The two leading Soviet newspapers charged Israel yesterday with imposing collective punishment on Arabs in the occupied territories and called it a “Nazi-like outrage.” Pravda, the Communist Party organ, and Izvestia. the Government newspaper, referred to a statement by Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Dayan that Arabs would be held responsible for terrorist activities in their neighborhoods if they failed to cooperate with the authorities.
An article in Pravda signed by Igor Belyayev said “the present rulers of Israel have decided to follow the course of the Hitlerites. How does the new Dayan doctrine differ from what the Fascists perpetrated in occupied territory? The Hitlerites shot hostages and burned their houses simply because they might have sympathized with Partisans. Dayan is doing practically the same thing. His doctrine, which he is not ashamed to advertise, is an undisguised doctrine of violence.” An unsigned article in Izvestia said, “the Israeli militarists continue to commit outrages on illegally occupied Arab territory.” It protested the “mass arrests of peaceful (Arab) inhabitants.”
Both newspapers however called for a non-military solution of the Mideast conflict and a durable peace based on the United Nations Security Council’s resolution of Nov. 22, 1967. Neither referred to the recent speech by Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who said that violence and bloodshed were the only solution.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
