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Denise Richman Alexander
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Secure Southfield's Future, Vote November 7.

Alexander

DENISE

for CITY COUNCIL

Paid for by the Committee to Elect Alexander for City Council.

20 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1989

Peace Platter

Continued from Page 1

members of the more
mainstream Jewish com-
munity. Consequently,
Kasem began another letter-
writing campaign, this time
to representatives of
organizations like B'nai
B'rith and the American
Jewish Congress.
He met at a deli with 10 of
the Jewish leaders who, he
says, were "interested in
building bridges between
the two communities but
were not ready to discuss
politics. I wanted to discuss
politics."
Also interested was the
AJCongress' Zev Putter-
man, who introduced Kasem
to Michael Lame. A Jewish
lawyer, Lame started the
Foundation for Mideast
Communication in 1983.
Raised in a Zionist home,
Lame lived for several years
in Israel, where he met
Arabs who "had a complete-
ly different version of what
happened in the region and
who did what to whom than I
had learned," he says.
Lame decided Arabs and
Jews would benefit from
organized forums in which
they "explored each other's
perspectives." He created
the foundation and began
holding workshops, which he
describes as "controlled
communication," in the
United States and Israel.
Kasem soon became a
foundation board member,
joining forces with such fig-
ures as Hyman Bookbinder
of the American Jewish
Committee and James Zogby
of the Arab-American In-
stitute, both of whom serve
on the organization's ad-
visory council.
Kasem hosted his first
workshop for the foundation
in June 1986 and has since
participated in 24 more. Last
week's forum in Detroit was
the city's first.
The workshops give Arabs
and Jews the chance to get to
know each other as someone
other than "the opponent,"
Kasem says. Accustomed to
sharing little more than "an
environment loaded with
fear, hatred, misunderstan-
ding and mistrust, we have
to sit down and look at each
other eye-to-eye," Kasem
says. "We have to see that
the face across from us is
human."
The workshops include "a
look at the past and all the
baggage that comes with it,
discussions about the pre-
sent and then a vision for the
future," Kasem says.
"We don't sign any peace
contracts and we don't en-
courage everyone to start
writing letters to his sena-
tors," he adds. "And
I we

don't believe that everyone
will come out liking or
agreeing with each other.
What I do think we have at
the end is a newfound
respect for one another."
In addition to his work
with the foundation, Kasem
is a member of the Coalition
for Arabs and Jews, which
advocates a two-state solu-
tion in the Middle East.
Kasem stresses that he does
not bring his own political
perspective to his work with
the foundation.
The foundation is non-
partisan. Its board comprises
everything from fervent
Zionists who do not support
a Palestinian state to
dedicated Palestinian na-
tionalists.
Kasem has spoken at a
number of synagogues and
plans to participate in more
foundation workshops. He
says he will not stop until
there is Middle East peace.
"We will not get anywhere
as long as we maintain this
posture that the other side is
evil. That thinking is what
is evil.
"There will be peace,
maybe in the next year," he
says. "If I didn't think I
would see peace in my
lifetime, I wouldn't be doing
this. But I can see that vi-
sion of peace. I can see it." ❑

NEWS Ima""'

Ecumenical Day
Gets Support

Rome (JTA) — Italy's
Jewish community has
welcomed an approach by
Italian Catholics to establish
an annual ecumenical day
dedicated to improving
Catholic-Jewish relations.
The idea originated with
Alberto Ablondi, the bishop
of Livorno and president of
the Italian Bishops Con-
ference Secretariat for
Ecumenism and Dialogue.
He wrote to Tullia Zevi,
president of the Union of
Italian Jewish Com-
munities, asking for com-
ments.
Ablondi said the bishops,
who discussed the idea at a
meeting on Sept. 28, favored
Jan. 17 as the ecumenical
day because it immediately
precedes the church's "week
of prayer for Christian uni-
t':
That would serve to
"distinguish the inter-
religious dialogue with the
Jewish people from the
ecumenical movement aim-
ed at restoring unity among
Christians," Ablondi ex-
plained in his letter to Zevi.