UP FRONT
MSU Arab Demonstration
Timed For Holocaust Week
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Staff Writer
ast Lansing — It was no
coincidence that a demon-
stration, initiated by Palesti-
nians and held Monday at Michigan
State University, fell the same week
as Holocaust Memorial Day. The
General Union of Palestinian
Students, which sponsored the event,
planned it that way.
"We're not saying that people
should forget the Holocaust," said one
demonstrator, who asked that her
name not be used. "What we want is
for people to learn from the
Holocaust. You know, the Jewish peo-
ple always think that just they have
been persecuted!'
The demonstration began not
long after noon just outside MSU's In-
ternational Center. It was split into
two distinct groups: the Palestinians,
carrying signs which equated Israel
with South Africa and the Israeli
government with the Nazis, and
Jewish students, who staged a
counter-demonstration.
The one exception was Eric
Sturm, a Jewish student who march-
ed with the Palestinians. Sturm said
he joined the Palestinians because,
"I'm against all killings. It's an issue
of humanity. I'm protesting in the
name of the children and mothers
killed!"
Walking beside Sturm was
demonstrator Lawrence Awwad, who
carried a sign illustrated with a
swastika inside a Star of David.
Awwad, one of about 40 Palestinians
who participated in the protest, said
Bob McKe own
E
Holocaust survivor Rudolf Leiser lights a candle on Sunday for the six million Jewish victims
of the Nazi Holocaust. The annual memorial academy sponsored by Shaarit Haplaytah —
Survivors of 1945 — was held at the Maple/Drake Jewish Community Center.
Editor Urges U.S. Jewry's
Involvement In Middle East
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Staff Writer
illel Schenker's parents had
a dream. They wanted to
move to Palestine and live on
a kibbutz.
But the young activists, both of
whom were members of the
Hashomer Hatzair youth movement,
were among those Jews forbidden by
the British government to immigrate
to Palestine.
So the two set up shop, so to
speak, in their Brooklyn home. They
H
created an "urban kibbutz" their son
said, and even spoke Hebrew. This is
where young Hillel was raised.
Today, Hillel Schenker is senior
editor of New Outlook, a magazine
representing the views of the Israeli
peace movement. A member of the
central committee of Mapam, a
socialist-Zionist party, he also helped
found Peace Now
When Schenker immigrated in
1963 to Israel, he fulfilled his parents'
dream: He became a member of Kib-
butz Barkai.
Continued on Page 12
ROUND UP
Israel Events
Sell Slowly
Tickets for upcoming events
marking Yom Ha'atzmaut,
Israel Independence Day, are
selling slowly but surely, ac-
cording to Jewish Communi-
ty Center staff who are coor-
dinating the sales.
"We expect a heavy pickup
at the end," said Center Ex-
ecutive Director Morton
Plotnick.
At midweek, 711 tickets
had been sold for Sunday's
performance of the Inbal
Dance Theatre at the 1,790
seat Music Hall.
Other events, slated for late
April and early May, have
sold about one-quarter of
available tickets, Plotnick
said.
Israel's Orot Hashcuna
singing group will appear
April 25. Former United Na-
tions Ambassador Jeane
Kirkpatrick will speak May .
1. Also on May 1, an Israel
Trade and Travel exposition
will open at the Tel-Twelve
Mall.
Jackson Refusal
Brings Dismay
New York (JTA) — The Rev.
Jesse Jackson's apparent
refusal to meet with Jewish
groups prior to Tuesday's
New York Democratic
primary has prompted
statements of dismay from
the umbrella organizations
that extended the invitations.
Lester Pollack, president of
the Jewish Community Rela-
tions Council of New York,
and Malcolm Hoenlein, ex-
ecutive director of the Con-
ference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organiza-
tions, also denied a charge by
Jackson's campaign manager,
Gerald Austin, that the
Democratic presidential can-
didate had been invited only
to be "harassed" by Jewish
leaders.
Jackson, meanwhile, re-
sponded for the first time to
repeated attacks by New York
Mayor Ed Koch, who said
that Jews would have to be
"crazy" to vote for the
candidate.
Speaking at the breakfast
meeting Monday, Jackson
said Koch's remarks threaten
to rupture race relations and
that "we deserve better
leadership than that?'
Said Jackson, "lb raise up
a race or a religious litmus
test does not contribute to
he • feels the sign is appropriate
because Israel's leaders want to
"weed the Palestinians out of the
country. Maybe they are doing it a dif-
ferent way (than Hitler), maybe they
are doing it more slowly. But the goal
is still the same."
The analogy between Israel and
the Nazis particularly offended many
of the Jewish students who -par-
ticipated in the counter-demon-
stration.
"It's in very poor taste," Michelle
Sage said. "'lb compare the Holocaust
with what's happening in Israel now
is very irrespectful, and it's going to
hurt a lot of people."
One of the Jewish marchers car-
ried a poster depicting a mass grave
of Nazi victims. "There is no com-
parison" was written below the
picture.
Jewish students learned of the
demonstration only three days before
it was staged. According to Joel
Hersh, a member of the Student
Coalition for Israel, they saw an an-
nouncement in campus paper The
State News which invited students to
"Join us in our demonstration suppor-
ting the Palestinian civilians fighting
genocide."
Then they began planning the
counter-demonstration, which includ-
ed preparing the posters and flyers
printed with Palestine Liberation
Organization chief Yassir Arafat's
quote, "Peace for us means the
destruction of Israel. Revolutionary
violence is the only means?'
Earlier in the week, the Palesti-
nian students had posted bright
Continued on Page 12
healing, which is what I'm in-
terested in doing!'
Red Cross
Is Satisfied
Geneva (JTA) — An official
of the International Commit-
tee of the Red Cross has said
the organization is well
satisfied with the cooperation
it is receiving from the Israeli
authorities during the cur-
rent unrest in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip.
Michel Amiguet, head of
the Geneva-based ICRC's
Middle East operations, said
that since the Palestinian
uprising began last Dec. 9,
the ICRC has lodged 150 com-
plaints with Israeli
authorities, and these of
serious cases of abuse.
expressed
Amiguet
understanding of the reaction
of Lsraeli security forces in dif-
ficult circumstances. "We do
not protest when a boy throw-
ing stones is beaten up, but
when a person in his home,
away from any demonstra-
tion, is beaten up seriously,
we protest," Amiguet said.
Appeal Follows
Expulsion
United Nations (JTA) —
Secretary General Javier
Perez de Cuellar appealed to
Israel Tuesday to allow eight
Palestinians it deported Mon-
day to return to the West
Bank and Gaza Strip and to
rescind expulsion orders
issued to 12 others.
Britain also sharply criticiz-
ed Israel on Tuesday for ex-
pelling the eight Palestinians
to Lebanon.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5