New Pittsburgh Courier from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 7

'i I. I Hi i i 1 4 i f. 1 I. i I '1 I 4 i i ''1 3 I a SATURDAY, JAN. 8, 1955 B3JJLRGQESSE ii BekIQKdlCdionFiilXJ.t&ibiCoiBtH.l itwT at i on ty lew My.V I Entrenched Why All Amzr leant Mutt Do Scrhutly Concerned About tho Explottvo Relationships pefvcen Jovvs and Arabs Vh Poaco in tho Middh Eait Is Nocossary for tho Wcfaro of Arab and Jow as Wo1lras tho Protoction 'ots tho Froo World Why Every American Should Help His Government Formulat Policies Which May Contribvto to tho Solution of tho Middh Eatt Problems and Promote Protpect of Peace.

What Is an Arab? What Is a Jew? Questions raised in this article are not intended to be scientific. Nor are the answers. Americans, citizens of a democracy, are challenged to th ought and action by the problem, or the problems, of the Middle East. That is because, first, the interests of the United States and of the free world can be seriously affected by what might happen in the Middle East, and, second, because the interests of of the Middle East require, and are worthy of, the most serious constructive consideration of the United States and of the free world. 1 1 This writer's travels in many sections of the world have forced him to some unhappy conclusions (1) Americans as a whole do not know other peoples, particularly those who live beyond the perimeter of the so called Atlantic community; (2) Americans are liable to base their concepts of such other peoples on the motion pictures from Hollywood (3) In respect to Asiatic and African peoples, Americans are most apt to assume that a state of barbarism and primitivism exists; (4) that Americans tend to judge these peoples by their worst rather than by their best, and (5) that Americans who do not know these peoples think of them as Inferior peoples whom time has passed by.

For the foregoing reasons, and many others, the writer is going to try tovgive Courier readers an introduction to Arabs, as they are, and to in Israel, as they are. What they ARE, of course, is the long drawn out product of what they have been. Let us take a look at the Arabs first A FREQUENT Joke of this writer as he entered Arab homes, during the course of his visits in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, would be to exclaim: "What a fine tent you have The sophisticated Arab usually caught the point and smiled. He knew that the extent of my Arab fare had; ejome to me in the form of sheikhs, Bedouins and tents, and shepherds and their flocks. He knew that I was not prepared to find Arabs in Beirut; Damascus or Ammon.

living in apartment dwellings quite as fine 1 as any to be found in the United States, and just as elaborately fur nished. Nor was I prepared to find Arabs just as well, better, educated than members of our study group, Just as urbane, just as thoughtful. Just as shrewd, and much more knowledgeable. For example, no member of our study croup spoke Arabic, but almost every Arab we met spoke English. If he didn't speak English, he spoke French or Oerman or Italian.

The Arab comparable to members cf oar group speaks three and four languages asA minimum. Further, we had to seek Information abou political trends and set ups In these Arab countries. The Arabs were quite as well Informed about the two major parties In the United States, and what they stand for, as The reason may be the United States Is the most Important country In the, world at this time, but that does not tell the entire story The Arabs were obviously wen Informed about political 'currents all over the Let's dig into what these Arabs are. This will take us a long way back. I start off by refusing to believe that the people who accept the ap pellation, Arab, are what they tay they are.

They are a congeries, or mix up of peoples who, In modern times, as of toiy, have found it politically expedient to dub them selves TUS ADAS of today would have you believe that he has owned the entire Middle East anites were and reply: "They were Arabs." Ask him who the Philistines were. You will receive the same answer. But unless everybody else is wrong, Arabs who make this claim cant be right rm going to ask you to Join me In a quick peek at history. The Arabs claim that ethnical ly and historically the Middle East belongs to them. What are the principal countries or states In this large area? are: Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi, Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Israel which Is a part of what was Palestine.

Are the Lebanese Arabs though they say they are and speak Arabic? If the Lebanese are Arabs, the English are Normans. The Lebanese are the original Phoenicians. Three thousand years ago, their ships were plying the Eastern and Western Mediterranean as far west as Spain and they were establishing colonies in what is now. Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. TYRE AND SIDOX, which still exist, were the great dry states of Phoenicia and Hiram, King of Tyre, was the fabulous ruler who sent lumber and craftsmen, a thou sand years before Christ, to help Solomon build his temple and palace.

