2 Friday, January 10, 1986

,'1A 'DHENTIthkiiFf NEWS

STRUCTURE OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO)

The Root Of Terror
And The Guilt
Of indifference

Yasser

The tragic end of 1985, the frightful
prediction for 1986, combine to recognize
the guilt while demanding recognition of
the root of the horror.
The indifference of many nations
which failed to mobilize an organized effort
to deny the freedoms terrorists enjoyed
- until now demands the admission of guilt
during the years when the murderous
gangs centered in the Middle East were
able to invade countries of their choice. The
comfort' Austria and Italy gave the PLO,
whose murderous adherents found refuge
there with the assent of the governments
in power, provide proof of such accusations.
Then there is the root of the terror: it is
the PLO and primarily its chief promoter of
hijackings and mass murders.
PLO sponsors the guilty, while con-
stantly reasserting that it does not approve
of what has occurred as its policy outside
Israel. Its spokesmen and representatives
at the U.N. thereby confess to the terrors
they would not cease in Israel proper. But
in Vienna and in Rome there was the
boasting of a war in which children will be
among the first targets. '
Therein lies the major challenge to
mankind: to recognize that while Israel is
the claimed target mankind is the chief
sufferer.
Therefore the demand that the guilty
be apprehended, that the PLO root of the
problem that is becoming an international
evil be conceded, that the Fatah actions
serve to awaken a sleeping world consci-
ence.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Jerusalem has summarized the guilt in a
published statement, accompanied by ap-
pendices with factual data, calling atten-
tion to the organized PLO hijackings and
mass murders which operated under many
names, and most of them with headquar-
ters in a number of Arab states. The ac-
companying chart included in the Foreign
Ministry's revelations tells a major portion
of the story. The Fatah function, which was
admitted in the surviving terrorist's con-
fession in Rome, becomes a matter of seri-
ous consideration in the vigilance de-
_ mended in a possible prevention of the hor-
rors that were perpetrated in Rome and in
Vienna.
The indictments by thelIsrael Minis-
try of Foreign Affairs, in its published
statement just issued in Jerusalem under
the title "The Threat of PLO Terrorism,"
contains many facts that are basic to the
continuing threats, and an introductory
revealing assertion must be viewed with
great seriousness. It indicates:

The Palestine Liberation Or-
ganization (PLO) was established
by a decision of the Arab League in
1964 as an instrument in the Arab
war against Israel. Since then, it
has been financed and maintained
by various Arab governments. The
PLO serves as the umbrella or-
ganization of a number of terrorist
factions, each following its own
line with regard to tactics.
AR the affiliated groups, how-
ever, are united in subscribing to
the PLO charter, the Palestine Na-
tional Covenant, which states that
the "armed struggle is the only way to
liberate Palestine. Thus it is the over-
all strategy, not merely a tactical ph-
ase" (Article 9); "The Liberation of
Palestine . . . aims at the elimination
of the Zinoist presence" (Article 15);
and "the Arab Palestinian people . .
reject all substitutes for the total lib-

.

PALESTINIAN
FRONT (pro-S

Fatah — Abu MUsa

National Council

PFLP — George Habash

executive-Cornmitte

PFLP-GC — Ahmed Jibril

Central Council

Fatah

—

YasserArafat

Salka Issam al-Khadi

PSF SamirGhisha

PLF — Yaakub; al-Ghanem

unaffiliated Palestinian Terror Groups Headed by

Abu Nida

.

I

eration of Palestine" (Article 21).
These ideas and goals are reiter-
ated in most of the thirty-three Ar-
ticles of the Covenant, which has
been confirmed repeatedly, in full,
by the PLO.
In February 1969, Yasser
Arafat, at the head of the PLO's
largest constituent faction, Fatah,
took control of the entire organza-
tion. Since then, the PLO has per-
petrated some 8,000 acts-of terror,
mostly against Israeli civilian
targets, causing the deaths of over
650 Israelis and the wounding of
thousands more. Other victims
have included Jews abroad, inno-
- cent bystanders of many
nationalities and Arab political
opponents.
Among the world's terror or-
ganizations, the . PLO, with Fatah
at its core, is the only one that —
• has as its declared aim the liqui-
dation of a sovereign state;
• is sponsored by sovereign
states: receiving financial and
material assistance from Arab
governments, some of which also
provide it with operational bases
on their territory;
• has offices and contacts
throughout the world and is the
centre of regional and interna-
tional terrorism.
Thus the sharing of guilt by Arab gov-
ernments is apparent; the leadership of
Fatah as the PLO tool is not denied; not
Jews and Israelis alone but victims of the
mounting terror include representatives of
many faiths, of many nations.
The duty unfolding in treating the
horrors demands outlawing of PLO where-
ver it may rear its ugly image, whether as
Fatah or under any other name. Whatever
spells PLO and its associates'must be de-
clared mankind's enemy. When Arab
states fail to join in such efforts their guilt
should not be denied and spokespeople for
them, at the U.N. or in Washington or any
governm ent capital, must not be credited
with respect. The message of eternal vigi-
lance, now 'again, against PLO and its
cohorts everywhere, is apparent!

