2 Friday, August 21 , 1982 . v s THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary The Media and the Lebanese Errors, the Jordanian Role and the Middle East Facts The Media and the Errors Attributable to Judgments in a Time of. War ... Jordan's Role and the Possibility of Peace With Israel ... The Detroit Arabs and Relations with Jews cept any of the guerrillas. Now that the guerrillas' arrival seems imminent, a typical attitude among Jordanians, according to one high-ranking Pales- tinian guerrilla official based here, is of "latent apprehension." By Philip Slomovitz Among the DetrOit area's 20,000 Palestinians anger and outrage at the Israeli onslaught in Beirut run deep. A gruesome poster — two young Palestinians holding the blackened corpse of a baby, with the caption "Stop Israeli Genocide" — appeals on many public walls in the South End. At the Beit Hanina Charitable Society, a social club and fraternal organization made up entirely of former residents of a town south of Jerusalem, Yasir Arafat is hailed as "our leader." A huge Palestinian flag is painted on one wall. "Our real representative is the PLO in Beirut," insists Mahmoud Faraj. "Not Sadat, not Egypt, not any- one else." "Even if the Israelis kick the PLO out of Leba- non, more PLO will form," says Omar Hamed a second-generation Palestinian-American. Palestinian struggle will go on as long as h'rael occupies our country. We will never quit until we get our country back." Nuha Aranki, a Palesti- nian Catholic born on the West Bank and now executive director of Access, an Arab social- services organization, says that a Polish Jewish family now lives in the home her father owned and never sold. "The Jew is entitled to his home," she says. "We are not opposed to Jews; we coexisted with them for centuries. But a Zionist comes from Poland and takes over my orange grove and my home. What justice is that?" Thus, the people from the Middle East, Arabs, Lebanese, Chaldeans, are a community to be reckoned with. They have lived in peace with Jews and the spirit of fellow citizenship must be encouraged and must continue. - It is when propagandists instill hatred, it is when youths are taught to shout villainy, it is when appeals to hatred include such comments as "Polish Jews occupy my orange plantation," acclamations that usually prove to be mirages, that there is a threat to the common courtesies that must be perpetuated in American ranks. Good Americans do not advocate violence, even when they differ adamantly on many issues. Fortunately there is very little more than a few venomous shouts in contrasting attitudes. That's to the credit of the Islamic community, the Christians, the Jews who are their fellow American citi- zens. This is how it should be retained. Beirut is no longer a battleground and will, hopefully, prayerfully once again become the Paris of the Middle East. The official added, in a commonly held opinion. The PLO is out of Lebanon and is expected predictably to that Jordanian-Palestinian and Jordanian-PLO seek other means of menacing Israel. Many errors now will relations had mellowed greatly over the last few be traced to the methods that were applied both by Israel years. He also insisted, as almost everyone does, and her enemies, by the media throughout the world and that no one could say what would follow the especially in the United States in the treatment of the evacuation of Beirut. Lebanese war and of Israel's role as the initiator of the One reason for the latent apprehension is the battle to eradicate the terrorist from her borders. The con- memory of Black September, a series of battles cerned will dedicate themselves to the need for proper pub- between Palestinian and Jordanian soldiers that lic relations methods to eliminate the misunderstandings begin in September 1970 and ended only when that elicited a great deal of venom. bow-armed Palestinians had either been killed or Accompanying it all will be the recognition of the expelled in 1971. Several thousand people died on urgency to resolve the Palestinian issue, to assure a rela- each side, and deep bitterness toward the PLO tionship with Arabs so eminently friendly that there will be persists among some Jordanian soldiers, security an end to the bickering, to hatred, to warfare, to the need for officers, policemen and their families. military action where good neighborliness must redound to The Palestinians' sheer force of numbers has the benefit of all mankind that can ill afford a Middle East caused other grievances. And the likelihood that battleground. several thousand Palestinian refugees, men, Indeed, the Palestinian problem is foremost on the women and children, will soon head for Jordan agenda for all concerned. The editorial in this issue touches can only add, however slightly, to those numbers. on this element in the painful and aggravated situation. Excluding. the West Bank, more than half of Most pressing is the need to assure understanding and Jordan's 2.3 million East Bank residents consider elimination of confusion and distortion of facts. This is themselves Palestinians, though most have been where the public relations obligations enter. granted Jordanian citizenship. Half a million of Resentments expressed over the manner in which the the Palestinians still receive rations as official media treated the Lebanese war, the situation in Beirut, refugees. Many others hold positions that occa- the differing means that were applied in portraying PLO as sionally rankle their "trans-Jordanian" fellow- contrasted with the ugliness assigned to Israel and her laborers, small merchants, businessmen and army are uppermost in these considerations. bureaucrats. There were many errors and they must be admitted. "Look what happens wherever they go," said a Zev Chafets, a native De- Jordanian born more than 50 years ago in what troiter and director of the was then the Bedouin crossroads of Ma'an, and Israel press office in who later spent 10 years in the Jordanian Army. Jerusalem, in an interview - "Even our children go separately. The Palesti- with the Long Island Jewish nian child spits on the child of the army." World, stated inter alia that The man's values in other respects appeared he did not agree with the not to have changed much in the three decades views of the former Israel since an American sociologist heard a Jordanian Ambassador to the UN say: "Look at the Palestinians. They listened to Chaim Herzog that there the radio and God destroyed them." was some anti-Semitism in Educated Palestinians and Jordanians alike the reporting of the war by say that such perceptions are fading, despite an the foreign