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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1988 American Heart Association WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE 825 Woodward Woo ward Ave. MI 48053 (313) 332-8000 VOLVO 1„,aggig 60 No matter how long or how much you've smoked, it's not too late to stop. Because the sooner you put down your last cigarette, the sooner your body will begin to return to its normal, healthy state. BUYING YOUR OLD ORIENTAL RUGS 251 Merrill Birmingham (313) 644-7311 2915 Breton Grand Rapids (1-800-622-RUGS) It Is Time For The Palestinians To Act RABBI DAVID HARTMAN Special to The Jewish News I s Israel moving toward the right? Do the events of the last few months in- dicate that the grassroots sen- timents of the country are heading in frigtening direc- tions in which an Israel- turned-South Africa seems a real possibility? Have Jews, who cherished the power of the word, come home to be seduced by the glory of military strength? Have we rebuilt our ancient homeland and lost in the process our historical identity as Jews? If Israel society were to be judged exclusively by the way it has been portrayed in the media, the answer to these questions would be a resoun- ding "Yes." But I believe that there is a profound distortion in this portrayal of Israel to- day. Meeting human beings through the perspective of a television camera almost always eliminates any possibility for honest judge- ment because it isolates them from their larger historical and human context. The Jewish-Palestinian con- flict is grounded in the larger story of the Arab world's refusal to accept the fact that Israelis have come home, that they are not a passing episode, or a guilt trip of the West for the Holocaust. Any reading of Jewish history will show that Jews are organic to this land and that their lives have been defined for the last 2,000 years by the dream of "Next Year in Jerusalem!' The rebuilding of Israel is a testimony to a people's loyal- ty to the biblical foundations of their identity and to the power of memory to shape historical aspirations. Had Palestinians understood the Jewish people from this perspective so much blood- shed could have been avoided. The question before us, however, is not to harp on past misunderstandings and failures to communicate by both communities. The real issue is: Are we doomed to live by the mistakes of the past? Are the events in the West Bank and Gaza just a rerun of an old movie, or has something new emerged among Jews and Palestinians which may provide a basis for Rabbi Hartman is The Founder and director of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. hope for a peaceful resolution of our bitter conflict? The Israeli attitude that the status quo in the territories can be a permanent political option for living with the Palestinians has been per- manently shattered. Israelis are now aware that the means by which they have militarily controlled the West Bank and integrated it into "normal" Israeli daily life are just not working. The bit- terness of the Palestinians cannot be shoved under the carpet of the security services. There is now a growing awareness among Israelis that we are dealing with a people and not with a band of wild terrorists. The uprising in the territories has brought home to Israel the plain, undeniable fact that the Palestinians are a people with a strong sense of national solidarity. Yet, in spite of this awareness, there is a deep uncertainty and uneasiness among Israelis. We have felt the anger, the rocks, the Molotov cocktails, the civil disobedience, the national will of the Palestinian people, but we have not heard from them a clear and unam- biguous message as to the ultimate aims of their upris- ing. Something vital is mis- sing from the Palestinian uprising which if not manifested soon could lead to much more suffering in the future. We have not heard what the Palestinian bottom- line is There are many in Israel — people involved in the peace movement and in the Labor Party and even on the right side of the political spectrum — who are prepared for bold peace initiatives and recogni- tion of the Palestinians' na- tional rights. But these con- structive impulses in Israel society will never be trans- lated into government deci- sions unless there is a clear message from the Palesti- nians. It is not enough for them to just throw bottles. There has to be a message in the bottle — a message ad- dressed to Israelis and stating clearly the abandonment of the Palestinian covenant and recognition of Israel's right to self-determination and security. The recent sufferings of the Palestinians will turn out to be nothing more than a tragic and futile episode if Palesti- nians do not reconsider their 4 gl awl