The Phoenicians were, and are, almost the northernmost of this so called Arab group. Then there are the Syrians. As far back as anybody can go, there has always been a Syria and ctvfSzations based upon the genius of the Syrians. Damascus, capital of Syria, Is said to be the oldest living dry la the world. It Is mentioned in the fourteenth chapter of Generis.

Cut It seems to have been an old dty then at the crossroads of an area' which was influenced, over the early, forgo ttenv centuries, by successive waves of Syrlao dvlHxatkMV language and The Arabs were nowhere around when all this was taking place, long before and long, after the advent of Abraham. But further back still go the Iraquls who are now yclept Arabs. Iraq, which is situated principally between the Eu phrates river on the West and the Tigris river on the East; has also been the site of many civilizations and the home of many nations. Among the early dvilizations in Iraq of which we have only the most fragmentary knowledge were the Sumerian and the Akka No. 1 ThD Study Tour fa fte lsmpla since the year dian.

The 'Sumerian cMliza aix XCt hint who the Cant tlon and nation existed at wr a mm mm JtCWQ least 4,000 years before Christ. WE BEGIN to get our first speaking acquaintance with Iraq much later, about 2,000 years before Christ when it was the site of the great Babylonian kingdom which had its up and downs over a 2,000 year period. There was also the old dty state of Nineveh in Iraq. In the south of Iraq during these early times, Chaldea existed. Much later, the various dty states and nations in present day Iraq were to become Assyria and, as such, to cut a wide cultural and political swathe throughout the Middle East and to challenge the power that then belonged to Greece.

Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are all in the North of the Middle East. Suppose we now' move South. The greatest, of this southern group of nations was the Egypt, boasting; a cMIlzation that goes back at least 4,000 years be fore Christ, occupied the northeastern corner of Africa and except for the Slnal peninsula, was separated from Asia only by the Bed Sea. The early Egyptians were certainly not Arabs. They had their own language, their own system of counting, a distinct culture and distinct forms of worship.

The Egyptians were mixed up and are still mixed up, but they did not start off being Arabs, And their most Important admixtures of blood, Jn the early days, were not with Arabs. But today they speak Arabic and belong to the Arab League. There are three states which' desrve spedal treatment They might all be said to be a part of the Arabian peninsula. They are Jordan (now known as the Hashemi te Kingdom of Jordan), Saudi Arabia and Yemen. SAUDI ABASIA (Arabia) would seem to be the true home of the Arabs.

They have inhabited this, vast territory (over one million square miles) since the mind of man runneth not to the contrary. West of Saudi Arabia is the Red Sea. Across from Saudi Arabia west are Egypt, the Sudan and Ethiopia. In the southwest pocket of the Arabian' peninsula is Yemen. North of Saudi Arabia is Jordan.

On the northeast the boundaries of Saudi Arabia and Iraq run together. It Is quite logical, historically, to conclude that Saudi Arabia and Yemen (not to mention a few other spots in the Arabian peninsula) were the original habitat of the Arabs. One must also reason, since the Arabs were of two types, nomadic and sedentary, that they wandered or lmml grsied Into contiguous conn tries on the north and north east; that Is, Jordan and Iraq. It Is also known that there was much traffic, by way of the Bed Sea. between the coast settlements of Yemen and Arabia In Asia, and the African countries mentioned before.

Saba (or Sheba) Is believed to hare been one of the Independent fctoatfoms deTefr oped In Yemen which Is but a stone's throw, across the Bed Sea, from Ethiopia. The Arabs say that Palestine "belonged" to them historically. The earliest inhabitants of Palestine that we know anything about do not seem to have been immigrants, or conquerors, from the Arabian peninsula. It is rather well established that the Philistines, who occupied, the southern coastal plain of Palestine, were seafarers from Mediterranean islands, prind pally Crete. Who was in this section of Palestine before these Philistines no one seems to know except that the Hyk sos (shepherd kings) who conquered Egypt had to pass through Palestine.