Naji Alush

1 ['Salim Abu Salem

Abu Ibrahim

'American Rabbinate':
Marcus-Peck Edited
Definitive Documentary

Theological disputes may never cease
in Jewry. They are part of the people's ex-
perience in approaching inner- relation-
ships and interpreting devotions. Cur-
rently, as in the past several decades, the
differing views over conservative, , Or-
thodox and Reform leanings are argumen-
tative. Therefore, the authoritatively de-
finitive carry much weight in published
literature relating to the three Jewish
groupings.
The American Rabbinate: A Century
of Continuity and Change, 1883-1983
(Ktav) is an exceptionally edited volume
with essays providing the definitive in-
terpretations of the three major Jewish re-
ligious group and their history in this
country. While each group is treated sepa-
rately by an authoritative author, the fact
that the volume actually was compiled by
the American Jewish Archives, its three,
tors;Dr. Jacob R. Marcus and Abraham J.
Peck, should be credited with inspiring the
collected effort.
Rabbi Jeffrey S: Gurock, professor of
history at Yeshiva University; Rabbi Ab-.
raham J. Keep, professor of history and
religion at the University' of Rochester,
and Dr. David Polish, founding rabbi, of
Cong. Beth Emet Free Synagogue,
Evanston, M., authored the essays on Or-
thodoxy, Conservativatisni and Reform re-
spectively. Dr. Jonathan D. Barna, Hebrew
Union College professor, authored an im-
portant introduction.
• There are important referenCes to De-
troit religious leaders in these essays, giv-
ing the volume an especially interesting
local aspect. For example,Rabbi Yehtidah
Leib Levin, who was associated with
Shaarey Zedek in Detroit and on occasions
was referred, to ae Detreit's Chief Rabbi in
his 'Orthodox role, was a founder, with 50
Orthodox rabbis who were recent arrivals
in the United States from European coun-
tries, of the Agudat ha-Rabbaanim (Union
of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States
and Caneda). The founding meeting took
place on July 29, 1902, in the Machzike

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I

Talmud Torah on NeW York's East Broad-
way.
In his introductory essay, with refer-
ence to Orthodoxy, Dr. Sarna makes this
interesting comment about an effort to
create a Chief Rabbinate in this country.
His summation is so impressive that it
merits serious consideration in judging the
contrasts confronted in this volume. 'Dr.
Sarna points Out:
The essays contained in this
volume describe the shape of the
American rabbinate in the wake of
this new era. Jeffrey S. Gurock,
tracing the history of the Orthodox
rabbinate in America, opens with
two significant events of the late
1880s: the establishment of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, to train rabbis in "a spirit
of fidelity and devotion to the
Jewish law,"and the almost simul-
taneous establishment of the As-
sociation of American Orthodox
Hebrew Congregations, "to en.;
courage, foster and promote the
observance of the Orthodox
Jewish religion ... (and) to desig-
nate, support and maintain a Chief
Rabbi." Both developments
adumbrated Orthodoxy's increas-
ing presence on the American
scene, but as Gurock points out,
there the similarity ends.-For the
Seminary, though Orthodox, was
the institutional expression of
Westernised Jews already familiar
with secular culture, and con-
be.
c
• cerned to obero middle ourse
tween RaitentROferin Judaism on
the .0e0 heed, Itaml •ast European
Orthodox audailin on the other.
The association, by .contrast, and
more particularly the chief rabbi it
• selected, Rabbi Jacob Joseph of
'Vilna, sought to recreate East
European Orthodox patterns in
America by imposing a centralized
rabbinic authority, and by
strengthening immigrants' obser-
vance of ritual commandments. In
a word, thechiefrabbirepresented
resistance to America, an unwit;

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