UP FRONT
Arafat Biographer Paints
PLO Head As Man Of Peace
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
Features Editor
T
wo pictures hang on
the office wall of
author Alan Hart. One
is an autographed photo of
Golda Meir, "lb Alan Hart, a
good friend." The other is of
Yassir Arafat.
Hart knows the juxtaposi-
tion is odd. But he genuinely
liked and admired Meir, with
whom he became friends
while working as a Middle
East correspondent for Bri-
tain's Independent Television
News, and he feels the same
way about Arafat.
Hart's book, Arafat: A
Political Biography is replete
with praise for the Palestine
Liberation Organization
chairman. Arafat's leadership
is called "refreshingly simple,
essentially honest and very
human." He is said to love
children, to be very emo-
tional, thoughtful and kind.
Yet Hart, a former reporter
for the British Broadcasting
Corporation who was in
Detroit this week, says he is
not an advocate for Arafat.
He is an advocate for peace.
And it is 'because he wants
the killing to stop that he
wrote the book.
Hart speaks of two political
realities: the existence of
Israel and of Palestinian na-
tionalism. The only way to ad-
dress both is through negotia-
tions, he says, and the only
way to do that is for. Israel to
speak with Arafat.
They might begin over a
cup of tea, as Hart says Arafat
drinks only water and tea,
the latter with honey.
They probably would start
late into the night, several
hours after the PLO leader
had taken one of his two dai-
ly naps. Hart says Arafat
sleeps only from 3-6 a.m. and
from 4-6 p.m., and he would
prefer not to even do that.
"Arafat is a man married to
his cause," Hart says. "He
sleeps, eats, drinks his cause?'
Hart came to know Arafat's
personality and schedule — as
much as any one can know
the schedule of a man who
virtually has no schedule —
when they sat down and talk-
ed in 1979. It was because of
that meeting that Hart later
was able to speak with the
PLO leader and his friends
for the biography.
The 1979 meeting was pro-
mpted by the resignation of
U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations Andrew
Young after it was revealed he
met with PLO officials.
According to Hart, Young
was part of a plan by former
President Jimmy Carter to
respond to an Arafat declara-
tion that he was ready to talk
peace. Carter used Young to
help him stall until he could
put plans into action.
In New York when Young
left his U.N. position, Hart
spoke with a number of inter-
national officials, he says.
They suggested the time was
ripe for secret diplomacy.
Because of his many years
as a journalist working in the
Middle East and his close
relations with Israeli leaders
including Meir and former
president Chaim Herzog,
Hart was proposed as the
emissary.
Convinced Prime Minister
Menachem Begin of Likud
would not be re-elected, Hart
took the proposal to the Labor
Continued on Page 19
ROUND UP
A Kepah For
Mao Tse Ting?
Deep in the heart of China
in the city of Kaifeng near the
River of Sorrow lives a tiny
but committed Jewish com-
munity. Their relatives, most
of whom perished in the
floods, settled en masse in the
country in 1063. Now, only
162 Jews are still in the city.
Several years ago, West
'Chester (Pa.) University Pro-
fessor Irene Shur visited with
the Jews of Kaifeng while
teaching at Peking
University.
"Once situated at the only
hotel in the town at the time,"
Shur recalls, she was shield-
ed by screens in the dining
room and had two young men,
"Communist hardnoses, who
accompanied me wherever I
went!"
After a lengthy search,
Shur met up with Jews in
Kaifeng. The rest, as they say,
is history. She became friends
with members of the Chinese
Jewish community and
agreed to help support a
fledgling museum to house
their artifacts. She does this
through Shur Traders in West
Chester, where she sells kepot
made by the Jews of Kaifeng.
Shur returned in 1985 to
the Communist nation and
plans to visit again next
spring.
Commandments
Are The Top 10
New York — ABC Enter-
tainment recently created
"The Kingdom Chums
Original Top Ten," an hour-
Two of the Kingdom Chums
long video to make the Ten
Commandments relevant and
fun to learn for children.
The initial release is plann-
ed for this summer, although
the production isn't schedul-
ed to air on television until
next year. In addition to the
video, the Kingdom Chums
will be featured in a live na-
tional musical touring show
and picture books, with each
title based on one of the
commandments.
Among religious leaders en-
dorsing the project is Rabbi
Benjamin Kahn, director of
Jewish studies at American
University.
Warsaw Shul
Installs Rabbi
New York (JTA) — Warsaw's
sole functioning synagogue
last week installed a new rab-
bi in what is believed to be
the first ceremony of its kind
in about 35 years.
Menachem Joskowicz, 60,
was appointed rabbi of the
Nozyk Synagogue. Originally
from Lodz, Poland, Rabbi
Joskowicz has been living for
many years in Jerusalem.
The synagogue, located at
No. 4 Ulica Twarda, was
renovated two years ago by
the Polish government.
Compiled by Elizabeth
Kaplan.
Israelis march through the Old City on June 1 to mark Jerusalem Day.
Israel Is Worrying:
Can Center Hold?
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
T
here is growing
anxiety in Jerusalem
that the divisions
within the Jewish population
may be about to burst into
intra-communal violence in
Israel and anarchy in the oc-
cupied West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
The situation is explosive,
according to Israeli sources,
because there are extremists
on both the left and the right,
and the situation could
deteriorate further.
Israeli society, chronically
divided by political, economic,
'We stand on the
edge of the abyss
and we must save
ourselves from
ourselves:
religious, ethnic and social
differences, has always car-
ried within it the seeds of civil
strife.
Those seeds have never
been allowed to germinate.
Rather, the potential for com-
munal unrest has been kept
in check by an unquestioned
consensus that the very real
threat to Israel's existence
from external enemies must
override all other
considerations.
• Over the past six months,
however, the perception that
is central to this consensus
has been turned on its head.
Today, the principal external
threat comes in the shape of
the peace offensive being
waged by Palestine Libera-
tion Organization chairman
Yassir Arafat.
Moreover, the authority of
Israel's politicians and the
ability of its military brass,
once considered to be beyond
question, are now regarded as
seriously flawed.
The reason for the crisis in
confidence, of course, is that
the political leaders and the
army generals are jointly
seen as incapable of putting
the lid on the 18-month-old
Palestinian uprising or of
staunching the catastrophic
hemmorhage of international
support for Israel.
This loss of confidence, said
a source, combined with a
rapidly deteriorating
economic situation and a
deepening polarization — of
the religious and secular, the
left and the right — has serv-
ed to tear at the fabric of
Israeli society, which is now
beginning to show serious
signs of wear.
The main source of concern
is a hard core of ideologically
extreme Jewish settlers in
the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, reportedly followers of
Rabbi Meir Kahane, who
have formed armed vigilante
groups because they doubt
the will of the politicians and
the ability of the army to pro-
tect their families in the face
of the Palestinian uprising.
According to some ob-
servers, the settlers may be
deliberately attempting to in-
flame the Palestinians and
thus torpedo the recent peace
initiative unveiled by Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Indeed, the initiative is op-
posed by many on the right
wing of the Israeli political
spectrum because they view it
as a first step on the road to
a withdrawal from the ter-
ritories and the creation of an
Continued on Page 18
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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