THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, April 4, 1980 The Fanaticism of Syria Worries the Entire Mideast By SOLLY PRESS JOHANNESBURG (JTA) — Due perhaps to the ascendance of the unor- thodox Alawid minority over the Syrian branch of the Baath pan-Arab move- ment, the Syrian regime has come to oppose — more stridently than its pre- decessors — the Christians, Jews and Sunni Moslems in Syria and the Fertile Cres- cent. Consequently, Syria's Christian founder of the •aath, Michel Aflaq, has ed to Baghdad. Sunni Mos- lem fanatics have turned to assassinating supporters of the Hafez Assad regime. Last month, the Damas- cene Lawyers' Association publicly demanded the lift- ing of the state of emer- gency in force since 1963. There have been intermit- ALEX CUSTOM TAILOR Alterations Waist or Cuffs Special Price $3.75 347-8789 2752 Coolidge, Berkley REMEMBER THE BLUE BOX AND EVERYTHING. IT STANDS FOR ON EVERY IMPORTANT OCCASION 557-664 4 . Happy Passover OPEN SUNDAY 11-2 BIRMINGHAM VACUUM CLEANER INC PARTS SALES SERVICE o- EVERGREEN PLAZA 19827 W. 12 MILE ROAD SOUTHFIELD, MI 48076 Visa, Master charge (313) 552-8480 Mon. thru Sat. 10-6, Thurs. & Fri: 10-9 tent charges from the Pales- tine Liberation Organiza- tion that the Assad regime has turned "Black Septem- brist," and from Moscow, that Syria has not moved towards Marxism. Now, a confluence of interests has brought this disparate trinity closer together. Assad desper- ately needs a foreign ad- venture to divert his countrymen's attentions elsewhere. PLO chief Yasir Arafat is fearful that Israel, together with "normalized" Egypt, will achieve a separate deal with the West Bankers and Gazans, and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev urgently re- quires an olympian red herring to draw the world's eyes away from the Afghan crisis and the Islamic Conference's condemnation. Hence the renewed prop- aganda line that Israel is planning a way against Syria and that the West supports Islam in Kabul but opposes it in Nablus. The truth is that the Soviet Union backs the PLO against all non-Marxists in the Middle East while sup- pressing 20 million Afghan Moslems and millions more inside the USSR. The current arming by Russia of Assad and Arafat is, of course, directed not only at Egypt, Israel, Tur- key and Lebanon, but also at the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula. • Is it too late to divert Assad from the path of treachery? Premier Menahem Begin in Israel, Maj. Saad Haddad in south Lebanon, and President Anwar Sadat in Egypt are remaining watchful. It is to be hoped that the rest of the Middle East and the West will- have been alerted by Afghanistan's fall. There was a time when Aflaq's influence in the Baath pan-Arab renais- sance movement was still felt, that Israeli Socialists and Baathists had come together for talks in Brit- ain, under the encourag- ing eye of the Socialist In- ternational. Both sides had a stake — and still have — in the revival of their region, in the im- provement in the quality of life, in education, in combatting religious See "THE LEADER" Today Morels Buick IS THE GUY IS THE BUY OPEN MON. & THURS. 111. 9 P.M. WHERE EVERY DAY IS SALE DAY W 7 Mile At Lodge X-Way fanaticism, in develop- ment, and much else. Unlike the earlier Hashemite-led pan-Arabs, the Baathists at first ap- peared capable of reaching out beyond the aristocracy. Also, the Baath constitution of 1951 was the first Semitic document to call for the in- volvement of Ethiopia in regional affairs, and for Middle Eastern status for Mediterranean Europe. There had even been a glimmer of hope for democ- racy when the Baathists, in common with other Syrian parties, joined forces in 1961 to oust Nasserist tyranny from what was then the "Northern Prov- ince" of the United Arab Republic. Perhaps the Baath was born too soon. Perhaps the Balkanization of the Middle Eastern subregion in which it found itself was too great an obstacle for its planners. More likely, the fact that the Baath's leader- ship appeared to be in too great a hurry and devoid of understanding the in- cremental techniques of true region-building on Israeli Soldiers Forced to Evict W.B. 