OPINION
rCONTENFSF
24
CLOSE-UP
Chemical
Nightmare
HELEN DAVIS
Israel is surrounded by enemies
equipped with 'the poor man's bomb."
EDUCATION
Paint & Paste
HEIDI PRESS
Nursery schools are teaching kids
about Judaism and values.
47
BUSINESS
Mental Anguish
Bloomfield Saving was a costly
mistake for several businessmen.
Arab and Jew: The impossible dream?
NOTEBOOK
Democratic Palestinian State
Will Not Defuse War On Israel
Era's End
MICHAEL DRISSMAN
T
he suggestion by Reuven Kimel-
man (Page 1, Jan. 13) that peace
between Israel and a Palestinian
state will result through the imposition of
democracy upon the Palestinian Arabs is
seductive in its simplicity. However, it is er-
roneous in premise and absurd given
history and reality.
The basis of Kimelman's theory is that
if a Palestinian state in Judea-Samaria
("West Bank") were democratic, it would,
by its nature be peaceful because
democracies "are notorious for their in-
ability.to conduct offensive warfare." This
is a fallacious assertion even disregarding
the fact that the dispute between Israel and
the proposed democratic Palestine is not
related to the fact of the Arabs being under
autocratic regimes.
The issue that generates continual war
between Israel and the surrounding Arab
governments is the Arab belief that the
Zionist state is illegitimate on what they
consider Arab soil. Were Arabs to embrace
Thomas Jefferson, the outrage over Jewish
intrusion would not diminish. And con-
trary to Kimelman's contention,
democratic states as well as autocratic
states, will fight offensive wars when pa-
tional interests and territory are in
jeopardy.
Grenada and the Falkland Islands are
a case in point. The British would have
reacted that way if any government, dic-
tatorial or democratic, had so threatened
its territorial integrity. Parenthetically, one
wishes that democratic Israel would act so
Michael Drissman is a political science and
psychology professor at Macomb County
Community College and directs the local
chapter of Jewish Idea.
forthrightly when faced with the intifada,
a much more dangerous threat to its ter-
ritorial integrity than any faced by Great
Britain with the Argentinian incursion on-
to the Flakland Islands (Maldives).
Kimelman's premise that Japan's
democratization can provide a pattern for
Israel to follow with the proposed
democratic Palestinian state fails because
it is an extrapolation from the wrong ex-
ample. The circumstances which allowed
the imposition of American values of
political democracy resulted from the
military subjugation of Japan. After
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese na-
tional will was broken, and the Japanese
faced an American conqueror and occupier
willing and able to impose its political
values on a demoralized population.
None of these factors apply to the
Zionist-Palestinian equation. Certainly, the
Palestinians have not been defeated by the
Jews. Quite the contrary. The fact that the
intifada (uprising) has been maintained for
over one year, understandably has made
the Palestinians feel victorious with espirit
de corps and visions of martyrs.
The intifada has captured Arab, if not
world, imagination with images of rock-
throwing women and children pitted
against the tanks of the Jewish occupier.
Also, the Arab states which have at-
tacked Israel in several wars have not been
made to suffer defeat or military subjuga-
tion. Even Jordan can claim it was not
defeated. The West Bank of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan, while "occupied;' still
is run according to Jordanian law as if the
King Hussein of Transjordan still retain-
ed sovereignty. This charade is maintain-
ed by the Israeli Government and
perpetuates the claims of Arab rights.
Further, Palestinian spokesmen of the
Continued on Page 11
42
52
GARY ROSENBLATT
The Jewish Student Press Service's
demise silences a campus voice.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sound Of Music
STEVEN M. HARTZ
Catherine Rollin's favorite
thing is to make music.
59
77
ANN ARBOR
Sharing Identity
SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
Being Jewish in non-Jewish schools
is discussed by Washtenaw students.
GENERATIONS
The Screening
80
ALAN HITSKY
Annual tests
may be the
long-term
success
of the
Tay-Sachs
program.
DEPARTMENTS
92
92
94
96
120
28 Inside Washington
30 Synagogues
39 Sports
82 Lifestyles
84 Engagements
Youth
For Seniors
Births
Single Life
Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
5:21 p.m.
January 27, 1989
Sabbath ends Jan. 28 6:25 p.m.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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