On Allenby St. in downtown Tel Aviv, the atmosphere is one of affluence. People are dressed well, though informally. The _ store windows, attractively de- ISRAEL prosperity, poverty, problems By HYMAN LUMER corated, are loaded with a vari- ety of merchandise. The street and its people resemble a busi- ness thoroughfare in an Ameri- can city and one almost expects the people to speak English rather than Hebrew. From here it is not far to re- sidential sections with well-kept streets and attractive modern apartment houses. And on the outskirts of the city are large groups of new apartment build- ings, *high-priced and catering to the relatively well-to-do, But from Allenby St. it is also not far to the old section of Tel Aviv, whose narrow streets and dilapidated houses are populated mainly by Oriental Jews living in dismal poverty. And it is not much farther to . the twin city of Jaffa, with the slum ghetto which houses most of its Arab population. Here the streets .are even more narrow, the housing even more wretched and the poverty even more pal- pable than in Tel Aviv. In Acre, one passes through the “new city” with its broad thoroughfares and modern build- ings and its mainly Jewish po- pulation, to enter the “old city” —the ancient walled town built by the Crusaders. Here, in a la- byrinth of dark alleyways and courtyards the bulk of the Arab population lives, most of it housed in a jungle of incredibly squalid slum. dwellings built into the closely-packed ruins of a past age. : Such differences are every- where in evidence, the fruits of a discrimination which marks the life of Israel. It is ironic that a people which so long fought against its own _ persecution should become the oppressor of others. : : It is likewise ironic that a people which for _ centuries fought against religious persecu- tion should become the founder of a clerical state dominated by the practices of the orthodox Jewish religion. There is no civil marriage ceremony, nor any burial of the dead except through religious channels. The sale of pork is forbidden except in certain Christian communities (though it is widely bootlegged). On Saturdays life comes to a virtual standstill. The harsh reality. of Jewish- Arab hostility permeates the country. There is the border. In Israel one does not have to tra- vel far to reach it; indeed, at one point the country is only some seven miles wide. The border is a wall which cuts Jerusalem in half, a barbed-wire fence running through the centre of an Arab village, a no-man’s © land separating an ‘Israeli kib- butz from the farmland of Jor- dan. It is an impenetrable bar- rier through which there is no normal intercourse, only a con- tinual succession of border in- cidents. It takes little time to become keenly aware that Israel is a country completely isolated by land, that its only contacts with the outside. world are by sea and air. Within its borders Israel is an armed camp. Soldiers of both sexes (women are drafted as well as men) are a frequent sight in the streets. Convoys of tanks and other military equip- ment are not an unfamiliar sight. Close to 40 percent of the national budget is devoted to military expenditures. Israel is a very young state. This year it celebrated its 18th birthday. In this brief existence it has undergone phenomenal growth and evolution. Yet Israel’s existence is highly insecure. Its economy lacks a firm footing. It is riven by natio- nal and ethnic discrimination, by division between Jew and Arab, between Western Jew and Ori- ental Jew. It is surrounded by Arab. States with which its relations are those of extreme hostility, and its people live in the perpe- tual shadow of the threat of war. What is the source of this in- security and uncertainty? It lies first and foremost in the policies pursued by Israel’s ruling class from the very beginning. These have been policies of economic dependence on U.S., British and ' West German monopoly capital and of political alignment with the forces of imperialism in the Middle East —- an alignment whose most glaring expression was the involvement of Israel in the invasion of Egypt a decade ago. A prime source of friction has been the unyielding refusal of ' tinian Arabs, abandonment © Canadian troops patrol the Gazza Strip. the Israeli government to recog- nize the legitimate rights of the Palestine Arabs, above all the right of the more than a million Arab refugees to return to their homeland or receive compensa- tion. The refusal even to recog- nize the problem, coupled with the treatment of the Arab minor- ity in Israel, has greatly exacer- bated relations with the Arab countries. In their totality, the policies of the Israeli government have been such as to inflame Arab — hostility and play into the hands — of those Arab leaders who false- ly label Israel as “an artificial creation of imperialism” and call for its liquidation. : Nor have the rulers of Israel endeared themselves to the peoples of Africa; where theif role has been that of an ally of neocolonialism. ae Especially outrageous haS been the establishment of clos€é ties with the Nazi-infested, re- vanchist Bonn regime. The agree- ment negotiated with Western Germany for the payment of re- parations has become the fore- runner of an unholy relationship involving such deals as the tw0- } way sale of arms arranged by © Ben Gurion and: Adenauer some years ago. ——— The alignment with imperial- ism has been accompanied by hostility to the Soviet Union and the rest of the socialist world. Anti-Communism and anti Sovietism are rampant, and hatf- assment of Communists and pro- gressives is common. The reactionary policies of the ae Israeli government eventually led to a crisis which forced the resignation of Ben Gurion a5 prime minister in 1963 and his replacement by Eshkol. Recently the Eshkol - govern- ment has proclaimed a desire for improved relations with the sO” cialist countries and Foreig®? — Minister Abba Eban completed — a visit to Poland, assertedly fof that purpose. At the same time, however, it? continued to pursue the same basic policy as the Ben Gurion regime. — Israeli Communists have call- ed for a policy based on recog nition of the rights of the Pales- reliance on imperialism a? adoption of a position of neul- rality as the only policy whi¢ can open the way to peaceful relations with the Arab states ; and insure the future of Isra@— and the Israeli people. To be sure, the masses of IS- raeli working people are not yet ready to demand such a funda- mental change as is require@- — Nevertheless, there is growin opposition not only to Ben GU rion, but to his policies as well. Opposition to the war in Viet- nam is widespread and increas ingly finds organized expressi0?- There is a substantial movement — for making the Middle East 4 — nuclear-free zone. i Especially powerful is the OP” — position to ties with the Bon® — government. ‘Clearly the Israeli people al® in motion and though there— is far to go, that motion is towa!' an Israel of peace, equality 4° ‘social progress.