cember 1, 1975, three Arabs, Adel Mana’a, Riad Amin, and br

Nabil Nahas, along with two of the apparently obligatory Jew- br

ish self-haters, appeared to explain their opposition. The Arabs br

called the requirement “unjust because it involves a matter of br

conscience.” The conscience, of course, was their feeling that the br

terrorists were fighting their battle and that it was a just one. br

Meanwhile, two Arab students, fearing that they would be ex- br

pelled from the dormitories, did agree to guard duty. On the br

night of November 28, an attempt was made to set fire to their br

room.

On December 23 some 200 Arabs and their radical leftist br

Jewish friends from a group calling itself Campus gathered at br

the university to protest. The banner they carried read: “We are br

not ashamed to be Palestinians.” The transformation from “Is- br

raelis” was becoming bolder.

A mass petition signed by Jewish students demanded that br

the Arab students fulfill their obligations. At first the university br

stood firm and agreed with the demand. Suddenly, however, it br

announced that it had recognized “the crisis of conscience” br

posed for the Arab student and agreed that those who could not br

morally agree to do guard duty would be excused.

The victory led to similar demands for exemption at Haifa br

University, where at least one-third of the students are Arabs. In br

a struggle that saw threats on the life of the Jewish student in br

charge of the guard-duty roster as well as two Arab students br

from the villages of Isfiya and Deir Hanna charged with kidnap- br

ping and threatening the life of a Bedouin student who was pre- br

pared to guard, the Haifa University administration agreed to br

allow the Arabs to escape guard duty for a token monthly fee of br

IL 30 (at the time less than five dollars).

The truth of the matter is that the Jewish demand to have br

pro-PLO students do guard duty was in itself grotesque. What br

emerged from this theater of the absurd was a Jewish university br

allowing pro-PLO Arabs to study and enjoy scholastic benefits. br

Jews demanded that the haters of Israel guard the Jews from br

their own Arab brethren.

The combination of Israeli ghetto timidity and Arab br

brazenness (one fed on the other) rapidly brought the campus, br

for the first time, to violence. In the winter of 1975, the city of br

Nazareth, hotbed of Arab nationalism, elected a Communist br