DETROIT

Former IDF Soldier Urges U.S Jews
To Demand Immediate Peace Talks

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

A

chance raid of an
Arab home in the
Gaza Strip forced a
young Israeli soldier named
Hanoch Livneh "for the first
time to see the real Middle
East conflict."
Livneh, who was in Ann
Arbor last week to speak
about Yesh Gvul, the protest
movement of Israeli reserve
officers who refuse to serve
in the occupied territories,
was in the Gaza Strip on a
winter night in 1970 when
he and another young
soldier followed their
sergeant into an Arab home.
The house was picked at
random, Livneh said; the
sergeant had simply decided
it was time for a raid.
An older woman, fearful,
opened the door. The Israeli
soldiers pushed their way in.
On the floor about 15 Pa-
lestinians slept on mat-
tresses. Children were cry-
ing.

-

As he conducted his
"search," the Israeli
sergeant dumped food onto
the floor and emptied
drawers, Livneh said. He
broke the one piece of fur-
niture — a chair — in the
home.
"It became a mess,"
Livneh said. "But a search is
a search, and a search must
be done."
Livneh turned to see a 2-
year-old Palestinian child,
the only one not crying or
screaming. Livneh's eyes
met the child's, and they
stared at each other.
"Then I couldn't stand his
look any more," Livneh said.
"So I went outside and stood
in the rain until the
sergeant had finished."
Livneh served in the Israel
army until 1973. Despite the
unforgettable moment when
he met eyes with the Pales-
tinian child, Livneh remain-
ed "what you call main-
stream," he said. He fought
in the 1973 Yom Kippur
War.

FOLLOW-UP

Yad Ezra Continues
To Feed Jewish Hungry

STEVE HARTZ

cz,

Staff Writer

y

ad Ezra, Detroit's
only kosher food pan-
try, has been keeping
busy feeding the Jewish
hungry the past four mon-
ths.
In April, it provided 12,000
pounds of food for 772 people
(272 families).
"We were closed 10 days
for Pesach, so even more food
would have been given out,"
said Jeanette Eizelman, Yad
Ezra's executive director.
The food lasts each family
about a month. The family's
size determines the amount
of food dispensed.
Located on 10 Mile near
Greenfield in Southfield,
Yad Ezra is open from 11
a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays; 6
p.m.-8 p.m. Tuesdays and
Thursdays; and 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Sundays.
The kosher food pantry has
more than 100 volunteers,
including members of the
National Council of Jewish
Women who come in every
Thursday.

"The NCJW is booked for
us as weekly volunteers
through the end of the year,"
Eizelman said. "All our vol-
unteers are Jewish — men,
women and children."
According to Gary Dembs,
one of Yad Ezra's organizers,
about 90 percent of the dona-
tions to the kosher food pan-
try come from individual
sources.
Yad Ezra is a candidate for
a Max M. Fisher Jewish
Community Foundation
Grant. It has also applied for
a grant from Mazon - Jewish
Response to Hunger.
Temple Emanu-El, which
held a dance benefit last
March, raised $200 and
received more than 200
pounds of food for Yad Ezra.
And Rabbi A. Irving
Schnipper of Congregation
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses
has prompted more than
$10,000 in donations, Dembs
said.
The kosher food pantry is
in the process of developing
food drop-off points at
temples and synagogues
throughout the commun-
ity. ❑

Over the years, Israeli at-
titudes toward the Palestin-
ians and the territories
began to change.
Groups calling for Israel's
withdrawal from the West
Bank and Gaza became es-
pecially outspoken during
the war in Lebanon. Among
these were a group of reser-
vists — Israelis who serve
1-2 months each year as re-
serve soldiers following their
regular military service un-
til they are 54 — who refus-
ed to serve in the territories.
They formed an organization
called Yesh Gvul ("There is
a limit") and opposed the oc-
cupation and the Israel ar-
my's treatment of the Pales-
tinians in the West Bank
and Gaza.
Livneh knew all about the
increasing turmoil in the oc-
cupied territories. From his
first days in Gaza in 1970, he
had seen that Israeli
"brutalization and humilia-
tion upon the Palestinian
people had become a daily
habit," Livneh said. He in-
itially fought in Israel's war
with Lebanon, but left after
one month, refusing to serve
any longer.
In 1988, Livneh, then a re-
serve soldier, was told to
report for duty in the oc-
cupied territories. He said he

