LETTERS Bourguiba and the Jews
Sir: Maybe it would be possible to add a few remarks to the excellent piece Rowlin- son Carter wrote from Tunis (`The survival of Arafat', 12 October): these relate to the remarkably lucid and morally honest be- haviour President Bourguiba has through- out his political career adopted towards Jews and Israel.
During the second world war he totally endorsed the policy of Bey Moncef who refused to implement Vichy's anti-Jewish laws — at the time Bourguiba was a political prisoner in France. He always advised his supporters against currying favour with the Axis powers to further their aims against the French colonial Power. After independence Bourguiba's government included Jewish ministers and to this day the pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue in Jerba attracts 40,000 Jews from all over the world.
As Bourguiba must be one of the few Arab leaders who has never called for erasing Israel from the map at any stage since the foundation of that state, the depth of reaction to the initial US reaction after the Israeli raid on the PLO headquar- ters can be easily imagined. May I suggest to your correspondent that Tunisia's 'reluc- tant hospitality to Palestinians' may have been unpopular among part of the elite: it certainly was not among the population at large.
Francis Ghiles
43 Glenmore Road, London NW3
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