UP FRONT
Land For Peace Is Debated
At Passionate Local Forum
DAVID HOLZEL
Staff Writer
T
rading land for peace is ap-
peasement, according to Pro-
fessor Michael Drissman.
"It's a belief that if you throw the
dog a bone, he'll be satisfied;' said
Drissman, who spoke last week dur-
ing a public forum on the Arab-Israeli
conflict. "But how many Jewish bones
can you throw at Nazis, Arabs or Jew-
haters?"
Many of the 150 persons who
heard Drissman and three others
debate • the land-for-peace question
seemed to agree with Drissman, the
founder of the Committee for the
Jewish Idea, a local pro-Meir Kahane
organization.
Drissman received applause when
he declared, "The Jew will be safe and
Israel will be safe when the Arab is
out" of Israel and the territories.
- The land-for-peace discussion,
held July 28 at Congregation Beth
Shalom, was the third in a series of
public forums on the Arab-Israeli con-
flict sponsored by the Detroit Zionist
Federation.
Joining Drissman on the panel
were Ezekiel Leikin, executive vice
president of the Zionist Organization
of America's Detroit district; Dr.
Sheila Lampert of Hadassah; and Dr.
Seymour Faber of Americans for a
Progressive Israel.
Land for peace, or territorial com-
promise, is a concept in which Israel
would return parts or all of the West
Bank and Gaza in exchange for a
peace treaty with the Arab states.
The idea's strongest proponent is
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres'
Labor Party. The Likud bloc of Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir opposes
returning land to the Arabs.
Lampert argued that the Arabs
have more than their fair share of
land. If the world was divided to allow
each person the same amount of land,
she said, the Arab world would be one
third its size, while Israel would be
four times larger than it is now
Arguing against territorial com-
promise, Lampert said the concept
has two meanings for Arabs: "Land
for a piece of paper" and "Land for
peace now; destroy Israel later."
Leikin said that "Israel has a
much more valid claim to Judea,
Samaria and Gaza than does Jordan;'
the proposed recipient of the ter-
ritories in the Labor Party plan.
The Jewish state agreed in United
Nations Resolution 242 to return
"territories," not necessarily "all ter-
ritories" it won in the 1967 Six-Day
War, Leikin said. By returning the
Sinai to Egypt, it relinquished 91 per-
cent of those territories. He quoted
Shamir, saying, "Enough is enough."
Faber disagreed with the other
panelists. He said that "to not accept
peace for land is to commit suicide.
Time is on the Arabs' side."
He argued that the occupation of
the territories has eroded Israel's
democratic values, its once-impartial
judiciary and created a colonial rela-
tionship between Jewish employers
and Arab workers.
"If these things were to happen in
the American South, Jews here would
be outraged," he declared.
Continued on Page 12
Before and after: Three-year-old Mordecai "Mottel" Wiener.
'Hair'itage For A Youngster
STAFF REPORT
M
ordechai Wiener of Oak
Park had his first haircut
last week, following the Or-
thodox Jewish practice of "op-
sherenish," or waiting until the age
of 3 to cut a boy's hair.
Some 150 family members and
friends participated in the ceremony,
cutting a lock from Mordechai's head.
The event signifies the youngster's
unofficial introduction to Jewish
religious life and the beginning of
regular wearing of a kippah and
tzitzit.
The practice is traced to the
biblical verse, "Behold man is like the
tree of the field" (Deuteronomy
20:19). Both man and trees grow from
seed, reach maturity and eventually
bear fruit. The Torah forbids eating
the fruit of trees until trees are 3
years old.
Mordechai's birthday was earlier
in July, but his opsherenish was
delayed because of the symbolic mour-
ning period preceding the holiday of
Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the
destruction of the Temple in
Jersualem.
IROUND
Oil Change For
W. Bloomfield?
Is there oil in West Bloom-
field? Energy Quest, a
Lansing-based company
thinks so and is seeking
leases for exploration in the
Pleasant Lake area, east of
the Jewish Community
Center.
Residents on the south end
of the lake are being offered
$100 for testing and drilling,
according to West. Bloomfield
Township Trustee Dennis
Vatsis. In addition, Energy
Quest is offering one-eighth of
the proceeds should gas or oil
be discovered.
Not everyone appears en-
thusiastic about the com-
pany's offer. Energy Quest is
receiving a "mixed bag of
results from residents;' accor-
ding to company President
Robert Mitchell.
In addition to winning the
leases on the land, the com-
pany must receive a permit
from the state department of
natural resources in order to
drill.
Crossing Guard
For Oak Park
After a 20-minute discus-
sion, the Oak Park City
Council Monday approved
funding of a crossing guard at
the Oak Park corner'of Green-
field and Lincoln roads near
the Yeshivath Beth Yehudah
Hebrew day school.
The crossing guard, to cost
the city about $3,600, will
help children cross the busy
intersection on their way to
school. The decision
culminates a year-long effort
by parents in the area, who
feared their children would be
hit by cars passing through
the congested intersection.
Oak Park Mayor Charlotte
Rothstein said the city will
also ask Oakland County of-
ficials to post a sign pro-
hibiting right turns on a red
light from Lincoln onto
Greenfield.
Kuwait Arms
Compromise
Washington (JTA) — A com-
promise removing 200
Maverick "D" anti-armor
missiles from the proposed
$1.9 billion arms sale to
Kuwait has been worked out
by members of Congress,
Reagan administration of-
ficials and representatives of
U.S. Jewish groups.
Participants in a White
House meeting July 29 also
agreed to increase from 100 to
300 the number of Maverick
"G" anti-bunker missiles the
tiny Persian Gulf sheikdom
wil receive. Pro-Israel sources
said that the anti-bunker
missiles are not seen as a
danger to Israel, while the
more powerful anti-tank
missiles could pose a threat.
King Remarks
About Dukakis
Paris (JTA) — King Hassan
of Morocco expressed the hope
Tuesday that Democratic
presidential nominee Michael
Dukakis "will have a lapse of
memory should he be
elected."
The monarch, in an inter-
view with Le Monde, said, "I
understand Mr. Dukakis'
electoral considerations," but
added that he hoped the
Massachusetts governor, if
elected president, would
forget some of his electoral
promises concerning the Mid-
dle East.
Dukakis has expressed un-
qualified support for Israel
and has rejected a role for the
Palestine Liberation
Organization in peace
negotiations until the PLO
renounces terrorism and ac-
cepts Israel's right to exist
under _U.N. Security Council
Resolutions 242 and 338.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5