I CONTENTS I---
OPINION
CLOSE-UP
Empty Symbol
LILA ORBACH
Managua's
synagogue
and Nicaragua's
people share
a common fate.
42
ANN ARBOR
One-Sided Poetry
ANDY WEINE
A "dialogue event" takes on
an anti-Israel flavor.
CI)
46
SPORTS
co
0
0
Bursting The Bubble
A demonstrator was arrested during a Peace Now protest of the Israeli government's handling of the
Palestinian unrest in Gaza and the territories.
Moving Beyond Riot Coverage
MIKE ROSENBAUM
A recreation building will replace
the JCC's fallen tennis bubble.
50
.
A Leader's Concern
The End Result
THEODORE ELLENOFF
A
CARL ALPERT
n open letter to the people of
Israel:
I am addressing this letter to
you directly, not out of the presumption
that, as president of the American Jewish
Committee, I have any special standing
with you, but because American Jewry —
at least that portion on whose behalf I am
empowered to speak — feels an intense and
personal affinity for you.
Like many other American Jewish
organizations, my organization com-
municates directly with your government
both publicly and privately, and we will
continue to do so. But it is important for
you, the Israeli people, to know what our
organization feels and believes about the
current situation, for not only are we im-
portant to one another, but we also depend
on one another. Two major Jewish com-
munities, both intensely democratic, link-
ed by values and by a common history,
ought to speak directly and precisely to
each other.
Rest assured that the events of the past
six weeks have not divided us. We stand
with you, profoundly sympathetic to the
dilemma which you and your government
face in confronting the upsurge of violence
in the territories. We know -that Israel
never sought to be an occupier; that the
mainstream of Zionism always sought
cooperation and coexistence; that at every
juncture the Jewish leadership in Man-
datory Palestine and the State of Israel
recognized and accepted the presence and
rights of Palestinian Arabs.
From the Peel Commission in 1937 to
group of Arab women and children
went out for a peaceful walk one
morning, when they were brutally
attacked by a gang of pistol-toting Israeli
soldiers. Some of the Arabs had limbs and
ribs broken as they ran screaming from the
scene, helpless before the Jewish ruffians.
A few were shot in the back as they fled.
Word spread in the neighborhood, and in-
dignant groups of Arab teenagers gathered
to defend their families. Some threw stones
in the direction of the murderous
assailants, but were repulsed with tear gas
and shots fired into the mass of bodies. A
few who tripped and fell were lined up in
a courtyard and administered a thorough
beating with clubs and rifle butts, until
they were carried off in stretchers.
If the above does not ring true, there are
pictures to "prove" it.
There is another scenario. A gang of
hundreds of Arab boys waylay a patrol of
young Israeli soldiers, surround them and
begin hurling rocks at them. The soldiers
warn them off, but the gang closes in
threateningly. The soldiers fire warning
shots in the air and then, as the hail of
stones comes closer and closer, lob tear gas
at the crowd. Ten boys isolate a soldier, grab
his gun, knock him down and begin to kick
him. Other soldiers come to his rescue and
in the ensuing battle an Arab is killed,
nearby children suffer from tear gas, and
several limbs are broken. The pictures,
taken only at the very end of the fray, give
a distorted view of what happened.
Israel's greatest failure in the street
riots in the administered territories has
Continued on Page 10
Continued on Page 10
Ellenoff's letter appeared in the Jerusalem Post and
Davar on Feb. 2,
Carl Alpert writes a widely-syndicated column from
Haifa, Israel.
A
PEOPLE
Speaker Of Chelm
Corinne Stavish weaves fascinating
tales for her Detroit audiences.
55
ENTERTAINMENT
Fiddlin' Around
SUSAN TAUBER-HYKE
Max Leib's name
goes beyond
the violin
at the Fisher
and Birmingham.
65
ARTS
Jewish Humor
JOSEPH AARON
The author of "Jewish Wry"
sees the bright side in tragedy.
INSIGHT
Knowing Religion
Means More Than One
75
ARI L. GOLDMAN
An observant Jew's beliefs are tested
at Harvard Divinity School.
DEPARTMENTS
32
36
68
74
Inside Washington
Synagogues
Seniors
Business
80
86
88
112
CANDLELIGHTING
February 19, 1988
5:52 p.m.
Engagements
Births
Single Life
Obituaries