68 Friday, September 3, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Yeshiva Students in the IDF Statistics of the Lebanese Fighting By JAMES LEWIN World Zionist Press Service Yeshiva students at the Ramat Hagolan Yeshivat Hesder study with their weapons at their side. Stu- dents spend four years at the yeshiva, alternating study with service in the army. All of the students were called up for active service in the "Peace for Galilee" campaign in Lebanon. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee supports 170 religious schools in Israel, with a student population of 27,000. Would you believe that as the flames were consuming these innocent victims, the inquisitors . . . were chant- ing our prayers? These piti- less monsters invoked the God of Mercy and kindness and pardon while commit- ting the most atrocious, barbarous crime, acting in a way which demons in their rage would not use against brother demons. —Voltaire To: The Jewish News 1' 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd. Suite 865 Southfield, Mich. 48075 Yet, the search for exact information has proven somewhat elu- sive. Economics Minister Yaacov Meridor, co- ordinator of a special committee to assist the Lebanese, declared be- fore the Knesset that the final, correct figures for the number of victims, in total, actually numbered less than 500 dead and approximately 1,000 wounded. This may be substantially correct. Yet, more exact figures later released by the IDF tabulated exactly 331 dead and no more than 1,000 wounded. ViElf JUST from: Paste in old label To: NAME Effective Date JEURSALEM — Perhaps the greatest flaw of the Op- eration Peace for Galilee has been the failure, par- ticularly in the first days of fighting, by Israeli govern- ment sources to make known the true nature of what is happening in Leba- non today and to facilitate its reporting. First reports of 10,000 dead, five or six times that number of wounded, and 600,000 refu- gees were based on wild exaggerations invented by the PLO propaganda machine, and seemingly legitimized by the false con- firmation of the "Lebanese Red Cross." In reality, there were not that many people in the entire area now under Is- raeli control, including the 115,000 residents of the sec- tor governed by Lebanese Major Saad Haddad. Among Lebanese civilians, as has been well documented now, leaflets warning the popu- lation of the impending in- vasion allowed the vast majority to escape from their homes before the Is- raeli air attack. Also, many of the civilian casualties which did occur were caused directly and indirectly by the PLO, who chose hospitals and homes for their installations, shielding themselves be- hind non-combatants. The crucial difference betweei the IDF and the PLO is that while Israel cannot always avoid civilian casualties, the terrorists specialize al- most exclusively in attacks on innocent victims. I Despite Meridor's denials during sharp questioning at a press conference near the Lebanese border, he later had to admit that the IDF figures included only the Lebanese casualties while the numbers of Palestinian dead and wounded in south- ern Lebanon have not yet been released, and can probably only be estimated at best. The total of homeless sur- vivors was at first officially set at about 20,000. Yet again, it's now evident that these latest statistics did not include the Palestinians who were presumably al- ready classified as "refu- gees." Latest statistics in- clude up to 30,000 Palesti- nian homeless in addition to previously quoted number of native Lebanese. Even the best intentions cannot prevent the human suffering which results from armed conflict. But at least there can be no doubt that Israel has made every effort to ensure the maximum of humanitarian aid to the injured on the scene. sonnel, as well as 20 ambu- lances from Magen David Adorn, have been sent back home for lack of work. Im- prisoned PLO men have been visited by the Red Cross. rian prisoners-of-war are also receiving medical care in Israeli facilities. Some of the volunteers who came to help the war victims, including Swedish and Finnish medical per- * Approximately 250 . Lebanese were treated under fire by Israeli med- ical field units. In addi- tion, around 300 sick and wounded Lebanese patients are now in Is- raeli hospitals, brought by ambulance and helicopter. Presently, there are 22 hospitals functioning in Si- don, Tyre and Nabatiye, which deal with most of the needs of the populace. All wounded terrorists and Sy- A Lebanese family returns to Sidon after the fight- ing. KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE By Don McEvoy VICTIMS AND EXECUTIONERS E lie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor. He is also a writer, „ a teller of tales. More poignantly than any other who has attempted to translate that cataclysm into human language, Wiesel forces us to confront this man-made nightmare that divides history into two sharply demarcated ages. He speaks and writes of Holocaust. not because he wishes, but because he must. Despite the inadequacy of language, he speaks because silence would be betrayal: one final betrayal of.Hitler's helpless victims. His first book, and the best known, is entitled "Night". It is autobiographical. It tells the story of his own years of imprisonment; from the morning when he was only. four- teen years of age, when all the Jews of his village in Transylvania were herd- ed like cattle and shipped away; to his own ultimate liberation. One cannot read this story and ever be the same again. It ii the chronicle o-f what it means to be a vic- tim. It sears itself into the conscience and the consciousness of the reader. But Wiesel has written more. He has other tales to tell. His second hook is entitled "Dawn". It, too, is the story of a Holocaust survivor. The central character, Elisha, having been liberated from Buchenwald, has gone to Paris. There he is befriended by Gad, who recruits him to join the Jews of Palestine who are fighting the British prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. Gad explains that the time has come for the Jews to seize their own destiny and create their own nation. Too long we have been the world's victims. Too long the only ones- to obey the commandment, Thou shalt not kill, is Gad's plea. Elisha immediately responds: "This was the first story I had ever heard in which the Jews were not the ones to be afraid. Until this moment I had believed that the mission of the Jews was to represent the trembling of history rather than the wind that makes it tremble. – He goes to Palestine anti becomes a part of - the liberation movement. Ultimately he finds himself as the guard of a British officer who has been taken in retaliation for the cap- ture of David hen Moshe, the com- mando leader. The British have an- nounced their intention to execute Moshe at dawn, and the Zionists have promised to answer in the ex- ecution of John Dawson if their leader is not set free. Through the long night the two men, the guard and his hostage, wait and talk. At dawn word is received that David ben Moshe has been shot, and the order is given to kill Dawson. Elisha places his gun on the cheSt of his prisoner. Just as he pull the trig- ger, Dawson has begun to speak, "Elisha "I fired. When he pronounced my name he was already dead. A dead man, whose lips were still warrn,.had pronounced my name....That's it, I said to myself. It's done. I've killed. I've killed Elisha." In that terrible moment he discovers that killing another is somehow akin to killing something in oneself, and that it is no better to be an executioner than to be a victim. (Don McEvoy is Senior Vice President of the National Conference of Christians and ,Jews. The. opinions expressed are his own.)