EDITORIAL

Fighting Fair

Marriage counselors tell us that disagreement is natural, even in
the best of relationships, and that the key to success is for the partners
to find the proper ways to vent their feelings.
This concept comes to mind in reading the news this week of
tensions and disagreements being voiced between American Jewish
and Israeli leaders. The Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations met in Jerusalem this week with the leaders of
the Israeli government and then spoke out against some of the
mistakes Israel made in the Pollard spy affair. Morris Abram, the
chairman of the Conference, called the job promotions of the Israelis
who recruited Jonathan Pollard to spy for Israel against the U.S. a
"serious and irresponsible act."
There were also reports this week of a study done by the New
York UJA-Federation of allocations made by the Jewish Agency,
Israel's official link with Diaspora Jewish philanthropies, urging
American Jews to pay closer attention to the way their money is spent
in Israel. The report stopped short of calling the Jewish Agency's
policies discriminatory in regards to its allocations to non-Orthodox
institutions, but it did call for greater accountability and described the
Agency as "bureaucratic," "archaic" and "politicized." (See related
stories, Page 12, 54)
These exchanges between the American Jewish community and
Israel are as necessary as they are painful. They are motivated by a
sincere desire to strengthen and improve the ties that bind us, for, like
in a good marriage, we are partners with a shared destiny.

if a former Democratic president does the negotiating. If Hafez Assad
of Syria "wins" the release of a few hostages under Syrian control in
another of his "humanitarian gestures," the Reagan policy remains
intact and outwardly has not bowed to terrorist demands. Carter would
regain the limelight, if only briefly, and the Democrats would gain
little from the actions of an ex-president who is no longer in their
mainstream.
This scenario is a repeat of Jesse Jackson's Syrian stageplay of
1984. It resulted in a hostage's release, instant headlines, and no
change in the status quo of state-supported hostage-taking as a matter
of foreign policy.
We bid Jimmy Carter success in his mission, but fear that the U.S.
is again playing a shell game in the Middle East.

Peanut Diplomacy

Jimmy Carter's current trip to the Middle East as "a private
citizen" is hard to swallow if true. A more realistic assessment,
supported by the State Department's briefing of the former President
before he left this week for several Arab states and Israel, is that
Carter is playing a front-man role for the Reagan Administration's
foreign policy.
The Reagan policy of not negotiating for hostages remains in place

LETTERS

Library Excluded

I am writing concerning
the article "Keepers of the
Books" by Ellyce Field (Mar.
6). This was supposed to be a
survey of the Jewish libraries
in Metropolitan Detroit. It
omitted several very good lib-
raries among which is the
Katkowsky Library of Cong.
Beth Achim. We were never
surveyed.
The Katkowsky Library,
founded in 1960 is a collec-
tion of 12,000 volumes of
Judaica. It is one of only a
few libraries accredited by
JWB Jewish Book Council.
The staff consists of two
librarians and two volun-
teers. It is used by students,
congregation membership
and is open to the commu-
nity.

Dr. Israel Wiener

Librarian,
Chairman, Library Committee

I want to complain about
your article, "Keeper of the
Books", which is so incom-
plete and inaccurate. You
omitted one of the most im-
portant and finest library col-
lections in the city: The Kat-

6

Friday, March 20, 1987

kowsky Library of Cong.
Beth Achim. It is an unusual
current reference source to
the entire community. Your
reporter showed her lack of
knowledge.

Ruben Isaacs

Southfield

A Fan Reveals
Hillel's Secret

I read with delight your ex-
cellent report and editorial
(Feb. 20) on the B'nai B'rith
Hillel Foundation at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. What
makes the place unique, as
your editorial suggested, is
Michael Brooks himself.
Michael surrounds himself
with highly competent and
vibrant associates — like
Joseph Kohane and Michael's
"chief of staff," Shirley — and
essentially lets their creative
juices run wild (subject, of
course, to his guiding hand).
The increasing diversity of
Hillel's programming, fur-
thermore, has attracted to
Hillel students (like myself)
who otherwise might never
have entered its doors. As
editor of Consider during its
initial year and as Michael's

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

long-time friend and fan, I can
say with confidence that he has
made Hillel a uniquely entic-
ing place for Jews and non-
Jews alike.
It is a tribute to Michael's
energy and vision that Hillel is
the most exciting place on a
very exciting campus. And it
says much about the local
Jewish community that it sup-
ports Hillel's diverse agenda.

Scott Winkelman

Harvard Law School
Cambridge, Massachusetts

International Par-
A Grave Error

Shimon Peres believes Is-
rael can buy peace by giving
away part of the Land of Is-
rael. Most Israelis disagree.
That is why he is calling for
an international peace con-
ference to put Israel against
the whole world. Most coun-
tries, including our United
States, call for Israel to sur-
render and withdraw from
Judea, Samaria, Gaza, Golan,
Jerusalem and more.
The eagerness of Mr. Peres
to make deals with terrorists
will bring the Jewish State to

its knees. Israel will lose its
security borders and will be-
come wide open exposed to
attack.
History tells how Neville
Chamberlain forced the
Czechs to give vital territory
to the Nazis. That also was
for the sake of peace. Hitler
did not keep his word. His
peace was that of a
graveyard. But Shimon Peres
and our State Department —
that pushes for Israel's return
to the 1949 suicide lines —
don't think that could happen
to Israel. They are ready to
believe Arab promises.

Hymie Cutler

Detroit

Media Ignore
Syrian Expansion

While the news media
hungrily close in for the kill
on the Reagan administra-
tion, they have missed a
major story of great impor-
tance ... The news media
have completely ignored the
Syrian regime's consolidation
of its control of Lebanon. The
Soviet-backed dictatorship in
Damascus is steadily strangl-
ing the sovereignty and free-

dom of what was once a
thriving pro-Western democ-
racy .
World War II should have
taught us that appeasement
of aggression doesn't work.
Sacrificing Lebanon to Soviet
clients in Damascus won't
make them peaceful, compas-
sionate, merciful or anything
else decent. It doesn't matter
that Syria has lessened the
level of violence between the
warring militias in Beirut,
they were the ones to insti-
gate the killing in the first
place.
They have been from the
beginning cruelly supplying
weapons and logistics to al-
most all the factions. In fact,
the centerpiece in the Syrian
strategy to conquer the rest
of Lebanon that it does not
already control, has been to
play off the competing groups
against each other until they
bled each other dry. No mat-
ter that it is rumored that
the western hostage tragedy
may soon end, the kidnap-
pings and other acts of ter-
rorism could never have been
committed in the first place
without the approval and
support of Syria. No matter

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