Main LA Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 1, 2 January 1950, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The UN resolution to internationalize Jerusalem has: had the expected results. On the one hand there have been the powerless appeals of the UN Trusteeship Committee for everybody to help carry out the resolution. On the other hand there is the firm determination of both Israel and Jordan to flout the decision and hold on to their respective sections of Jerusalem. In this defiance they have the secret support of the U.S. and England.
Neither Jordan nor Israel have asked to be present at the deliberations of the Trusteeship Council. This constitutes a very “diplomatic” form of obstructionism. In addition, Israel has taken a public step toward open defiance. The process of transferring ministries to Jerusalem has been speeded up. The Knesseth (parliament) has been transferred there. The Israeli government did not annex Jerusalem and incorporate it into the state of Israel.
The unofficial proclamation of Israel as the capital was intended to give that appearance and satisfy some of the popular clamor. Actually all that was done was a transfer of offices to Jerusalem. The Foreign Office and other ministries in contact with foreigners remain in Tel-Aviv. The question of obtaining foreign recognition for this half-step was thus avoided.
Such faltering in the face of a situation that demanded either quiet intrigue or bold action has only angered the foreign proponents of internationalization and did not steal the thunder from the domestic fascists and rightists who demanded that Jerusalem be proclaimed as the capital of Israel. The only one it seems to have pleased is the U.S. State Department, which warned against hasty action but did not object to some indication of opposition.
A third and possibly most important development has been the speeding up of peace talks between Jordan and Israel. It is now definitely established that such negotiations have taken place and are progressing. What precise stage these negotiations have reached is unknown. One report says that air issues have been settled except the question of a corridor to the sea. Abdullah wants a port and a corridor under Jordanian sovereignty. Israel is willing to give a “free port area” and a railroad owned by Jordan; but not sovereignty. An additional demand, raised by Israel for bargaining purposes, is the expulsion of British troops from Jordan.
Abdullah is now on a trip to his nephew, the regent of Iraq. One explanation is that Abdullah is ready to sign a peace treaty, but does not want to do so without the support of at least one other Arab state. Iraq is his only hope. Iraq is ruled by a member of the same Hashemite dynasty as his. Iraq is currently working for unity with Syria. Egypt, Abdullah’s rival, has issued a statement warning against threatening the independence of another Arab state, whether by aggression or by pressure. This statement applies to both Iraq’s ambition in Syria and to the truncated independent Arab state in Western Palestine envisioned by the original partition resolution. Egypt still has a “provisional government” headed by the Mufti “functioning” in its territory. Abdullah hopes that he can win Iraq from lukewarm acquiescence over to active support of his ambitions and his peace proposal for Palestine and thus frustrate his and Iraq’s common enemy, Egypt.
The position of Russia in favor of internationalization of Jerusalem has brought some internal difficulties to the Stalinist parties, and the growing “threat” of peace between Israel and Jordan has alarmed the Stalinists. There are rumors that Russia is preparing a new shift on the question of Jerusalem. The Stalinists have zigzagged on the question of Palestine more than on any other. A new change will not shock anyone.
The general secretary of the Israeli Communist Party, Mikunis, has made no public appearance since Russia came out for detaching Jerusalem from Israel, and despite his known state of good health, gave his deputy in parliament the job of defending the Russian position. It is reported that a special Cominform commission has arrived in Israel to investigate.
The only REAL indication of a shift has been Russian abstention on the trusteeship resolution calling for compliance with the UN decision. The contrary indication of the Israeli CP publishing a declaration this week confessing its errors and proclaiming in effect that they should have known how Russia would vote, is no indication whatsoever. The Russian Stalinists have only the deepest contempt for their stooges and agents in every country. The latter read about the change in Russian line in newspapers of other political tendencies and follow orders.
The planned shift in the Russian position may explain the fact that the American Labor Party of New York came out against the internationalization of Jerusalem. Being in New York and close to the Russian UN delegation, they MAY have gotten wind of the new position early. On the other hand, there is a slim possibility that this is the first and only victory of the fellow travelers (T.O. Thackerey and Eugene Connolly) over the Stalinists in the ALP.
In Israel, peace between that country and Jordan will be opposed on the one hand by the Heruth Party (former Irgun), the Stern group and other irredentists who want all of Palestine and who gamble with a new war. On the other hand it will be opposed by the CP and the Mapam since it does not fit in with Russian foreign policy.
The fact that a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan will inexorably lead to a complete breakdown of opposition to peace treaties by all Arab states, and since it will lead to general formal peace in the Near East is therefore in the interests of Israel and especially the Israeli working class, means nothing to these people. One group is ready to sacrifice national interest for “expansion purposes”; the other is ready (with some ambivalence in the case of the Mapam) to sacrifice Israeli’s interests for the Stalinist foreign policy.
Main LA Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
Last updated on 25 February 2023