I COMMENT I
Jewish Response
HELP US
CELEBRATE
OUR
Mr: & Mrs.
Norman Adelsberg
recipients of the
Tomchei Torah Award
24th ANNIVERSARY
BANQUET
AKIVA HEBREW
DAY SCHOOL
.
Guest Speaker:
Yehuda Blum
Former Israeli Ambassador
to the United Nations
Sunday, April 24, 1988
Shaarey Zedek Synagogue
27375 Bell Road
Southfield, 1VE
Salek Lessman
General Chairman
- Patron Committee Chairperson Jack Zwick
Banquet Chairpersons
Marjorie Burstyn, Rosa Chessler and Fran Rogers
Cocktails 6:00 p.m.
Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Couvert $180 per couple
for reservations call
552-9690
Paul Borman
I honorary Chairman
YESHIVAT AKIVA
Continued from Page 6
ing ambivalence faced by
American Jews who consider
themselves liberals. He con-
ceded that dissent by Ameri-
can Jews may give aid and
comfort to Israel's enemies,
and that there is an awkward-
ness in the idea that Jews
here—safe and secure—can
tell the Jerusalem govern-
ment how to manage its own
security affairs.
"But I cannot accept the
argument of those who say
that the task of the Jewish
community in times of crisis
is to draw together," he said.
"The distinction between be-
ing a lover of Zion and a sup-
porter of the policie s of Zion
has somehow been lost in all
these years of quarrel. My
relationship with the state of
Israel is not a political rela-
tionship, it's a family rela-
tionship."
Peretz chastised American
Jews for their moral hand-
wringing over the issue of
whether dissent is approp-
riate. Much of this kind of
talk, he said, comes from
Jews with only a tenuous con-
nection to Israel.
"In 1982, during the
Lebanese war, there was a
statement issued which
began 'we Jews can no longer
remain silent? I looked at this
list of signers, many of whom
I knew—and the one thing
most of them weren't known
for was their silence. Except,
perhaps, for their silence on
whether they had been Jews
or not. That phenomenon—
Jews distancing themselves
from the political survival of
Israel—has reemerged again!"
He defended Israel's re-
sponse to the disorders by
pointing to the refusal of
Palestinians or their sup-
porters in Arab countries to
bring their grievances to the
negotiating table.
"It is 10 years since the
Camp David agreements
were signed!' Peretz said. "In
Camp David, perhaps insin-
cerely and certainly with a
very chintzy view of a possi-
ble solution, the government
of Israel accepted the self-
determination of the Pales-
tinian people. Ten years after
the agreement, which envi-
sioned negotiations between
Israel and Palestinians, the
people so invited to those
negotiations have not ap-
peared."
He suggested that many
American Jews are deluding
themselves about the shape
an independent Palestinian
state might take. "Palesti-
nian self-determination does
not mean self-determination
in Western terms. It would
not mean a regime of freedom
and liberty. Let's not be
romantic and sentimental; it
Leonard Fein: Circling the
wagons.
will be a regime like all of the
other regimes in the Arab
world. It will begin by extrac-
ting the blood debts, and wag-
ing sectarian war!'
Fein, while not defending
the PLO, argued that some
kind of Palestinian national
entity is inevitable—and that
the sooner this happens, the
more control Israel will have
over the shape it ultimately
takes.
"I don't view an invitation
to participate in negotiations
as a reward for good behav-
ior," he said. "lb my great
regret, the representative of
the other party to the conflict
is the PLO, to my way of
thinking the most scurrilous
national liberation movement
in the world?'
Peretz's bottom line ap-
peared to be his belief that
the fundamental goals of the
Palestinian movement have
not changed.
"I believe that the struggle
is still in large measure the
struggle for Palestine—that
this is just one more stage in
the hundred-years war," he
said. "The Palestinians, and
many of their Arab neighbors,
still see the existence of Israel
as an offense to Islam and an
offense to the Arab nations.
"I believe that the inner
voice of Palestinian struggle
was articulated in the adver-
tisement in the New York
Times a few weeks ago. It said
that minimum justice calls
for the dissolution of the state
of Israel, and a democratic
secular state in Israel.
"And that ambition has
been reinforced by the delir-
ium of victory, and by the
hand-wringing of Israel's
friends."
Both men agreed that there
are dangers in pushing Israel
too fast. Peretz pointed to the
hazards of a "disorderly"
retreat from the occupied ter-
ritories. Fein emphasized the