I CLOSE-UP I
Learn how to take
better care of yourself
and your family,
call Red Cross.
Shammas
Continued from preceding page
833-4440
American
Red Cross
We'll Help.
Will You?
&
APublic Service of This Newspaper
The Advertising Council
Increase
your interest
in Israel
1 1 o/. Z
Anton Shammas: 'I wanted to write the story of my family for a
different audience.
A OR N
FIEFT
ROEECNO Y EAR
• Priced at 20.9% of the principal
amount plus accrued interest.
• Non callable
• May be put after 5 years at a 10%
yield to early maturity
CIUXRE RD ERNATTIENCOME
1 0% F
•
•
•
•
•
•
$10,000 minimum
$100,000 + discounted to 97%
$500-$9,500 yields 9% per annum
Interest paid semi-annually
Redeemable after 5 years at 100%
Non callable for 5 years
PRIME+1/4%
VARIABLE RATE CURRENT INCOME
' $5,000 minimum priced at 100%
•$100,000+ discounted to 98.5%
• Minimum rate 7.5%—No maximum rate
• Due October 1, 1996
For 47 years a driving financial force,
Ampal-American Israel Corporation,
an American corporation, enables Israel to
grow productively.
From the Baume & Mercier
14Karat Gold Collection.
For more information and a prospectus for any of
the securities described above, call:
Al Schonwetter
Representative. Ampal Securities Corporation
(313) 353-6363 or
1-800-445-6508 Operator 903
Daily 10-5:30
Thurs. 10-7
Sat. 10-3
30400 Telegraph Road
Suite 134
Birmingham, MI 48010
(313) 642.5575
Member NASD and SIPC
This is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an
offer to buy securities. The offer is made only by the
prospectus which may be obtained in any state wherein
the underwriter may lawfully offer the securities.
FIRMLY ROOTED IN ISRAEL,
BRANCHING OUT IN NEW DIRECTIONS
AMERICAN ISRAEL CORPORATION
CLASSIFIEDS
GET RESULTS!
Call The Jewish News
354.6060
26
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1989
in Arabic; I still have-that let-
ter somewhere," Shammas
says. "It was the best compli-
ment I ever received. He said
he published it not because it
was an Arab writing in
Hebrew, but because it was a
good poem."
After graduating from high
school Shammas moved to
Jerusalem, where he attend-
ed Hebrew University. He
studied art and literature and
worked part time as a
translator at a television
station.
Having no interest in
politics — "I don't think then
I ever even read the first page
of any newspaper" — Sham-
mas left Hebrew University
in 1972. Or, as he puts it "I
ran away."
He ran away to jobs in jour-
nalism, translating Hebrew
and Arabic and writing. He
wrote weekly columns for
Hebrew newspapers, was co-
editor of an Arab paper and
produced television shows. He
published several books of
poetry and a children's book.
In the mid-1970s, Shammas
began writing a novel in
Arabic. That book would
eventually become Arabes-
ques and would be written in
Hebrew.
Shammas says one reason
he wrote in Hebrew was to
make a political statement
that "a non-Jew feels he can
write in Hebrew, so maybe
Hebrew is not anymore a
Jewish language, but an
Israeli language."
He also "wanted to write
this story of my family to a
different audience. There are
some Israeli Jews who know
more about an obscure village
in South America than they
do about an obscure village in
the Galilee."
At the same time, Sham-
mas hides behind the ques-
tion of whether he is the pro-
tagonist in the story. "I still
don't feel confident enough in
my status as an Arab Palesti-
nian in Israel to adopt my
real voice and tell my real
story to this audience who
speaks Hebrew."
S
hammas says he is not
political, he's "talking
about the culture and
nature of the state." Those
who consider problems bet-
ween Israeli Jews and Pales-
tians political are likely to
differ.
Conversation with Sham-
mas proceeds pleasantly un-
til a certain issue comes up.
Then he becomes passionate
and angry. The issue: what it
means to be an Israeli.
"For most Israeli Jews and
Jews living in the rest of the
world, 'Israeli' strictly means
a Jewish citizen of a state of
Jews, wherever they are."
Israel should be a state that
belongs to its citizens, he in-
sists, and not a nation "where
people play with its destiny
by remote control."
He's tired of American Jews
who proudly hold Israel up as
the only democracy in the
Middle East. "Israel is a
democracy in the Middle East
for Jews; it's not a democracy