4
Friday, September 21, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
THE JEWISH NEWS
Serving Detroit's Metropolitan Jewish Community
with distinction for four decades.
Editorial and Sales offices at 17515 West Nine Mile Road,
Suite 865, Southfield, Michigan 48075-4491
TELEPHONE 424-8833
PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger
EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz
EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt
BUSINESS MANAGER: Carmi M. Slomovitz
ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym
NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky
LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Tedd Schneider
LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin
•
OFFICE STAFF:
Marlene Miller
Dharlene Norris
Phyllis Tyner
Pauline Weiss
Ellen Wolfe
PRODUCTION:
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES:
Donald Cheshure
Lauri Biafore
Cathy Ciccone
Rick Nessel
Curtis Deloye
Danny Raskin
Ralph Orme
Seymour Schwartz
© 1984 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520)
Second Class postage paid at Southfield, Michigan and additional mailing offices. Subscription $18 a year.
CANDLELIGHTING AT 7:14 P.M.
VOL. LXXXVI, NO. 4
Genocide treaty, again
After more than 35 years, it is far past the time for the United States to
approve the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide. Approved by 96 countries and endorsed by every President since
Truman, except Eisenhower, the convention has always failed ratification in
the Senate, largely because of conservative opposition. This year again, Sen.
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) might threaten a filibuster, arguing that the genocide
agreement would weaken American sovereignty.
But we urge the Senate to approve this long-overdue measure. The
long-term effect of America's failure to ratify the convention has been to
seriously damage this country's standing as the leading advocate of
international human rights and the rule of law. The United States has
repeatedly found itself in the embarrassing position of having the Soviet
Union (which has endorsed the treaty) exploiting our inaction on the genocide
convention by questioning the seriousness of U.S. human rights advocacy.
Former U.S. Ambassador to, the U.N. Arthur Goldberg once told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that other U.N. delegates often asked him
about the lack of action on the genocide convention and, he stated, "Frankly, I
never found a convincing answer."
That is because there is none. It was Raphael Lemkin, who lost his
parents and 45 other family members in the Holocaust, who single-handedly
created and fought for an international human rights treaty to condemn
genocide. Lemkin died in 1959 at the age of 58, his dream of American
ratification unfulfilled. Now the Senate is dealing with the issue once more. It
is never too late for the United States to reassert its moral leadership and
make the simple statement that crimes against .humanity will not be
tolerated and will not go unpunished.
The glory of Israel
With all the burdens, the glory of Israel is the uninterrupted heartening
factor that provides the satisfation in laboring for the Jewish state. It is a
responsibility to retain the immensity of great achievements.
An inspiring endorsement of these sentiments — proving that it is
neither boasting nor delusion — was provided in viewpoints expressed by a
journalist of great merit. Thomas Friedman, who gained recognition for his
coverage of the Lebanese war, receiving the Pulitzer Prize and widest acclaim
for many quarters, upon being transferred by the New York Times to cover
Israel, spoke out in an interview published in Israel in News View.You were
in Beirut for some time. How did you find it?
"Professionally, very satisfying but personally, very trying. Beirut got to
me in the end. I started getting depressed and I wouldn't do certain stories
because I couldn't handle them emotionally. I had covered so much bad news
— Sabra and Shatilla, the Shouf Mountain massacres, the Marines, Tripoli, I
had written "dead" and "wounded" so many times — I got depressed.
So you're glad to be in Israel?
"Very. My wife and I drove from Beirut. When we crossed the border, I
could sense the change immediately: the wide roads, the well-ordered orange
groves, the stop-lights. Then I saw a sign near Caesarea, 'Beware of Strong
Winds.' It blew my mind. I had come from a place where people are killing
each other like flies and no one gives a damn, and here's a society that warns
you about the wind. That really struck me. That to me was the whole
difference."
It's a brief comment, but it spells volumes. It relates to a nation of
builders who are transforming deserts, making their garden spots.
OP-ED
Peace, security major issues
for Israel and the Middle East
BY SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER
Special to The Jewish News
The turmoil I found in the
Mideast on a recent six-day, six-
country trip was nowhere better illus-
trated than in conflicting judgments
expressed by top Israel leaders on how
to achieve peace with security. Is-
rael's resolution of opposing views on
the future of the West Bank may be
the linchpin of both the national
unity government combining Labor
and Likud and peace with neighbor-
ing Arab states.
Former Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir stated that because the West
Bank is part of historic Israel, it can-
not be given up. In addition, his Likud
bloc finances new settlements by
Jewish pioneers, even in areas heav-
ily populated by Arabs, and opposes
dismantling any existing settle-
ments. These policies virtually pre-
clude trading occupied territory for
negotiated peace. His ultimate argu-
ment, however, is that retaining the
land is vital to Israel's defense.
New Premier and Labor Party
leader Shimon Peres maintains that
offering to dismantle at least some
settlements and returning some
jurisdiction to local authority is a pre-
requisite to peace. He says, further,
that all the land of the West Bank is
not indispensable for Israel's defense.
Ezer Weizman, former Defense
Minister of - Begin's Likud govern-
ment who originally achieved fame as
commander of Israel's peerless Air
Force, provided a general's view of
this defense issue. Relaxed, tan, and
obviously enjoying his party's role as
part of the balance of power in forma-
tion of the new government, he spoke
at length about his vision of Israel's
future. On the West Bank, however,
he was terse and categorical: the West
Bank, far from being a military asset,
is a serious liability. In a conflict, he
Senator Arlen Spectre represents
Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.
said, saving settlers would divert the
Israeli Defense Forces from fighting
the war.
Weizman's most interesting
views, however, were based on his
understanding not of military forces,
but of historical and economic forces.
Returning the West Bank, he argued,
was vital to restoring the status quo
resulting from the U.N. mandate and
the Independence War of 1948. Israel
fought, he said, for the rest of Pales-
tine. The Arabs fought to take back
Israel as created by the United Na-
Reliance on peace-making
rather than war-making is
also required to avert
economic collapse.
tions. Both failed. Both ultimately ac-
cepted this territorial compromise
which, therefore, is essential to peace.
Reliance on peace-making rather
than war-making is also required to
avert economic collapse. With infla-
tion reaching 400 percent, interest
rates climbing and mass bank-
ruptcies threatened, defense spend-
ing, he said, must be reduced — vastly
and quickly.
In Weizman's view, Israel
needed, long-term, to redirect its ta-
lent and energy from defense to bank:
ing and computers, to becoming the
Silicon Valley of the Middle East.
Withdrawal from Lebanon and re-
turn of the West Bank were therefore
compelled by historical and economic
realities.
Besides Israel, I visited Saudi
Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and
Oman in the Middle East (and Ger-
many and Italy en route). Every Arab
leader expressed to me his conclusion
that without a reversal of Israeli
policies on Lebanon and West Bank
Continued on Page 32