1968_4_arabisraelwar

COMMUNIST BLOC / 195
emphasis. A more recent book of his, Jak chutnd moc ("The Taste of
Power"), of which only excerpts were permitted to appear in Czechoslovakia,
was published in German translation by Fritz Molden in Vienna and in English
translation by Frederick A. Praeger in New York.
Mnacko's letter of protest appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
on August 11, 1967. An English translation in the October issue of the New
York monthly Atlas read in part:
I find it impossible to support a policy which could have led to the eradication
of a whole people, and to the liquidation of an entire state. The Czechoslovak
government promised unconditional support to the Arab states and their leaders,
despite the fact that these same leaders have openly proclaimed their intention
to destroy the two and a half million people of Israel. ... I don't know whether
it has been reported abroad that the Egyptian Ambassador in Prague had the
audacity to call a press conference reproaching Czech newsmen for writing
objectively about the crisis and supporting Israel. He added that this attitude
was quite understandable in view of the fact that the Czech press is infested by
Jews. I regard this statement as a personal insult. Yet this shocking incident was
greeted by total silence in Prague. Neither the government nor a single reporter
expressed indignation. I am here to express mine. Since we have no diplomatic
relations with Israel, my trip there is naturally a protest. I am fully aware
of the consequences of this act, and I am prepared to face them. But I will return
to Czechoslovakia as soon as diplomatic relations with Israel are restored.
. . .
The government's cancellation in August of preparations for the celebration
of the 1 ,OOOth year of Jewish life in Prague, its withdrawal of a postage
stamp issued for the occasion, and interference for a time with research
activities in the Jewish field, were viewed as an aspect of Czech compliance
with Soviet policy, before and after the Arab-Israeli war (p. 511).
Rumania
In line with its increasingly independent policy line within Soviet bloc politics,
Rumania refused to join a Moscow conference of Communist leaders in
condemning Israel as the aggressor in the six-day war or in severing relations
with Israel. It was the only East European country to do so. Journalists,
writing from Bucharest, ascribed this refusal in part to satisfaction with Israel's
victory, but largely to glee at the political discomfiture of the Soviet
Union at the hands of a small protagonist. Some Rumanian officials also expressed
fear that the annihilation of Israel would be an indirect threat to
Rumania's own existence. After the war broke out, First Secretary of the
Communist party Nikolae Ceausescu expressed this fear in a condemnation
of attempts by outside forces to "interfere in the solution of conflicts in any
region on the grounds that any country, however powerful, has the right to
interfere in the affairs of another."
Premier Ion Gheorghe Maurer further widened the breach with the Com-