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Gold & Diamond Rings at Astreins 25% OFF ASTREIN'S AE/MC/VISA Accepted 14 FRIDAY, JULY 10. 1987 19 95 With Coupon Semi-Metallic Pads Extra • COMPUTERIZED 4-WHEEL ALIGNMENT fligt _I r • • • • • • J We feature original designs not available elsewhere 120 W. Maple • Birmingham • 644-1651 Mon.-Sat. 10-5:30 • Thurs. & Fri. 'til 9:00 NBC Special Offered Cliches And Distortions BERL FALBAUM Special to The Jewish News N BC's recent look into the soul of Israel and the Isreali-Arab, con- flict which aired July 1, must have given viewers the impression that they were watching a rerun. As has been the case in so many of these documen- taries, NBC reverted to political cliches, the same distortions made in previous presentations and the same one-sided view of a very complex political, social and cultural dilemma. Not surprising, the Arab community was postured as the victim with Israel the oppressor. Even the title of the show, Six Days Plus 20 Years: A Dream Is Dying, is hardly the epitome of objec- tivity. NBC might have 'displayed a little more finesse by at least posing a question: "Is the Dream Dy- ing?" It was very clear throughout the show that NBC, ignoring some impor- tant historical arguments, had concluded that Israel has taken the "homeland" away from the Palestinians. This point of contention is subject at least to some debate, but not for NBC. There was no discussion that there probably is greater disagreement as to what to do about the West Bank among Arab nations than there is between Israel and West Bank Arabs. This point is discussed at some length in an article, "Arab vs. Arab Over Palestine" in the July issue of Commentary. Of course, much time was spent on civil abuses by Israelis and lots of film footage was shown of Israeli soldiers kicking Arabs and Arab children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers. None of this is to suggest that the present Israeli policy on the West Bank should be unchallenged. Nor is it to suggest that abuses by Israelis should be immune from media coverage; they should not. But in discussing how the Arabs suffer, NBC might have pointed out the rights Arabs do enjoy under the oc- cupation and — again while the abuses require airing — Tom Brokaw and his col- leagues might have broad- cast some elements of the peaceful coexistence of Arab and Jew. In fact, it is no less than a political wonder that the Ci- ty of Jerusalem, under the skilled administrative hand of Mayor Teddy Kolleck, for all its problems, has all-in- all fared pretty well these 20 years. How this has been ac- complished might really have been "news" for NBC's viewers and it need not have diminished the inherent problems of the occupation. There was no mention of how Israel has maintained Jerusalem as an open city for all major religions nor that in pre-1967, Jews were not permitted to visit or pray at the Western Wall. The entire program focus- ed on the West Bank — centering on such militant enclaves as Hebron — and how it was eroding the fiber of Israel. While the West Bank issue is an important and vital one in Israel, there are other matters — very crucial security and political ones — which also affect the sur- vival of the Jewish State and they are not necessari- ly inseparable from the West Bank problem. Those interviewed ap- parently were picked very carefully for their views. On the Arab side, all those in- terviewed severely criticized Israel. Indeed, when NBC showed Arabs working con- genially in a Jewish bakery, the narrator added somewhat skeptically that they "seemed" happy and sometimes even sang. On the Israeli side, reporters interviewed primarily a former IDF soldier — he appeared to be an American — who had become disenchanted with Israeli, policy on the West Bank, a very militant resi- dent living in Kiryat Arba and one public official — not surprising — Rabbi Meir Kahane. No moderate or centrist Israelis were interviewed and the closest the program came to attempting to achieve balance was to pit an Israeli intellectual with his Arab counterpart to discuss the West Bank issue at the end of the program. The problem was that after 50 minutes of a one-sided presentation, the Israeli, Rabbi David Hartman, ap- parently also a liberal, was on the defensive, finally con- cluding that he will not feel