They may have occupied parts of Syria, Jordan and Palestine. The Egyptians, of course, Jiad made many incursious Into Palestine and beyond in the second and third millenium B. THERE WERE also in Palestine, when we first come to know it, the Canaanltes and the Amorites. They occupied a more northerly section of the country and some of the mountain areas. When 'Abraham reached southern Palestine from Ur of the Chaldees in 2,000 he found Abim ilech of the Gerasltes ruling as King of Gerar and Jerusalem, a dty referred to in Egyptian letters of 4,000 B.

Sections of Palestine, and Palestine Itself, knew many rulers over the thousands of years before Christ, but none of them appears to hare had an Arabian master. They were Egyptians, Babylonians, Syrians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, There were undoubtedly Arabian visitors and travelers, but no Arabian rulers. Egypt, for many centuries, considered to be the center ff the world, and Palestine and Phoenlda furnished the highways, or connecting links, between Africa, Asia and Europe. THERE IS further room to doubt the Arabs' historical claim to Palestine. The Arabs speak a Semitic language.

But the Semitic language is divided into four groups: the East ern (traceable as far back as 3,000 B. CL, and lnduding Babylonian, Assyrian, etc), the Northern (traceable as far back as 2,000 B. and distinguished by Amorite and Aramaic, from which later ensued Palestinian Aramaic), the Western (traceable as far back as 1500 B. and dis tinguished by Canaanlte, Hebrew, Moabite and Phoenician) and the Southern (traceable as far. back as the third century B.

and among Which we find Sabaean and Minaean as precursors of Arabic, Ethloplc and Am In other wordsjithe many peoples of the Middle East spoke languages which seems to have come from a common source, but. In the course of bjstorjv this common Un fffis iftsiuonea in four Afferent wnn by peoptet In iUffcrmt ucilOTiM. The Arsbto lIC3it end ttti Cthtepto Usscaga frer lite ruisntM of the ccnuson root Anhs took ft commandlflg position in tho world with the coming of Mohtmmed, After he had established the Moslem religion, the Arab leaders, or Caliphs, began the creation of an Arab empire. In a few short years, from 634 A. D.

to 661 A. they practically overran the then known world under a succession of caliphs. One has; reason to believe that rnoit of their armies must have been mercenaries although the motive which propelled them was religious. AT ANY BATE, the Arabs captured Jerusalem In 636 and remained the nominal rulers of Palestine and the Holy City until 1099 when the city was taken by the Crusaders. After the death of Christ and prior to the coming of the Arabs, Palestine had been controlled by pagan Rome or Christian Rome, until the Persians destroyed the dty in the sixth century.

Christians (the Crusaders) ruled the city for a hundred years until they were defeated by Saladin, Sultanf of Egypt, in 1187 A. D. For the next zsmz CH2SS rJATIVC CU3A. CPUCATEO AT NEW 0RU2AMS UNlVSRSrry SKILLED UNOTVPlSTTAueHT LINOTYPING INSTITUTE AND LATE3 WRKBD AT THAT ON S5V0OAL PA1UE5 IN PARIS, FRANCE. RETURNING TO AMERICA AFTEft WORLD WAR IE, HE WORKED FOR AMERICAN DAIUES AND COURIER.

SECRETARV TRl and aypomvB OF THE NATIONALLY KNOWN INTERRACIAL. COSMOPOLITAN CHESS CLUB. DECORATED WitH ORDER CARLOS MANUEL CES3EDES BV CLOA; UVES IN LOS ,1 .1 1 If 3 tTHE a ulCAN 1 Tfe WORLDS RICHEST PAM0ND MIMES ARE IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 1955 THEV PRODUCED 2,171,000 METRIC CARATS. MOST OF THIS WAS DU6 OUT 8V NE6R0ES WHO WERE RAID 17 'CENTS flAtt THEy WORK DEEP UNDERGROUND, ARE VIRTUALLY SLAVES AND ARE SOMETIMES rELD TWO OR THREE VMS FOR RAYIN6 AND SEARCHING LEST THEY SWALLOW ANY STONES. NATIONALIST LEADER.

