De Beauvoir Scorns Unesco’s Actions Against Israel, but is Frankly Critical of Some of Israel’s Soci

Simone de Beauvoir, the famed French author, philosopher and feminist, continued her ardent defense of Israel here last night against what she described as its scandalous treatment by UNESCO and attempts by its Arab and other foes to isolate and ostracize it from the world community.

But Ms. de Beauvoir also frankly criticized the contradictions and inequities she found in Israeli society–between the sexes, between the Jews and Arabs and between Oriental and Occidental Jews. At the same time, she urged leftists and socialists not to lose faith in Israel and not to romanticize a Palestinian state that does not yet exist.

Ms. de Beauvoir, who just returned from Israel where she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize, was feted at a gathering held in her honor by a group of French writers, intellectuals and academicians. The event was organized by the Mapam-oriented Cercle Bernard Lazare and was presided over by another Jerusalem Prize winner, French-Jewish author Andre Schwarz-Bart. Participants, who paid tribute to Ms, de Beauvoir for her efforts to promote the cause of women and the cause of Israel without politicizing them included Prof. Elizabeth de Fontenay; Robert Misrahi, professor of philosophy at Paris University, and Arie Yaari, European representative of Mapam.

SAW ‘FALSITY OF UNESCO ATTACKS’

The French author spoke calmly but her words were sharp-edged when she said she was scandalized by the attacks on Israel by UNESCO, ostensibly for its archaeological work in Jerusalem and reconstruction in that city. “I saw with my own eyes the falsity of the UNESCO attacks,” she said. “Far from destroying Arab culture, Israel’s efforts are very beneficial to this culture, Israel has confined itself to cleaning and repairing.”

She said she was dismayed by the obvious propaganda tactics employed against Israel, citing photographs recently published in a German magazine which showed new high-rise buildings imposing their modern facades on ancient Jerusalem. “This is a gimmick. Those buildings are far away–at least two or three kilometers away, and they are very necessary,” she said.

SOCIAL INEQUITIES CITED

Ms, de Beauvoir said the isolation of Israel was having dangerous effects on Israeli society. “People become so involved with their isolation…all that counts is survival…they no longer think about other problems,” she said.

Among the other problems Ms, de Beauvoir said she found in Israel were social inequities. “There is absolutely no equality between men and women…granted you had a woman Prime Minister and women are soldiers. But how many women are there in government today?” she asked. “There is also inequality between Arab Israelis and other Israelis….From the very fact that Arab Israelis do not carry arms (a reference to the fact that they are not permitted to serve in the armed forces) they become second-class citizens,” she said.

“There is an inequality between Oriental Jews and Occidental Jews….When I visited different parts of the city, the differences between their homes is obvious…and still I did not visit the worst sections,” she said.

SOCIALISTS ASKED TO SUPPORT ISRAEL

But Ms. de Beauvoir ended her remarks with an appeal to socialists all over the world to support Israel. She explained that many left-wing parties do not understand that Israel can be socialist and religious at the same time, “Others have lost faith in Israel because they see that she has become a state like all others, and is no longer the idealist image she was at her creation,” she said, adding:

“The young, the romantics, support Palestine because it is not yet a country….They imagine it will be pure, different from all other states….If Israel has become a state like all other states. Palestine will become a state like the others too.” She observed that if the world’s political left supported Israel’s left, it could push that country along the paths that would lead to a peaceful existence for Israel.