SCHISM IN THE HOLY LAND

...Moreover, they hinted that important disclosures were to follow, according to which it would be proved that Mikunis and res "Palestinian" followers had established contact with the Stern gang and knew in advance that Count Bernadotte would be assassinated...

...Mikunis tried to address the meeting he was interrupted at his very first sentence by dozens of "Hebrew" members (in uniform, shouting "traitor to your people," "renegade" and several less printable designations...

...Half a year a^'o the (Jewish) Palestine Communist Party and, the Arab Communists joined forces and a few weeks later a merger with the Hebrew Communists occurred...

...of four Communist delegates in the Constituent assembly, however, only one was Arab...

...THE SAME AFTERNOON, Friday, February 11th, Mikunis was received by Prime Minister Hen Gurion...

...3 Preminger <a former "Hebrew" member), and No...

...In an interview with a "Palestine Post" repei let, Mr...

...Mikunis started singing the "International," the "Hebrews" countered with Hatikvah, the Jewish national anthem...

...If one (hose to believe them, there was no split whatsoever in their ranks, just a technical hitch, which had already been corrected...

...must have known it even before the J united...

...With regard to questions of ideology they maintained that "you cannot be a good Communist unless you are first of all loyal and faithful to your own nation...

...Communist relations with Mapam, the leftwing United Workers Party (who polled 34 percent in the Histadrut elections) are also steadily deteriorating...

...Three days later, however, an armed holdup took place at the "Agudut Israel" Workers' loan fund in Tel Aviv, in this course of which about 800 dollars were stolen...

...editor of the partydaily "Kol Ha'am" (a former Palestinian...

...With Mapam joining the new government, chances are that relations between them and the Mikunis Communists will grow still worse...

...to secure positions m the Assembly and in the Histadrut conference in oider to acquire political representation The "Hebrews" were a nationalist faction and had favored Communist participation in the Zionist Congress and a Zionist program generally speaking, (statehood, immigration, etc...

...Communists all over the world were patriots, but the Mikunis faction had been against the Jewish state and against free immigration up to the moment Gromyko came out in the United Nations in favor of the Jewish state...

...Next morning, on the eve of the elections to the Histadrut, a mass meeting was to take place in the Mugrabi hall, Tel Aviv's largest movie-house And there something happened to the Communists, which had not occurred to them for several years: The meeting was broken up, not by "fascist hooligans" or other 'antidemocratic" forces, but by other Communists...

...4 Meir Wilner...

...their percentage in Ihe Trade Unions was even smaller (2.7) than their percentage in the General Elections (3.2...

...Preminger represents only himself,'' shouted Mikunis, urging that his former comrade be expelled from the Assembly and replaced by the next candidate on the Communist list...

...At the first session of the constituent assembly in Jerusalem a steering committee was formed, which was to include one member of each party...

...They also denied any connection with the Tel Av:v robbery...

...Their name showed — according to Mikunis—that they were not real Communists, because Communist parties all over the world were territorial not racial...

...Hebrew Communist Party and should therefore b< given a seat on the committee...

...Heading their list was Mikunis, the General Secretary of the party (a former "Palestinian...

...Then Mikunis and his followers switched overnight...

...More than 40 percent of Communist voters In the recent elections were Arabs...

...They had intended t/> put up a joint list with these newly-named "Fighters" for the Constituent Assembly according to Mikunis - but postponed this step for tactical reasons...

...These is little to say at the present time about the future of the "Hebrews," except perhaps that their secession seems permanent...

...COMMUNISTS in Israel won't forget February, 1949, and not only because of theheavy snow...

...Hut the honeymoon didn't last long Tho first spat came last November, when the Communis...

...The "Hebrews" however who wield considerable and perhaps deciding influence among the younger Communists proved to be a "bone in the throat," and there was apparently some danger that they would take over the entire party organization...

...He later changed his testimony, attempting to shift responsibility, from the party, but this was of course too late, at least for the party...

...2 was to be Tawflk Toubi...

...Mikunis, head of the "Palestinians" and general secretary of the party, charged in an interview with newspapermen that the leaders of the "Hebrews" had plotted the armed robbery and conspired with the Sternists...

