CONTENTS
OPINION
12
FRONTLINES
Covering The Strife
DAVID HOLZEL
Has the Detroit Free Press coverage
of Israel affected local Jews'
attitude toward the JOA?
CLOSE-UP
The New Wave
Relig ious News Service
LISA JACKNOW ELLIAS
The latest immigrants
face different circumstances
than their predecessors.
32
INSIDE WASHINGTON
A Bush Shift?
Israeli Arabs demonstrate in Nazareth Jan. 23.
Palestinian Rioting Raises
Tough Questions For Jews
MITCHELL BARD
T
he Israeli response to the Pales-
tinian rioters in the Gaza Strip
has once again put American Jews
in the position of trying to defend Israel
and minimize the damage to its prestige in
the United States.
However, if events such as the massacre
at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in
Lebanon are any indication, it is unlikely
that there will be any diminution of public
support for Israel as a result of the negative
publicity.
It is also important to remember that
Americans have no obligation to defend
Israel's actions, but rather to place them
in context. Others have enunciated this
context, so rather than repeat familiar
arguments, allow me to raise some issues
"within the family."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of
Israel made a very interesting observation
on television. He pointed out that the
demonstrators were not carrying pictures
of Arafat or chanting slogans in support of
the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This contrasts with the behavior of the Ira-
nians prior to their revolution, who in-
cessantly marched behind placards of the
Ayatollah Khomeini.
This may indicate that the Palestinians
are frustrated not only with Israel, but
with their own self-appointed leaders who,
after all, have not regained a single inch
of Palestinian land in more than two
decades of armed struggle. If this is true,
then their actions illustrate that the
Lebanon war made the PLO all but irrele-
vant to the peace process.
But Peres immediately contradicted
Mitchell Bard is a foreign policy analyst living in
Washington, D.C.
himself by claiming the riots were in-
stigated by the PLO and its supporters. It
makes little sense to claim that the Palesti-
nians have lost faith in Arafat, but that
their actions are still controlled by the
PLO.
It is more likely that the current unrest
is, to a large extent, spontaneous. Some
events may have been orchestrated, but
others clearly are a response to Israeli ac-
tions such as arresting and killing
protesters.
The Gaza riots also indicate that Israel
has been lucky for the past 20 years. Dur-
ing that time, the more than one million
Palestinian Arabs under their control have
remained just that — under their control.
True, it has not been all luck; the govern-
ment has imposed a very effective system
of repression to maintain the population's
quiescence.
Yes, the Israelis have done many things
to improve the lives of the Palestinians, but
we should not confuse their relatively
benign treatment with the fact that they
are under occupation.
How much longer will those hundreds
or thousands of Palestinians, many still
confined to squalid refugee camps, remain
quiet? Will the Israeli military aparatus be
able to insure that stone-throwing does not
escalate to armed conflict on a much
broader scale? Perhaps.
The far right in Israel has consistently
argued that the territories represent no
danger to Israel; We are now witnessing
the danger.
How would the Palestinians react to the
not-so-far right's suggestion that the ter-
ritories be annexed? Would the Palesti-
nians line up quietly to board railroad cars
to be deported, as Kahane and recently,
more mainstream Israel politicians have
Continued on Page 10
JAMES DAVID BESSER
George Bush is trying to place
the Iran-Contra blame on Israel.
54
MEDIA MONITOR
Comic Critic
GARY ROSENBLATT
Woody Allen's New York Times article
criticizes Israel's tactics in Gaza.
FOCUS
Yad Vashem Is In Trouble
76
ARYEH DEAN COHEN
Israel's Holocaust memorial
has been forced to close
some of its programs.
83
AROUND TOWN
Super Results!
A photographic look at
the Allied Jewish Campaign's
Super Sunday telethon.
97
SINGLE LIFE
Love Manners
FRANCES SHERIDAN GOULART
How do your manners
in relationships rate?
DEPARTMENTS
36
40
57
80
82
84
86
88
96
120
Synagogues
Life In Israel
Entertainment
On Campus
Youth
For Seniors
Business
Engagements
Births
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
February 5, 1988
5:34 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISHaiimimmi