Still Crossing the Jordan

The deadline ran out last week for Arab refugees, and Israel officially closed the two small bridges over which they had been crossing the Jordan. But the move was only symbolic. The Israelis put up no barriers, nor did they take down the receiving tents in which returning refugees have been greeted with orangeade and light lunches before getting free transportation to their homes. Despite the official cutoff, the bridges were still open; the refugees were still coming back.

Israel explained that the extension of the deadline does not apply to the thousands of Arabs who once filled the dreary Palestine refugee camps, sapping the economy and disturbing the peace of the West Bank. Those professional refugees are not wanted back under any conditions. But Israel is perfectly willing to admit "hardship cases" --such as children separated from their parents. And it is willing to continue the return flow of legitimate farmers, shopkeepers and tradesmen who can contribute to the economy of their homeland. The applications of at least 21,000 such refugees have already been approved, but more than 7,000 of them were still on the other side of the Jordan when the time for return officially ran out.

Reluctance & Fear. Most of the fault for the delay lies with the Jordanian government, which was eager to see the refugees go, but inefficient about helping them on their way. To make matters worse, many approved applicants got cold feet when it came their turn, either out of reluctance to live under Israeli rule, or for fear that they might be cut off from remittance checks sent to them by relatives working in the high-paying oil fields of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. All of which caused the refugee flow to slow to a trickle. But for the time being, it will continue, a reminder to the world that Israel has not really removed the welcome mat.

Those refugees who have returned, and those Arabs who remained in Israel's "New Territories," are finding that life is fast returning to normal as the Israelis demonstrate their intention to stay on. In Old Jerusalem, gone are the last remnants of the Mandelbaum Gate that stood for two decades as an ugly reminder that the Holy City was divided.

Union organizers from Israel's giant Histadrut labor federation are already signing up recruits in the Arab quarter.

Mayor Teddy Kollek's municipal government has lifted the nightly curfew, and cool jazz echoes once more through cobbled alleyways from the Cave du Roi and Les Caves discotheques.

Financial Coup. On the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and even on the Golan Heights, educators are preparing for September school reopening--except in the Sinai capital of El Arish, where youngsters will be let off until Oct. 1 to help with the date harvest.

Management of Moslem religious affairs is gradually being handed back to the wakf religious trust committees. And the Bank of Israel has scored a financial coup by persuading the Bank of Jordan to release funds frozen in Amman so that the West Bank's shuttered banks can reopen.

The Israelis have also relaxed restrictions on residents of squalid, overcrowded Gaza. They no longer need military passes to go to the West Bank, and there is a new bus service to help them make the trip. It is already abundantly clear that many of the travelers do not stop with a visit to friends and relatives but go right on across the Jordan to stay. Israel is not at all annoyed that the reverse flow of Gaza refugees --people long nourished on a hatred for Jews--almost matches the number of Arabs still coming in the other direction.

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