Pausing to Celebrate

To celebrate its 20th year as a nation --and its victory over the Arabs almost a year ago--Israel this week plans to hold its biggest military pageant. Almost half a million Jews from all parts of the country will descend upon Jerusalem, arriving in some 25,000 cars and 1,000 buses--a quarter of all such vehicles registered in Israel. Lining the streets or packed into bleachers, they will watch 4,000 uniformed Israelis wend their way through both the old and the new city. Jets will fly overhead, Centurion tanks will rumble past the ancient walls and 66 pieces of captured Arab armor will be displayed. Inaugurating its nationwide TV system, the Israelis will beam the spectacle to Cairo, Amman and other Arab capitals --just in case anyone is watching.

Some have denounced the anniversary events, fearing that they will create added tension. For Israel to go through with the parade, said U.N. Secretary-General U Thant, "could well have an adverse effect" on peace efforts in the Middle East. But the government of Premier Levi Eshkol sees the parade as a means of keeping alive the patriotic fervor of last summer. Most of the people approach the anniversary in a mood of elation and with a new sense of security born of their enlarged borders. But they also seem to suffer anxiety over the fact that nothing has really been settled, that diplomacy seems unable to provide any permanent solutions.

Tough Warning. The peace in the Middle East remains, fragile, and Israel's enemies have, if anything, grown more vengeful. At Cairo University last week, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser told a cheering audience that his country must "mobilize for the decisive battle against Israel." For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, in one of his toughest statements, warned that his army would invade Jordan if terrorists continue to use it as a base from which to raid Israel. Said Dayan: "The Jordan Valley could turn into a battlefield in which there will be no room for civilian life, for families, children, cattle or agriculture."

Eshkol's cabinet, meantime, is divided over how much of the occupied territory it will be willing to bargain over in any negotiations, some wanting to return none at all and others willing to give part; nobody wants to give it all back. The results of a poll by Israel's Dachaf agency last week show that an overwhelming 87% approve the government's policy of refusing to give back any territory until the Arabs agree to direct talks with Israel. Surprisingly, 78% are willing to give back one or more pieces once negotiations begin.

While only 21% want to keep the sandy wastes of Sinai, 95% favor retaining Jerusalem, 88% the Golan Heights, 61% the port city of Sharm el Sheikh and 47% the West Bank of the Jordan.

Sense of Self-Pity. In many ways, the months since the war have been kind to Israel. The young generation of sabras, whose patriotic dedication had previously been untested, now seem driven by a new sense of duty as a result of their military triumphs. Money from Jews in other countries, which had slowed down to a trickle, is flowing in again freely. Postwar Government spending has primed the economy, hoisted the country out of a recession and cut the alarmingly high unemployment (12%) to a mere 3%.

The war's legacy also involves the onerous duty of governing 1,300,000 more Arabs who inhabit conquered territories that are together three times the size of Israel itself. The burden of the occupation has compounded older problems. Many younger politicians are losing patience with the pioneer generation of leaders typified by Eshkol. Men like Dayan's aide, Knesset Member Simon Peres, describe them as "a self-perpetuating oligarchy with a powerful sense of self-pity." Despite its recovery, the economy has serious weaknesses, among them its dependence upon the generosity of Jews abroad and its large trade deficit. Defense expenditures have risen from $10 million in 1950 to $750 million this year, including a new appropriation of $150 million that was announced last week. Part of the latest outlays will be financed by "voluntary" annual deductions of half a month's salary from Israeli paychecks.

Many of the country's leaders are also troubled about a decline in immigration. Though several hundred people of the thousands who came to help during the war decided to live in Israel, the country is now losing many trained citizens who are emigrating to the West. Most of the Jews coming into Israel these days are from Arab lands and are not easily assimilated among educated Jews from Europe, who are concerned that the country may take on a Levantine rather than a Western character. Labor Minister Yigal Allon believes, however, that Israel can still offer Jews the "purposeful life" of a pioneer at a time when more affluent Western societies seem to "lack a social motive." Despite the uncertainty of their future, the Israelis themselves still find advantage in that life and intend to show the world this week that they have the spirit and the military strength to keep it.

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