56 Friday, January 27, 1978
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Terrorists a Turning-Point for Kiryat Shmona
By MAURICE SAMUELSON
(Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.)
LONDON — Four years
ago, Israel's' northernmost
town seemed to be dying.
Set in a valley below the
bulk of Mt. Hebron, Kiryat
Shmona seemed intimidated
by its surroundings. Fre-
quently shelled by terrorists
from nearby Lebanon and
Syria, it lacked sufficient
jobs and its people were
steadily drifting to other
parts of Israel. It was a
development city which re-
fused to develop further.
When I visited it briefly
last month, I did not recog-
nize it. Attractive new
apartment blocks were
striding up the steep hill-
sides. There were brand
new public buildings, such
as the handsome synagogue,
the large first aid clinic,
and even a luxurious hotel.
The streets were clean and
the whole place breathed of
confidence in the future.
To find out why this town
of 20,000 people had revived
I spent a Friday evening
talking to one of the many
young Israeli couples who
have deliberately made
their home there rather
than in a more comfortable
part of Israel.
Boaz and Ruth Avraham
sadly agreed that it had
taken the mass murder of 16
of the town's citizens by
Palestinian terrorists in 1974
to rescue Kiryat Shmona.
The incident shocked Is-
rael's government and
people and Jews throughout
the world. Apart from ap-
pearing underprotected by
the army, Israelis realized
that the town was a biTed-
ing ground for defeatism
and dangerous discontent.
The government and the
Jewish Agency, not usually
known for their speed, took
action which helped to bring
about the town's recovery.
Apart from the new public
buildings, large industries
have been established, such
as textile plants and a pack-
ing factory, said to be the
biggest in the Middle East.
Boaz and Ruth, in their
early 20s, personify the • new
Kiryat Shmona. Unlike
most of the • older in-
habitants, they are native
born Israelis rather than
immigrants from other
Mediterranean countries.
Though both have to work to
support themselves and
their 10-month-old baby boy,
neither of them dreams of
leaving the place, but are
full of plans for their future
there.
"We have learned to like
the conditions here, even
though we are likely to be
shelled from time to time,"
said Boaz, a stocky elec-
trician who fought in the
Yom Kippur War. They rent
the two-room apartment in
which we were sitting, but
look forward to purchasing
their own home with the aid
of a low-interest loan of-
fered to settlers of Kiryat
Shmona.
Another motive for their
living there was that Boaz
pays 18 percent of his salary
in income tax compared
with 25 percent elsewhere.
His wife, Ruth, works as a
part-time bookkeeper.
Before settling in the town
two years ago, Boaz and
Ruth had lived on a nearby
moshav as farmers. They
had left because they want-
ed to be more independent
of Ruth's family who also
live there. Her family origi-
nally came from Shanghai.
Their belief in Kiryat
Shmona's future is all the
more striking since both of
them think that it should not
have been established in the
first place. Most of its origi-
nal inhabitants were Jews
from North Africa who,
they claim, lacked the nec-
essary motivation to carve
a frontier town out of this
lonely, forbidding region. —
But despite their buoy-
ancy, Boaz and Ruth are
also bitter about some
things. They resent the
prosperity of the surround-
ing kibutzim who own the
bakery for the entire area
and the local meat packing
plant. Since many Kiryat
Shmona residents are em-
ployed by factories in kibut-
zim such as Dafna and Neot
Mordechai, they regard the
kibutz members as capital-
ists disguised as socialists.
They claim that the ki-
butzniks pay a lower level
of income tax than the
townspeople, and accuse
them, too, of acquiring wa-
ter at cheap agriculture
rates which they use instead
for industry. -
Nor are they impressed
by all the new investment in
Kiryat Shmona itself. They
wonder whether the new
North Hotel, established by
the Histadrut, will ever at-
tract enough foreign visitors
to justify its existence.
Their doubts were echoed
by the hotel's manager who
complained to me about the
difficulty of competing with
the guest houses run by lo-
cal kibutzim.