would not go. Days later, he
was imprisoned two weeks
for refusing military duty.
Livneh, 38, is one of 109
Israeli soldiers, about 1/3 of
whom are reserve officers,
who have been jailed be-
cause they would not serve
in the occupied territories.
They call themselves
"refuseniks."
"And for each of those we
have another 10" who didn't
go to jail, but who refused to
serve in the West Bank and
Gaza. "And for each of those
10 we have another 10 of
what we call 'grey
refuseniks.' These are men
who don't want to confront
the authorities, but the day
they get that call from the
army, suddenly there's a
disease in the family or
suddenly they have to go
abroad."
Livneh believes that
negotiations with the
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization are inevitable, and
that talks will lead to the es-
tablishment of a Palestinian
state alongside Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir and other
right-wing politicians know
this, Livneh said. "But they
don't like the idea of giving
up territories and cheap
Arab labor." Numerous Pa-

Yeshiva Teachers End
Three-Week Strike

B

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

anners at the Joseph
Tannenbaum School
for Boys in Southfield
claiming "There is no
substitute for a great
teacher" greeted the secular
studies teachers who return-
ed to work May 25 after a
three-week strike.
Afternoon teachers at the
boys' school and the Sally
Allen Alexander Beth Jacob
School for Girls in Beverly
Hills went on strike May 7.
The teachers had been work-
ing without a contract since
September.
The strike ended May 24
when teachers and admin-
istrators agreed to arbitra-
tion by P'shara, Jewish
Dispute Resolution Inc., a
rabbinical and legal group
based in Washington, D.C.
Rabbi E.B. Freedman,
school administrator, said
both sides have agreed to ac-

cept whatever decision is
reached by the arbitrators.
He expects to have a con-
tract signed by the end of
June.
Teacher Sandy Ellenstein
said once both sides agreed
to go to binding arbitration
"there was no reason (for
teachers) to stay out
anymore."
There were six issues
which divided the teachers
and administration, but
neither side would discuss
the negotiations.
"We are all very happy to
be back," Ellenstein said.
"We felt we were welcomed.
My class gave me flowers."
During the strike, older
students at the boys' and
girls' schools were released
early because substitutes for
the teachers could not be
found.
Teachers and administra-
tors are deciding how
students will make up the
school work they missed. ❑

Hanoch Livneh: A "refusenik."

lestinians who live on the
West Bank and Gaza work
at low-paying jobs in Israel.
Not to negotiate with the
Palestinians "means an-
other war, and that means
another war and another
war and another war and it's
endless."
Speaking at cities across
the United States, Livneh
hopes to educate American
Jews about Friends of Yesh
Gvul, which gives support to
Israeli soldiers jailed for
refusing to serve in the ter-
ritories. The Ann Arbor
Friends of Yesh Gvul al-
ready has "adopted" an
Israeli reserve lieutenant
jailed because he would not
serve in the West Bank.
Livneh also hopes to in-
volve more U.S. Jews in br-
inging about negotiations
with the PLO.
Livneh said he does not
hesitate to involve American
Jews in the political prob-
lems of another country be-
cause "they are already in-
volved in the political situa-
tion in Israel." They give
money to the state, and they
support AIPAC, the Ameri-
can-Israel Public_ Affairs
Committee, he said.
Livneh is asking American
Jews to "speak loudly as
Jewish citizens of the United
States in calling on the
Israeli government to begin
negotiations with the Pales-
tinians right now." He also
wants them to appeal to
President George Bush to
take a more active role in
promoting negotiations in
the Middle East.
That Israel can make
peace with Arabs was shown
in the Camp David Accords,
though "how many times
had we heard, 'Don't trust
any Arabs. Don't speak with
the Arabs'?
"Yes, what we have now
with Egypt is a 'cold
peace,' "Livneh said. "But
each moment of that cold
peace is 10 times better than
the luckiest war we will ever
have." ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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