80 Friday, April 10, 1981 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Rise in Terrorism Brings Once Ignored Subject Out in the Open By FRANKLIN LITTELL For years some of us have been issuing warnings on the dangers of terrorism. From 1966 to 1976 an edu- cational organization, the Institute for American Democracy, issued a reg- ular newsletter. and occa- sional press stories on left- and rightwing extremism and its overt expressions. Now that the theme has be- come popular, and both politicians and journalists are churning out material on the subject, it might be timely to make a few fun- damental observations about what terrorism is — and what it is not. Those of us who love Is- rael have been pointing to the human costs of terrorist activity for some time. The PLO attacks on school chil- --ciren, religious pilgrims, women shoppers, Olympic athletes — not to mention American diplomats — have not been treated with sufficient seriousness to date. TerroriSt leaders have been welcomed and cheered in the Assembly of the United Nations — with the blood of their victims, so to speak, still on their hands. The General Board of the National Conncil of Churches has recently, to the scandal and shame of the pious Christians, joined the stampede to recognize the PLO. Yet is has been obvious for some time that the "de- stabilization" of western re- publics and parliamentary governments was a primary target of Russian im- perialism, and that the PLO and Red Brigades and Baader-Meinhof gang were trained, equipped, and to a considerable degree fi- nanced by Russia and her satellites (including Cuba). And ithas also been obvious — although PLO sym- pathizers have tried to con- fuse the issue — that ter- rorists are a different genre from guerilla fighters. To illustrate: careless journalists frequently refer to Menahem Begin as a "former terrorist." The implication is that Yasir Arafat, once he gained the seat of gov- ernment, would also set- tle down to the sober business of responsible rule. The implication is also made that terrorism and freedom-fighting (military action by pat- riots not in uniform) are the same thing. - The distinction between "terrorists" and "freedom fighters" must be made in- sistently and often. Ter- rorists are tools in ideologi- cal total war, commonly striking at civilians and civilian targets. Freedom fighters are patriots not in uniform, irregulars, who are seeking to establish a government that respects both basic liberties and re- publican principles. Ter- rorist movements, if they can, set up terrorist goy- ernments. Freedom fighters set up legitimate govern- ments, replacing de- spotisms. Old-fashioned despotisms respect neither individual liberties nor structures of self-government: in most cases they have never even heard of liberty or popular sovereignty. Yet, 20th Cen- tury dictatorships have Handwriting Analysis Is Popular in Israel By CARL ALPERT ment but also in promotion, HAIFA — Graphology is and in suitability for posi- the science (or art of fraud) tions of trust. Very often the which claims to ascertain a graphologists render their person's character from a judgments without ever study of his handwriting. meeting their "victims" face But whatever its status, to face. Not long ago a sturdy graphology is today very much the "in" thing in Is- young farmer with all the obvious qualifications rael. Whereas the yellow pages sought to join an agricul- in the New York classified tural moshay. He was telephone directory list only turned down on the basis six Handwriting Analysts, of his handwriting. In- the yellow pages of the Tel dignant, he submitted his Aviv directory list 16. script to another More and more of the "Help graphologist, who ren- Wanted" ads in the Israel dered a verdict com- press clearly stipulate that pletely opposite to the candidates should submit one that had blackballed their applications in their him. Admittedly, handwriting own handwriting, for obvi- may reveal whether the ous reasons. Large industrial plants, writer is a child, or perhaps banks, and public institu- suffers from palsy. It may tions employ the services of indicate haste, tensions, graphologists to advise not precision or other char- only in matters of employ- acteristics, but in Israel today the fate and destiny of many people, their careers, their futures and of course their personal happiness in life are being determined by men and women who call themselves graphologists. There is no law, no licens- ing, no requirements, no registration of qualified graphologists. Anyone who wishes can hang out a shingle, set himself up as a professional, and if he has a glib manner and a good sense of salesmanship, can make a comfortable living at the expense of the gulli- ble public, no matter how much of a charlatan he may be. , A small number of prac- titioners have set up the Is- rael Association of Scien- tific Graphology, to protect themselves against quacks, they say. in a popular radio pro- gram, one well known graphologist delineates the character of persons who, unknown to her, may be leading politi- cians, artists, criminals or others. It makes for good entertainment, and sometimes humor as When she hesitatingly identified the occupation of one writer as one who molds shapes, perhaps a sculptor? He turned out to be a mohel! self-styled Another graphologist in Jerusalem has come up with a new angle. He claims that he can detect physical ailments from handwriting. He is careful to avoid prescribing cures, but he does diagnose. Thus far he has to his credit two cases of cancer and three cases of pregnancy. heard of such things, but re- jected them both in theory and practice. Against ab- solutist governments, whether old-fashioned or modern, freedom fighters mobilize what champions of human liberty and dignity they can recruit. Candor compels the admission, however, that' whereas old- fashioned despotisms have been overthrown and re- placed by representative governments, modern fas- cist and communist dic- tatorships have never been overthrown without outside intervention. Arafat as saying in an interview by an Italian newspaper