Yet, given an imaginative
approach by Israel's tour-
ism authorities, there seems
no reason why this spec-
tacular part of northern
Galilee should not attract
increasing numbers of vis-
itors drawn by the land-
scape and its many historic
associations.
One new feature which is
not criticized is the in-
creased security which Ki-
ryat Shmona has enjoyed
since the 1974 terrorist raid.
On the hills around the town
there is a sophisticated
security fence.
Equally reassuring are
the reinforced security
rooms being installed in all
apartments in which the
owners- can go for shelter at
a moment's notice.
For Ruth and Boaz Avra-
ham, such security devices
help to provide peace of
-mind-hy day and night, so
that they and their friends
can build Kiryat Shmona
into a town with a bright,
proud future.
,
Egypt-Israel
College Ties
Are Foreseen
Psychiatrist Looks at Terrorism
Crusaders, Criminals,
Cranes,"- a psychological
study of world terrorism by
internationally known
expert Dr. Frederick J.
Hacker was issued in paper-
back this month by Bantam
Books.
The hardcover edition
was published by Norton.
A specialist in the study of
aggression and terrorism,
Dr. Hacker was called in
shortly after Patty Hearst's
kidnapping to advise the
Hearst family in dealing
with her SLA kidnappers.
He was court-appointed
expert at the Charles Man-
son trial and was consulted
by the West German gov-
ernment after the Munich
Olympic Games massacre.
In 1973, he negotiated on
behalf of the Austrian gov-
ernment with Arab terror-
-
ists for the release of Rus-
sian Jewish hostages
captured aboard a refugee
train and held in Vienna.
In "drusaders, Criminals,
Cranes," Dr. Hacker dis-
tinguishes between terror
and terroism. "Terror,
which is inflicted from
above, is the manufacture
and spread of fear by dicta-
torships, governments and
bosses," he writes. "Terror-
ism, which is imposed from
below, is the manufacture
and spread of fear by
rebels, revolutionaries and
protesters. -
In discussing contrasting
methods of dealing with ter-
rorists, Dr. Hacker includes
transcripts of his . own con-
versations with terrorist
Khaldi, leader of an Al-
Fatah offshoot group, while
negotiating for the release
of the Vienna hostages. He
compares the compromises
and confrontations of that
case with the Munich Olym-
pics and with the Entebbe
raid, in pleading against
violence as an answer to
terrorism.
"What is intended as
toughness against the ter-
rorists actually turns out to
be toughness against the
victims," Dr. Hacker
writes. He believes that
meeting force with violence
is the sure way to world dis-
aster—perhaps even to
nuclear terrorism as the
ultimate showdown.
Dr. Hacker holds double
professorships in psychiatry
at the University of Califor-
d and in
nia Medical an
psychiatry and law at the
University of Southern Cali-
fornia Law Center.
,
JERUSALEM—With the
new developments in Egyp-
tian-Israeli relations, Egyp-
tologists at the Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem
foresee improved relations
with foreign colleagues.
According to Prof. Sara
Groll, chairman of the uni-
versity's department of
Egyptoloty, American and
European Egyptologists
have been wary of too much
contact with their . Israeli
conterparts as they were
afraid this might hamper
their going to Egypt to
excavate.
"For many years we had
the feeling of being out-
casts, but I believe that now
this will change," she said.
Asked where in Egypt she
would go first if given a
chance to travel there, Prof.
Groll said that she would go
to a small village called
Dir-el-Medina because her
last publication, a grammer
book, is based on the texts
on the Ostraca found there.
"I know the names of the
people in the village, the
workmen — and I would
very much like to visit
them," she said.
Prof. Groll stated that a
growing interest in Egyp-
tology is noticed at the He-
brew University. One of its
scholars is the inter-
nationally renowned Prof.
Jacob Polotsky, former
chairman of the Depart-
ment. For 30 years Egyp-
tian studies have been pur-
sued at the University by a
small group of dedicated
scholars, but lately the de-
partment has expanded
from only teaching ancient
Egyptian languages to in-
clude studies on Egyptian
art, religion, literature and
history as well.