press. Chafets How It All Began . . . Record upsurge of "trans-Jordanian" nationalism over said:"Television just prefers of Superb Journalism the past six or eight years. But no one denies that to show pictures of destruc- tensions exist. This commentator has consistently credited the New tion. Most journalists I This is a record of vital factors in serious consideration York Times with great reporting. Its coverage of the know are f.ir and are doing their job." He added that of a possible solution of the entire Arab-Israel issue, Jordan Lebanese conflict is, as has been indicated, a marvelous often foreign correspon- being recommended as a solvent, in a proposed agreement documentary. Especially notable are the articles and news dents echo the official that a Palestinian state would be one that would append reports by Thomas L. Friedman. American government line the "West Bank" — Judea and Samaria — to the Jordanian In his "Reporter's Notebook: Weeks of Siege," his Aug. state, with an effective Israeli borderline to protect the when they enter a foreign Jewish 20 more than a page-length article, he revealed that as state. country, unfamiliar with ZEV CHAFETS The issues involved are innumerable. An understand- early as July 3, four weeks after Israel launched the attack the language or the history on the PLO, Yasir Arafat signed a readiness to leave Leba- ing of the problems is vital. It is possible to reach an accord. non. of that country, ending up getting briefed by an American This is the time to start. The start and the finish must be diplomat and then parrot the American government posi- In that revealing article, Friedman, reporting on many without venom. tion. incidents and experiences, included the following: Meanwhile, Israel and the world Jewish communities, Chafets also admitted that it was "a stupid decision" to One afternoon a group of west Beirut-based re- must do the proper planning to assure that public relations bar the press from visiting the Palestinian camps in Leba- porters trundled off to Emille's to meet some of will spell dissemination of truth, a welcome to amity, and non. their colleagues from Jerusalem and an Israeli an end to bickering and an emphasis on good neighborli- This is an official interpretation. There will be many officer. Included in the west Beirut contingent ness. Out of a terrible war must emanate a community admissions of errors. To have denied permission to two was a Jewish reporter from a Communist Euro- devoted to good will and commmon decency. Arab mayors in Israel-governed areas to be interviewed on pean paper, one of the very few Jewish corre- television programs also was a grave error. Will Israel * * * spondents working out of the western half of the admit it? capital. Metropolitan Detroit Jewry In the main, much of what was registered in the press When they arrived at Emilie's, the Israeli officer and Its Islamic Neighbors was historically valuable. The New York Times reports of went around the table introducing himself and the past 10 weeks represent an historical documentry that shaking hands with each correspondent, until he The Middle East situation keeps drawing attention to will be inerasable for the historian got to the Communist reporter. The Communist a special interest involving Metropolitan Detroit's Jewish Often, news reports inform, enlighten, reveal truth community. refused to shake the Israeli officer's hand, saying, and trace the records of important experiences. "I will not shake the hand of an occupier." This area has the largest population of Arabs, predo- Exemplary in the latter is the report from Amman, in The Israeli officer shrugged off the slight and minantly Moslem. The many thousands of former Lebanese the Aug. 18 issue of the NYTimes, by Colin Campbell, residing here are mostly Maronite Catholics. the group proceeded with its lunch. Over coffee, about the Jordanian situation. It referred to the surprise the west Beirut reporters began pressing the Is- There have been few of any disputes with them and announcement that Jordan was ready to accept about 1,500 raeli officer for his assessment of whether or not only recently propagandists invaded the Arab ranks to PLO members who were about to be ousted from Lebanon. create discord. the Israeli Army would storm west Beirut, and, if In his report Campbell provided these important details: it did, what would happen to all of the correspon- The Lebanese situation drew attention to the Arabs King Hussein, in a speech broadcast last Wed- dents living there in the Commodore Hotel., The residing here and Newsweek, in one of its lengthy accounts nesday on the 30th anniversary of his accession to officer told them not to worry, that no harm vy of the existing situations, carried these references to the the throne, warned against "instigators of hollow large local Arab community. come to any journalists — but they kept pi emotions and sedition" in the wake of the Israeli him-. Finally, the exasperated officer said, "If I Palestinians began arriving in the Detroit area invasion of Lebanon and said he would show "no have to, I will .personally drive my own car into as early as 1910, drawn by high wages in the auto mercy" toward those who threatened his nation's west Beirut and take you all out safely. industry. Along with Lebanese, Iraqis, Yemenis unity, security and stability. The image that "All except this one," he added, pointing his and other Arab immigrants, they mostly settled in many of his listeners formed on hearing these re- the South End, a tidy working-class neighbor- finger at the Communist correspondent who had marks was of Palestinian guerrillas and their snubbed him. hood of Dearborn. In the shadow of the hulking sympathizers. "But," chimed in the other reporters, "he is the Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge Plant, a mosque stands at His words were taken less as a comment on the only Jew among us." the end of a row of Middle Eastern restaurants PLO's Jordanian homecoming than on the more Said the Israeli officer, "I should have known." and shops. Many signs and advertisements are in general possibility that yet another Israeli ad- Arabic, and Arabic is heard everywhere. The The lesson in this, and in the manner in which the vance might be followed by bitter political dissen- Palestinians here have adjusted to America with Israeli army officer brushed off a Jewish Communist, is sion among Arabs. Still, many Jordanians ex- varying success, but all cling tenaciously to their self-descriptive. Isn't the enemy from one's own ranks the pressed surprise that the King had agreed to ac- roots. worst to contend with? , .