THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

the

Impression of Shipler's Series Is Criticized

(Continued from Page 48)
fears of one group toward
the other. When Jewish
parents are slow to have
their children visit Arab vil-
lages because of fear for
their safety, it is made to
appear that these fears have
little to do with reality. This
is not to say that there
exists much violence
against Jews in these vil-
lages, but it is relevant that
Jews in Israel are con-
stantly subject to all kinds
of Arab physical and verbal
violence and it is therefore
not merely stereotyping on
their part.
On the other hand, when
Shipler refers to Arab fears
of Jewish violence he places
it in the context of Jewish
military and police power
over the Arabs, i.e. he
understands their reaction.
Or when Jews oppose
establishing friendships
with Arabs it is depicted
as a manifestation of
stereotyping or even
bigotry; there is no dis-
cussion of the relevance
of Jews seeing them-
selves as a minority in a
Middle East of more than
100 million Arabs dedi-
cated to swamping the
Jews.
When Arabs oppose
friendship, however, one
hears little about basic hos-
tility toward Jews, but
much about Jewish oppres-
sion creating these reac-
tions.
Again, when Arabs ac-
cuse Jews of being Nazis,
there are "explanations."
One hears nothing about
simple anti-Jewishness. In-
stead, there are comments
that these Holocaust
analogies surface because of
provocative remarks by
Menahem Begin or there
are expressions of under-
standing that, after all,
these are statements by
Arab men who feel op-
pressed (PLO prisoners).
Shipler makes a fascinat-
ing and perhaps revealing
translation in telling the
story of two Israelis who are
physically threatening an
Arab. He reports the Arab

Jerusalem Vote
Tied to Arafat

TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Is-
raeli observors believe the
defeat of Yasir Arafat by
opposing PLO factions in
Syria has had a positive ef-
fect in Judea and Samaria.
There was a 50 percent
increase in voter turnout
among East Jerusalem
Arabs during the recent
municipal elections in
Jerusalem. Some 12,500
Arabs out of 55,000 poten-
tial Arab voters, cast ballots
in the election, compared to
8,300 Arab voters in 1978.
About 93 percent of the bal-
lots were case for incumbent
Mayor Teddy Kollek's "One
Jerusalem" ticket.
The Arabs voted in spite
of a pre-election editorial in
the pro-PLO Al Fajr news-
paper published in the Old
City. The editorial called
voting in the municipal
elections "tantamount to
recognizing the unilateral
reunification of the city."

as addressing the Israelis as
"My Lord, My Lord." In
fact, it is doubtful that the
Arab spoke English. If he
spoke Hebrew, as is most
likely, he would have used
the words "Adoni, Adoni" —
which is the customary
manner that strangers ad-
dress each other in Hebrew
and which more normally
translated means, "Sir," or
"Mister," and hardly ever
"My Lord."
More of the pattern
when discussing the im-
pact of Lebanon on rela-
tions, the articles note
that on the Jewish side
there are those who have
begun to reconsider their
prejudice because of the
experience — read that to
mean that the war
against the Arabs in
Lebanon opened their
eyes to what they are; the
Arabs, on the other hand
are now said to be less
willing to reconsider
their attitudes because of
what the Jews did —
read: once again the
Arabs are justified in
their hostility.
Why not point out that
the war in Lebanon only
came about because PLO
terrorists were making life
impossible for Israelis in the
north and how remarkable
it is that even after that
there are many Israelis who
still are willing to look at
themselves?
Particularly noteworthy
is the absence of attempts to
draw conclusions from
Jewish attitudes towards
the Israeli Druze commu-
nity as opposed to other
Arabs. The fact that the
Druze are regarded more
highly by Israeli Jews
seems to flow directly from
their posture toward the
Arab-Israeli conflict — they
clearly support Israel and
are therefore perceived
differently by the Jewish
public.
The importance of this
point for analysis of Jewish
attitudes is critical; it
suggests .that the hostility
may have far less to do with
racism than with the politi-
cal environment most Is-
raelis associate, correctly,
with the Arab world. One
might then move from there
to suggest that when the
Arab world finally comes to
accept Israel's legitimacy,
then maybe many hostile
attitudes will diminish if
not disappear.
One more example of
selective reportage: Ship-
ler cites Alouph Hare-
ven's interpretation of
the Middle East scene to
the effect that the region
is now in an age of
pluralism where Israel is
more welcome and there-
fore Jews should change
their attitudes toward
Arabs. Maybe yes, but
maybe no:
With Islamic fundamen-
talism raging, with prop-
aganda attacks on Jews
abounding (recall recent
anti-Semitism at the UN by
the Libyan ambassador),
Hareven's conclusion is
questionable. Shipler, here
as elsewhere, fails to cite
other Israeli views of the

larger Middle East context
which would cast the details
of relations in a very differ-
ent light.
Shipler's very different
standards for assessing
each group's attitudes make
for an imbalanced assess-
ment. Why did he handle
the subject this way? One
can only speculate, but his
reference to Ricky
Sherover-Marcus, "an
American specialist in ra-
cism," may provide the an-
swer.
He describes her as con-
ducting a workshop with 40
Jews on their attitudes
toward Arabs and he notes
that she "has done the same
with white Americans."
There is much to suggest
that Shipler has projected
his American experience
onto the Israeli scene; white
racism against blacks be-
comes the unspoken model
for examining Jewish atti-
tudes toward Arabs. This is
most unfortunate because
the situations bear only the
slightest resemblance to
each other, and Shipler and

the New York Times should
certainly know that.
There are many other
questions one could ask
about the balance of these
articles — including why
the New York Times chose
to print them at this par-
ticular time and with the
prominence that three
front-page locations in the
Times commands.

Friday, January 21, 1984 19

ORCHESTRA

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A study of anti-Israel bias — The story
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