THE JEWISH NEWS
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
MARCH 15, 1991 / 29 ADAR 5751
HMC Will Lose $115,000
In Engler's Budget Trimming
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
M
ichigan Gov. John
Engler's proposed
1991 - 92 state
budget would slash the
state's $115,000 contribution
from the Holocaust Memorial
Center's annual budget of
$900,000.
The HMC cuts, unveiled
last week to the legislature,
are part of Mr. Engler's plan
to cut back state-funded
cultural arts programs.
As part of his plan, Mr.
Engler hopes to merge the
Michigan Council for the
Arts, the Commission on Art
in Public Places and the
Film Office into one Arts,
Film and Cultural Affairs
unit within the state's Com-
merce Department.
The purpose of this office
would be only to advocate
statewide programs. No
grants would be made.
Also, the Michigan Equity
Package — which has pro-
vided large grants for
several cultural arts and ed-
ucational organizations, in-
cluding the Detroit Institute
of Arts, the Detroit
Continued on Page 20
Exhibits at the HMC.
Israelis Cautious
About Baker Trip
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
S
Despite progress,
Jewish women still
face male bias
in communal
organizations.
ue and Jeremy Kagan
wish Americans would
really take a hard look
at the map of the Middle
East. Maybe then some
wouldn't be so quick in ask-
ing Israel to give back land
to the Palestinians.
The Kagans, who are
former Detroiters now living
in the Jerusalem neighbor-
hood of Har Nof, are worried
about the political ramifica-
tions of Secretary James A.
Baker's visit to Israel on
Monday.
"We knew this would
happen," said Mr. Kagan,
who studies and teaches in a
Jerusalem Kollel. "Now that
the war is over, Israel is once
again in the spotlight, and
we're a country of about the
size of a toothpick.
"There are 200 million of
them and four million of us,"
he said. "We're all living in
the same space. We just
don't have all this land to
give up. How would
Detroiters feel if it were the
entire United States gang-
ing up against the city of
Detroit?"
Mr. Kagan said he felt this
way while the country was
under attack from Iraq and
more recently this week, as
Palestinians stabbed to
death four Jewish women
and ran over two Israeli
soldiers with a vehicle.
"Palestinians can't be free
to murder and terrorize
Israeli citizens," he said.
"America would like to see a
James Baker:
Optimistic in Israel.
nice, pat solution to the
Arab-Israeli conflict. But
there aren't any easy solu-
tions. There aren't any for
either side."
The Kagans, who moved to
Israel 12 years ago, don't see
a resolution to this conflict
in their future, or in the
future of their children,
Zahava, 2, and Chaim Yitz-
chak, 5.
And they're not all that
optimistic that Mr. Baker, in
his new role as mediator, can
accomplish anything better.
"But don't get us wrong,"
the Kagans said. "President
Bush has done a great deal
for the State of Israel. We
recognize along with every-
one else that God has blessed
us with this salvation. But
all it takes is someone like
Saddam Hussein to wave the
flag, and millions of Pales-
tinian Arabs dance for
Israel's destruction."
Continued on Page 22