UP FRONT
Israeli Official Documents
`Unsurprising' Violence
DAVID HOLZEL
Staff Writer
D
edi Zucker is not surprised by
Israeli brutality in response
to the 9-month-old Palesti-
nian uprising.
"The situation calls for such
brutality. It reveals the ugly side in
everyone," he said.
Zucker, a member of Knesset for
the left-wing Citizens Rights Move-
ment, was in Detroit last week to
raise money for his party's election
campaign and to discuss his in-
vestigation into human rights viola-
tions in the territories.
The 40-year-old politician said
that a large part of Israeli society is .
engaged in self-denial about the in-
tifada, especially the the toll it has
taken on its young soldiers during
nearly a year of violence. Israelis can-
not believe "that we would behave
like any other nation would under the
same circumstances?'
While Zucker has documented
what he sees is an excessive Israeli
use of force against the Palestinians,
he also speaks about "many groups
within the army who fight against
the violence:'
He said he is working to reveal
the truth about Israel's response to
the intifada not only because it is a
matter of human rights, but because
he fears Israel is in danger of losing
its humanity.
Through the field work of some 20
volunteers, Zucker has collected data
and case stories on Israel's handling
of rioters. The report, published in
Hebrew, includes sections on the
policy of administrative detention, on
detention facilities, on the so-called
Iron Fist policy, on doctors' reports, on
destruction of houses, on those plac-
ed under detention without their
families being notified, and on the
behavior of Jewish residents of the
territories.
"If you asked what is the worst
thing Israel has done to itself, it is the
administrative detentions," Zucker
said.
The policy is based on a law from
the time of the British Mandate. A
prisoner may be held for up to six
months without being charged. Israel
resorted to this measure because it
was overwhelmed by the scope of the
uprising, he said.
"Logistically it's easier," Zucker
said. "No courts, no judges?'
As a result of the policy, 2,500
Palestinians now sit in detention,
without the benefit of due process.
"What is this doing to our democracy,
our society?" he said.
Zucker dismissed as fabrications
the stories of atrocities such as
Israelis torturing Palestinians with
hypodermic needles. "Things are
tough enough without having to ex-
aggerate," he said.
He believes that, although the in-
tifada has become the new status quo
for both Israelis and Palestinians, "we
are closer than a year ago to the start
of the peace process:'
The Palestine Liberation
Organization would be a candidate for
negotiations with Israel if it shows
"that it is interested in a political pro-
cess and will give up (violence):"
Zucker will be convinced of a PLO
change in policy "by an an official
decision of the Palestine National
Council or other body. Interviews in
Continued on Page 16
Moshe Rubinstein shared Grandparents Day on Sunday with his daughter, Toba Abrin, and
grandchildren, Nissin and Eliyah Abrin. The ring toss was part of the festival at the Jewish
Community Center. .
President Will Pay Homage
To Detroiter Max M. Fisher
STAFF REPORT
resident Ronald Reagan is
planning a trip to Detroit ,
next month to honor Jewish
philanthropist Max Fisher and put in
a plug for Vice President George
Bush's presidential campaign.
White House officials would not
confirm or deny the Oct. 7 visit, say-
ing the president's schedule is not
finalized more than a week in ad-
vance. But several Michigan
Republican sources said Reagan is ex-
pected to address a dinner crowd at a
p
$1000-a-plate fund-raiser at Detroit's
Westin Hotel. A private session where
patrons can be photographed with
Reagan and Fisher will cost $5000
per couple.
Phillip W. Fisher, Max Fisher's
son, said proceeds for "A Tribute to
Max Fisher" will go to "Victory '88,"
a campaign fund set up by the
Michigan State Republican
Committee.
Reagan is a longtime friend of
Fisher, who has been a leading
Republican fund-raiser and an ad-
viser to presidents and governors on
key political issues.
ROUND UP
Vandals May
Go Unpunished
New York (JTA) — The two
youths arrested in last
weekend's Nazi-style attack
on a Brooklyn synagogue are
unlikely to face any real
punishment, according to ci-
ty, state and Jewish com-
munity officials.
The reason is buried in a
complicated tangle of
unrelated state laws, which
combine to prevent either
youth from being tried as an
adult. However, officials say,
politics in Albany has
prevented the passage this
year of bills that would have
corrected the situation.
Conservative Republicans,
sources say, have blocked
State Senate action on a hate-
crimes bill that would have
made the synagogue arson an
adult offense. The Senate's
failure to pass the bill means
the youthful suspects will be
tried in family court rather
than criminal court.
Changes of family, court
meting out meaningful
punishment are slim, accor-
ding to Suzanne Colt, deputy
chief of the Family Court divi-
sion in the city's Office of Cor-
poration Counsel, which pro-
secutes juveniles.
The synagogue attack took
place late at night on the Fri-
day between Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur. Vandals
deliberately broke into an Or-
thodox congregation in the
Midwood section of Flatbush,
removing all six rIbrah scrolls
from the ark, trampling and
tearing them, spray-painting
15 swastikas on the walls and
then torching the scrolls and
the building.
One Doctor
Helped Evaders
Tel Aviv (JTA) — A ranking
police official contended Mon-
day that the number of draft
evaders is much higher than
the Israel Defense Force high
command is prepared to
admit.
Shimon Savir, who heads
the serious crimes division of
the national police, testified
that a single doctor was
responsible for getting more
than 100 men out of military
service on fake medical data.
He was referring to a draft-
dodging ring in which IDF of-
ficers of relatively high rank
and non-commissioned of-
ficers allegedly worked in col-
lusion with civilian doctors to
sell exemptions from com-
pulsory military service.
But the IDF brass insisted
that only "a few rotten ap-
ples" were involved.
Savir, however, said in court
Monday that just one of the
accused doctors was responsi-
ble for the avoidance of
military service by an entire
company — well over 100
soldiers. He said that if the
doctor "had continued with
this system, it would have
reached a battalion" — over
500 men.
Savir was referring to Dr.
Solomon Kaplan, 51, of Bat
Yam.
Egypt Sinks
Gaza Boats
Tei Aviv. (JTA) — An Egyp-
tian army helicopter fired
Sunday on three Arab fishing
boats from the Gaza Strip,
sinking one of them, an
Israeli military spokesman
announced.
There were no fatalities, but
several of the fishermen were
wounded. They were rescued
by another boat. Israeli police
detained one of the uninjured
men.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5