...For more than a year they had concentrated all their efforts' towards establishing Communist unity in Israel...

...had to name candidates for the elections to the Constituent Assembly...

...The meeting was dissolved...

...They denied emphatically having been in touch with the Sternists...

...of the local Labor council two dilleri nl Communist lists had been submitted, one headed by a 'Palestinian" and the other by a "Hebrew" Communist...

...14/11...

...They now demand adequate representation, which is more than Mikunis wants to give t hem...

...The ''anti-democratic" Hebrew press published the denial without adding a single word...

...IN FEBRUARY, the Communist Party split asunder, with a big bang...

...The "Hebrews" were gangsters not politicians, and he, Mikunis, could not sit down on the same table with them...

...Hut this did not cause any surprise, .¦tnd the leaders of the rival faction...

...It all started when some Jerusalem journalists reported early in February, that in the election...

...Their representation in the central councils of the party was even smaller...

...The Communist Party executive was swift to deny the whole matter...

...Weteman as President of Israel while the Communists voted against him...

...The "Hebrews" revealed that in April this year a country-wide party conference was scheduled to take place and "Mikunis' faction was apparently afraid of any discussion of the national question...

...The leaders of the party were at loggerheads, and only after having been ordered to Bucharest, and pressured by the Secretariat of the Cominform there, was an order of succession agreed upon...

...THE NEXT MORNING a short notice appeared in "Kol Ha'am," Communist daily: The Israeli Communist Party had purged nine of the 2!) members of its Central Committee (consisting of 10 "Palestinians," !) "Hebrews" and (i Arab Communists), The nine men had allegedly plotted with the Stern gang to form an anti-labor and reactionary political party called "Abdul Vema'as" (Unity and Action), trying to undermine the Communist Party...

...Pressed as to whether they considered the Stern group a fascist movement, they said, they had been fascist in the past, but did not come forward with any definite political program in the recent elections...

...It is generally assumed here that the "Hebrew Communists" have been in touch with Stern gang members for some time, and most probably, the "Palestinians" have been, too (The leaders of the "Fighters" by the way denied contact with either f act ion...

...The affair seemed to be closed...

...Next day the military police arrested Bezalel Narkis, 23, a lieutenant in the Israeli army...

...a lie, falsehood, calumny, spread by the enemies of true democracy...

...THERE WAS MORE TROUBLE brewing...

...it wa...

...The next day both factions nevertheless asked their followers to go to the polls in the Histadrut elections and to vote the Israeli Communist ticket, as there was no time left to forward two separate tickets...

...Mapam delegates in the Constituent assembly voted for Prof...

...Mikunis said the "Hebrews" had first sought to work through the CP...

...Ulaboker...

...THE NEXT EVENING Israel witnessed the next act in the spectacle called "Communist unity...

...More likely, Mikunis and hi: friends intended to "swallow" th« "Hebrews," i.e., to merge with them, and after a time to expel their leaders while retaining the rank and file members...

...In a word, it was idyllic...

...solemn declarations were published about the historic importance of this event...

...The difference between us is that we made mistakes and venture to correct them, while Mikunis refuses to admit that he erred...

...Results of these elections were extremely disappointing for the Communists...

...Communists can hardly claim now that they are a workers party in Israeli...

...Hut the mandate commission reached a contrary decision and Preminger remained a member of the Assembly...

...For the first time since 1941 the Communists were united...

...What were the real reasons for the split in the party, the heaviest crisis since 1943, when the Comintern was dissolved...

...The Arab Communists began announcing their claims...

...Now that the "Hebrew Communists" have left the party, the Arabs probably constitute a majority...

...Over the heads of the rival factions the cinema's advertisement for next week's performances announced "Andre Gide's Pastoral Symphony...

...their few members might be anything but they are definitely not workers, or peasants...

...the leader of the Arab Communists in Israel...

...Narkis, a well-known member of the Communist Party (a former "Hebrew Communist"), admitted, that he had committed the robbery on behalf of the party which was in financial straits...

...t • * MEANWHILE THE NINE "Hebrew" executive members rallied against Mikunis's charges...

...Premingcr, tho leader of the "Hebrew" (number three on the combined Communist ticket) jumped to his feet and declared, hi now represented tlu...

...When Mr...