Stormy Arguments Mark Convention of Israeli Authors; Govt. Scored

Angry words, stormy arguments, and wide disagreements marked the opening session today of the 20th annual convention of the Israel Authors Association. There were disputes between the modern writers and the younger generation, criticisms against the Government for not doing enough for Israeli writers, and a disagreement regarding the principal goal of Israel’s writers today, with Minister of Education Abba Eban lined up in opposition to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

Mr. Ben-Gurion had written a letter to the association, read at the opening session, saying that authors should pay more attention to the vast immigration into Israel, which the Premier saw as the “central epic of our generation.” As one of the principal speakers at the opening session, greeting the writers officially on behalf of the Government, Mr. Eban took issue with his Prime Minister on that point. “Creation is the author’s only mission,” said Mr. Eban. “If he writes on immigration or the integration of the immigrant in our society, so much the better. But writing, is, in itself, important.”

Two famous Israeli authors, Haim Hazaz and Yehuda Burla, took out at both the Israeli public and its Government. Mr. Burla chided Israelis for not reading enough books. “We are known as the People of the Book,” he noted, “yet unlike the Jews outside Israel, who patronize many books, the people of Israel have turned to the material life, do not possess books.” Mr. Hazaz complained that the Government does not extend enough help to authors and poets, alleging that this fact is another illustration of Israel’s turn toward the material as against the spiritual.

Writers of the older generation attacked the young, modern authors for their “modernistic” approach and method, while the younger men defended themselves and accused the earlier writers of failure to react to the life of today. The younger writers also demanded representation on the association’s executive.