that "George Washington was a terrorist for the English . . . your Pertini was a terrorist for the Nazis and the same goes for DeGaulle." The state- ment is false, which — com- ing from a professional ter- rorist -- is no cause for sur- prise. There is no record that Washington ever killed school children. DeGaulle headed a governmeia exile. ' "Terrorists" and "freedom fighters" are two different breeds, and under no cir- cumstances should their ac- tions and intentions be con- fused with each other. In sum, terrorism against legitimate governments should be crushed, and even terrorism against dictator- ships has often been ineffec- tive or counter-productive. But we do not weigh ter- rorism against legitimate governments and terrorism against dictatorships in the same balance. One of the basic lessons of the Holocaust is the fact that a terrorist movement, unchallenged and unchecked, may by assassination and "de- stabilization" become a criminal government. And a criminal govern- ment, like the Nazi Third Reich, is prone to genocide. It should not be necessary for a Hitler or Idi Amin or Arafat to gain power before think- ing people understand the implications of their theory and practice. Recent newspaper snip- pets have reported Yasir In traditional political theory, the ability to main- tain order leaitimates a government. d'ut even cen- turies ago there were standards for appraising terrorist bands and crimi- nal regimes. With the emergence of representa- tive government and con- stitutionally defined rights of citizens, in the modern period, we have come to set higher standards of legiti- macy for government. It is not enough that a re- gime be powerful enough to keep order and crush the unruly. Even King George III's arbitrary rule was re- jected by American patriots, and it was certainly far more benevolent than con- temporary regimes in Rus- sia; Saudi Arabia, Chile or Afghanistan. With the rise of republican standards of government, no regime is truly legitimate unless it respects and protects the basic liberties of individual citizens and minority com- munities, and is based on the principles and practices of popular sovereignty. . Terrorist movements do not found legitimate gov- ernments: when they gai-n power they found terrorist regimes. Home for Aged in Israel Fosters Its Elderly Residents' Pride ACRE — Jacques is 82 and his health is failing. His legs are weak and he can no longer stand without assis- tance. Sometimes he lacks the strength to move his wheelchair by himself. But Jacques' mind is still sharp and with a little encouragement he is happy to tell stories about the "old days." Jacques came to Israel in 1952, a refugee from Tu- nisia, bringing his wife, two teen-age sons and a grown daughter. His only possessions were a sack of clothing and a few books. At age 54, Jacques was start- ing over again. He loves to talk about those days, about how he and his family lived in a tent on the outskirts of Haifa, and his years of hard work to make a new life. He can talk for hours about the small house he finally bought on a moshav near Natanya and the decent life he was able to help build working together with his family. "We never had much," he says, "but we had enough and we had pride." His pride in his home, country and in his sons who served in the army is obvious, and Jacques is still a proud man. To maintain that pride, de- spite the fact that age and illness have left his body weak and dependent upon others, is very im- portant to him. Jacques is a resident of the Acre Regional Home for the Aged, part of a new and growing concept in care for the elderly in Israel. Opened in March 1979, the 140-bed home is the first in a series of new facilities de- veloped by ESHEL, the Association for the Plan- ning and Development of Services for the Aged in Is- rael, an organization founded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and supported in part by JDC-Israel through funds raised in the UJAJFederation campaign, including Detroit's Allied Jewish Campaign. The first thing that strikes a visitor to the Acre home is the location. The facility is on the beach and a special paved path provides access to a stunning view of the Mediterranean to even those in wheelchairs. Di- rectly across, the street is a large, noisy elementary ing all in one place. The facility. Each cluster of residents have a lot of sleeping rooms has its own school. "The home was placed spirit." • dining hall. The patients here intentionally," says The physical structure it- live two to a room, and are Moshe Dobzimski, the di- self seems to be designed carefully matched so that rector. "It's important that with the spirit of the those who share living the elderly remain involved patients as a prime consid- space also share a common with the community. We eration. The corridors and culture and language. The bedrooms are use the young people as vol- the rooms are bright, unteers in recreation and painted in cheerful, non- large and the residents other programs. The sound institutional colors. Huge are encouraged to per- of children playing in the windows allow sunlight and sonalize them with their schoolyard and the sight of fresh sea breezes to fill the own decor. The home is also equipped young people in our build- rooms. ing is good for the morale of Recreation, activity and with a synagogue, a barber the residents." other areas for common use shop, a library and a sub- Community involve- . are spaced all around the sidized store. ment extends beyond the school children. Volun- teers and visitors come to the facility from every part of the region. They take the residents for walks, play chess and checkers, or come simply to sit and talk. "I believe it is even more important for the commu- nity that they are involved than it is for those who live here," Dobzimski says. "We appreciate the volunteers. But the fact is that the young people are getting the best of the bargain. Where else could they be A resident of the Acre Regional Home for the exposed to so much experi- Aged receives help with a weaving project from a staff ence, to so many years of liv- member.