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Chomsky and the League for Arab-Jewish Rapprochement

There were other attempts to encourage Arab-Jewish cooperation with which Chomsky had great sympathy. For example, he remembers that he "read all the stuff" and had "great sympathies" for the work of the League for Arab-Jewish Rapprochement. This organization, which had been founded in Israel and was headed by an Israeli orange-grove farmer named Chaim Kalvarisky, upheld beliefs in Jewish-Arab working-class cooperation and anti-imperialism; its members, like Avukah's, were not in favor of the creation of a Jewish state. In the April 1942 edition of Avukah Student Action, Margolith Shelubsky explained that the league, which was founded in 1938, "comprises Arab and Jewish individuals and groups who see the need for working for rapprochement between the two peoples. Its activities are chiefly in the economic and social fields." Cited in her article was a report, written by Moshe Smilansky, that discussed the role foreign influences played in promoting the "Arab terror" of 1936 ­ 39:

The terror was never an outbreak of basic hatred towards Jews but rather an expression of temporary anger, inspired by foreign forces. Evidence of this can be found in the fact that when the terror stopped Jews and Arabs met once again as good friends and good neighbours. Even after the long period of terror, which many feared was permanent and deep rooted, Arabs literally fell into the arms of their Jewish neighbours and asked for peace. Even during the terror, there was evidence that basic friendship and trust existed. Arabs made use of Jewish medical and social services. The hostile relations stemmed from foreign influences. Today we witness Arab-Jewish rapprochement taking place naturally, almost spontaneously in many areas.
Regrettably, the league's project was not as rosy as one would gather from this report. Chomsky himself notes that "in retrospect, I'm afraid that most of this was wish-fulfillment, including the whole Avukah-League for Arab Rapprochement story, but I did believe it at the time" (31 Mar. 1995).



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