BRILLIANT HARVARD (SRADUATG, HE 83C4AT EM8ITTERSO WHEN fO WAS BE FUSED CLASS HONORS WHICH ENTITLED HIM TO HARVARD ABROAD GSCAUS5 Or LATER, HE WAS RCFUS2D AS AN OFFiCCR IN WAS DRAFTEsD AS A FRifaTE RETURNING TO PUERTO RICO HE LED AN INSURRECTION AGAINST THE IN WHICH MANY WDRC KILLED. (Enwa a torn. y2aaiQ. oJioivnraj four hundred years, until the sixteenth century, Palestine remained under nominal Egyptian or Arab control until It was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. It remained a part of the Ottoman Empire's Syrian province until World War As the Arab armies spread out in the seventh century, they spread the Arab language and the Arab religion, Mohammedanism.

The peoples to the west: Egypt; the Sudan, North Africa as far as Morocco and, finally, Spain, were made into Mohammedan, Arabic speaking countries. So were many islands of the Mediterranean, such as Sicily, Malta and the Pantellerlas. WHAT HAPPENED in Africa and Spain and the Mediterranean islands was dupli cated in the Middle East Most of the peoples who accepted the new religion succumbed to the new language as well. Thus Phoenicians, Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Palestinians, all became Arabs In language and religion, If not in ethnic origin. So today, we have the who lay claim to all the cultures and civilizations which these peoples have known.

There Is another kink. Egypt Is next door to Lybla and to the south are Nubia, the Sudan and Ethiopia From time Imrnfmorial, Egypt has been mixing with the tan and fair people of the Middle Cast and Asia and with (he brown and black people of Africa, Also, when the Arabs Mohanv medanlsed the Sudan, they Arabanlzed minions of brown and black Africans. To add to this, the blacks from the Sudan and Ethiopia had been mixing with the West Coast Arabs and those of Yemen through the centuries. Some of; the Arabs had become darker; some of the Sudanese had become lighter. If one Is to accept the Arab concept of an Arab, the Sudanese re Arabs.

Today, the principal tie between, all so called. Arabs, from Morocco to Pakistan, is religion. But Pakistani Mos ferns. By language, by culture, by history, the Arabs are not one people. They are a tight religious and loose political entity, made up of various peoples who developed great civili zations long before there was a western Christian civilization." i 1 THESE MANY peoples who make up the Arab world are peoples of genius.

Their past HIS NCGRO vVilf s'liU 'Sulfite Batcliff Kivera Series Praised To the Editor: Hats off to news editor Robert M. Ratcliife and correspondent photographer A. M. Rivera Jr. for their splendid series of articles on school i desegregation in the South.

We are now finding that white publishers are becoming more interesfed. In The Courier. As read this afternoon's Jackson Miss.) Daily News, which is our Igadlng white daily, I find a photo and article concerning the write up the Courier carried about Mississippi, being the "hellhole of the nation," which is true. If Ratcllff and Rivera never write facts again, I agree with them 100 per cent that they wrote it at that time. proves that Primitive Yemen lies, transported to Israel and put to work In factories, have surpassed American production standard, Many had never seen a machine before, What these Yemenite Jews have done, the Arabs can do to say the least, Arabs and Jews are cousins.

Any Arab, given the chance, will come bursting Into the twentieth century. The Arabs have the potential of making contributions to modern civilization Just as the people who now call themselves Arabs created many ancient civilizations. This is what we must understand, we Americans, as we tackle the problem of the Middle East. We mustrealize that the Arab peoples, classes and. masses, can become as first rate as ourselves, if we help them to eliminate handicaps which burden them at present.

We can win their respect and friendship by letting them know that we recognize their potential. Once we have done that we can get together on the problem of the Middle East What Is a Jew? For that well have to wait until next week. (To be continued.) 11 I i J'i ANCCSTOV. STILL WOSLD WAR I AND The kind of article they, wrote on the State of Mississippi will not only induce more Negroes to read, but will start more white people looking (for The Courier We are grateful to RatcUff and Rivera for the fine Job they have done and for the Job they are still doing. A Courier Reader Jackson, Miss.