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
. . . and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.)
COMMUNAL CURRENTS: We have now in the Ameri-
can Jewish community a number of women holding
positions of president in federations in their cities. We also
have women presidents of congregations. The chairman of
the American Section of the World Zionist Organization is a
woman, Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson. The chairman of the
American Zionist Federation — central body of 14 national
Zionist organizations and 10 Zionist youth movements i--
this country — is Mrs. Faye Schenk. The executive dire
of the American Jewish Congress, conducting the day-t
day activities of the organization, is for the first time in the
AJCongress history a woman, Dr. Naomi Levine.
Women are now beginning to display more and more
determination to secure positions of leadership in policy-
making bodies of Jewish organizations not on the basis of
"tokenism" but on equal terms with men. They want to be
appointed on the basis of the qualified person for the job,
man or woman. And they insist on the appointment of more
women as presidents, officers and chairmen. They reject
the viewing of service volunteerism as legitimate for
women, with "decision-making" in the male domain.
One can find now more women on the boards of Jewish
federations and of major national bodies, but they are there
primarily for distinguishing themselves as activists in the
"women's divisions." Some of the younger members of the
"women's divisions" want, however, to feel themselves not
as an auxiliary element but as part-and-parcel of the
organization fully sharing in decision-making. Against the
background of society's questioning of traditional roles and
the emergence of new lifestyles, younger women are re-
examining their roles as being committed to volunteer
endeavor only. They are challenging the status quo in which
the overwhelming policy-making positions are held by men.
ROLE OF WOMEN: Does that mean that with the march
of time Jewish communal leadership may gradually pass
more and more to women?
One need not underestimate the role of women in Jewish
communal affairs. In the United Jewish Appeal, they raised
last year $70 million which is about 15 percent of the total
usually raised by UJA annually. They make their contribu-
tions irrespective of the contributions made by their
husbands and they raise their funds primarily among
women. In the Jewish federations throughout the country,
the women's divisions similarly raise many millions.
The Women's American ORT, with its 130,000 members,
contributed last year $2,400,000 for vocational training in
Israel and other countries. The women's division of the
American Jewish Congress is a pillar in the AJCongress
budget by raising substantial sums through organizing
tourist groups for trips to Israel and other countries. The
Pioneer Women, an organization of women Labor ZioniSts
in this country, is a very active body, as is the Mizrachi
Women. The Bnai Brith Women has a multitude of
programs, in addition to raising funds. Active in Jewish
communal projects is also the women's auxiliary of the
Jewish War Veterans.
The Hadassah with its 350,000 members has for decades
gained a place as a major — if not the major —Jewish
women's organization in this country. It is usually accepted
that Hadassah concentrates on its projects in Israel.
However, the organization conducts also a wide variety of
activities on the American scene. The Women's League for
Conservative Judaism claims 200,000 members as the
parent body of 800 sisterhoods of Conservative synagogues,
and the sisterhoods in the Reform temples have similarly a
large membership.
The total number of women active in 'Jewish organiza-
tions and agencies as volunteers runs into several million.
The - younger elements among them are now bent on
evaluation of their status, especially in the federations.
CJFWF STAND: The Council of Jewish Federations and
Welfare Funds —central body of the organized Jewish
communities —encourages the development of community
programs to move more women into key policy positions.
In a discussion on this subject at the Council's General
Assembly, the question was raised whether there is a
danger that if significant numbers of women do attain top-
level positions, men — threatened by the equality concept
—will drop out of these posts. The answer was that the
notion that men and women cannot work in equal partner-
ship is outdated. The woman-consultant who gave this
answer added at the same time that "it would be disastrous
if men abdicated leadership positions when women finally
attained them."
Some women's divisions are reluctant to see their leaders
move "up the ladder," fearing that_ this will deplete or
weaken the effectiveness of women's divisions. They are
being told that this is- not a valid concern as long as the
women's divisions are continually infused with young, new,
potential leaders.