'Settlers TEL AVIV (JTA) — More than 200 Israeli soldiers were required last week to evict some 30 Gush Emunim squatters from a hill in northern Sinai where they attempted to establish a "settlement" in defiance of the government. It was the second time that the Gush militants occupied the site 30 miles east of El Arish, the capital of northern Sinai now under Egyptian ad- ministration. The Gush squatters were aided by local settlers from the Yamit region who still refuse to accept Israel's agreement under its peace treaty with Egypt to with- draw from all of Sinai by the end of next year. The squat- ters resorted to passive re- sistance and had to be drag- ged from the site. This led to accusations by the group that male soldiers were forcibly removing women squatters. Actually, a unit of women soldiers was assigned that task. Shekhita Halted in. Cincinnati CINCINNATI — The practice of shekhita (kosher slaughtering) has been dis- continued here. The city was once an important dis- tribution center of kosher meat in the Midwest. According to Milton Schloss, the president of Elias Kahn and Sons, the ci- ty's largest meat-packing house, shekhita can no longer be practiced because of escalating costs. Shekhita for poultry ended some 15 years ago. Among all forms of mis- take, prophecy is the most gratuitous. the pattern of the Euro- pean Economic Commu- nity, made Baathism shoot its bolt. There- is no way that Ummayad-style neo- imperialism — which is what the Baath came to re- present after the Alawid as- cendance — can be dis- guised as regionalism. Hence it would be surpris- ing if the rantings of the Sy- rian foreign minister, Abdel Khalim Khaddam, before the Assembly of the Council of Europe, will be seen as constructive by the EEC organizations, at least. If the Baath has failed to understand regionalism — and that seems to be the case also with the Iraqi fac- tion — someone or some- thing else should take place. It will be recalled that, in the beginning, the modern pan-Jewish (Zionist), pan- Arab, and the Ethiopian re- constructionist movements also began as parallel de- velopments. Under the im- pact of contemporary events, however, they di- verged. Today, two generations after their rise, they still have enough talent to face the new challenges of NO LABOR OR PARTS CHARGES! regionalism, beyond the tried and failed federation, league and empire. The regionalist approach is not an unattractive alternative to waiting for the Messiah. If anything, it may hasten his coming. Holocaust File Now Available MIAMI BEACH — The American Anti-Nazi Asso- ciation has published a "Holocaust FactFile" as part of its program to mark the observance of Holocaust Day on Sunday, April 13. The pamphlet traces the Nazi era of terror from 1933 to 1945. Free copies of the Holocaust FactFile can be obtained by writing to "Holocaust FactFile" Box 6292 Surfside, Fla • , 33154. All requests must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. OttD° C6/? CONDOMINIUM INTERIOR SERVICE PLAN 557-6830 Call For Free Brochure and More Information In Conjunction With SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST CONG. BETH ACHIM Invites the Jewish Community to Hear JOSEPH TEKULSKY Chairman, American Federation of Survivors speak on "THE LIFE AND _STRUGGLE OF THE WARSAW GHETTO" In Observance of YOM HASHOA V'HAGEVURA (HOLOCAUST AND HEROISM DAY OF REMEMBRANCE) on SUN., APRIL 13 at 11;00 A.M. IN THE MAIN SANCTUARY OF CONG. BETH ACHIM 21100 WEST 12 MILE ROAD, SOUTHFIELD, MICH. YOM HASHOA V'HAGEVURA OBSERVANCE COMMITTEE George Rossman, Chairman Allan Rosenberg Mayer Lipman Hy Shenkman Martin Rose Rabbi Milton Arm ISRAELI SECURITY Palestinian rights CAN BOTH BE ACHIEVED? and Gen. Mattityahu Peled PELED, who served in the Israeli army for 22 years before retiring in 1969, now directs the Department of Arab Studies at Tel Aviv University. Tuesday, April 8, 8:00 p.m. Oak Park Community Center 14300 Oak Park Blvd. (91/2 Mile Road) just west of Coolidge Suggested Donation: $2.00 Sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit Committee for a New Jewish Agenda. 25