Rivera! and Batcliffe Landed by Editor To the Editor: The series of articles done by Robert Ratcllff and A. M. Rivera Jr. on school desegregation in the South Is putting new life Into The Courier. Lewis O.

Swingler Publisher editor, The Trl State Defender Memphis, Tenn, Thiinka tor Letters To Ms Blcli Mother To th Editor My recent appeal for get well cards for my mother, which was published In' The Courier; met with a very gratl fying response. The amount of mail which was addressed: MrS. Rose Starwas, 5406 Hor ton Street, Flint 5, Mich brought tears of happiness and joy to my sick mother; Many of you went beyond the line of generosity and thought fulness by not only sending her get well cards, but Included little things like hankies, booklets, etc things you knew would cheer an ailing person.) You are responsible for the new twinkle in my mom's eyes, you made her forget for a time that she is ill, you made "Mail Call" at our house mean something special to my You have my heartfelt thanks and oceans of gratitude. Cod's choicest blessings oni everyone of you. A special thanks to the editor for printing my letter! From a loving son who will always be grateful to all the readers.

I Bud Starwas 5406 Horton Street Flint 5, Mich. By BENJAMIN E. MAYS FAIRLY often now get. letters from people who assume that am a member of the white race. Recently two letters have come to me defending segregation on the jrround that lta abolition would lead to intermarriage.

I shall ouote one of them. letter came from Fort Worth, Tex, unsigned. "WouM vnii like to have Vf your cnuaren married to a colored person? Would you be proud of the result Dr. Mays ant grandchildren? That's probably whafs going to happen If people don't wake up. "It appears to certain inis guided white people that the ideal arrangement is to mix the races, to have whites and blacks occupy every other dwelling.

Segregation has already been banned in schools. Next it will be barred in buses and trains. a law banning segregation In districts or In any other manner will be slipped over, "Association breeds familiarity, which means intermarriage. Already a doctor has stated that the two races can be fused by 1980. Is that their aim? If you have ever painted, you know the result of that fusing.

Black can cover white hi one coat, but White can't cover black. Should we become a race of mongrels? "Write the President, or the Supreme Court, or both, that you want segregation left up to the state. And write your Congressman to Introduce a bill. to put segregation to the vote of the people. Then write a copy of this letter to as many people as you possibly can.

Segregation doesn't mean one race Is Inferior to another. It means to keep our white stock white and our black stock black. A chicken fancier keeps his black minor cas and white leghorns segre gated. Aren't people as im portant as chickens? "Write a letlter to someone every day for ten days or J.more. The Creator was the originator of He put the reds In America, the blacks in Africa, the whites in Europe, the yellows in Asia, etc" L.

A letter of this kind should be Ignored but for the fact that there are so many people' who argue this way. Such people act on their emotion and no amount of logic will change them. Prejudiced peo pie are seldom changed by argument or logic! It Is for this reason that in some situations death is a vwonderfuI thing for all ioo often some people stand in the way of progress. When they die, the world moves forward. It Is too bad that one would accuse God of being the author of If God put the Indiana In America, the Whites in Europe, the blacks In Africa and the yellow people in Asia God must have abandoned his Job after creation.

According to this man the whites and Negroes should get out of America, the white man should leave both Africa and AHa and the Indians should once again own America, believe that often people who cry out the loudest against intermarriage are 'the people who have violated the moral law by having illicit contacts across racial lines. What about you, brother? A Rose and a Heart Sweetheart, Fm sending you a rose I hope you wm enjoy it; Now put it often to your nose And please do; not destroy it It Is a token from a friend Who ever shall adore you In face who shall unto the end Lay bare a heart before you. W. HENRY HUFF Chicago, I1L Gay Northeiisterners Thank the Courier To Editor: The Pittsburgh Chapter of the the Gay Northeasterners wishes to thank you most sin cerely for; your wonderful cooperation during the past summer. Helen M.

Prattis; Corresponding Secretary Pittsburgh, Pa. I verse ,4 ii.