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PURELY COMMENTARY
Miracles Vs. Diplomacy
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Special to The Jewish News
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Orchard Lake Rd. at 14 Mile
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FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1991
Hours:
Mon.-Sat. 10-6
Thurs. 10-8; Sun. 12-5
N
o matter how dis-
tressing the torment-
ing treatments of
Israel in diplomatic quarters,
regardless of the prejudices
that lead to confusions in the
spreading of biased judgments
in the media, there are the fre-
quently emerging courageous
reactions of loyalties. Often
there is an inspiration for
retention of faith and con-
fidence from an unexpected
source — a letter to a
newspaper editor.
We are deeply indebted for
the much needed en-
couragement by a letter
published in the New York
Times on March 5 from a
West Bloomfield fellow
citizen.
Using the emboldening
headline "May This Be The
Year of Arab-Israeli Peace",
the New York Times
published the following
signed by Rachel Canaan-
Kaplan:
If I were a Palestinian
Arab living in one of those
squalid, poverty-stricken
camps, perhaps I, too,
would resent the Israeli
Jews. Perhaps I, too,
would regard them as op-
pressive occupiers who
robbed me of my home
and land, of my past, my
present and my future.
Most incredible of all,
perhaps I, too, would look
to Saddam. Hussein as my
redeemer. I doubt that I
would actively engage in
the intifada, but for my
sons, only God (or Allah)
knows for sure.
However, God or fate
willed it that I was born a
Palestinian Jew who later
became an Israeli Jew
and though when I was a
child, the events that un-
folded before me on Nov.
29, 1947 (United Nations
approves Palestine parti-
tion), soon to be followed
by the unforgettable 14th
of May 1948 (Israel's
statehood proclaimed),
are etched indelibly in my
mind ...
So let it be my somewhat
belated wish for 1991 that
this will be the year that
somehow, someway and
despite the Palestinian
unholy alliance with a
despot of unequaled pro-
portions, a solution can be
found to this seemingly
intractable problem bet-
ween Arab and Jew in a
land so long besieged by a
vicious cycle of hatred
and violence. And if this
sounds like asking for a
miracle, perhaps it is. But
didn't someone once say
that a Jew who doesn't
believe in miracles isn't a
realist?
This has a commanding
message to diplomats as well
as the media. Study the ge-
nuine humanism of people
striving to achieve
neighborliness. The desired
goodwill must be treated as
attainable.
We have too many experi-
ences of the media searching
for the negative and the sin-
ful in Israel's policies and
actions. It is depressing to be
treated in that fashion by
the ABC fault-finders in
Israel. It is sad to read the
following indictment in this
editorial comment in New
Republic of March 18:
As we're no longer the
only ones to notice, Peter
Jennings has special feel-
ings about the Middle
East, and about the Jew-
ish parcel of it. As goes
the anchorman, so, now
and then, goes the net-
work. The other night
ABC broadcast the image
of an audience of Israelis
in a Jerusalem concert
hall listening to Isaac
Stern's violin in their gas
masks. We were
thunderstruck not only by
his extraordinary image,
which is the very image of
a determination to remain
civilized in the most un-
civilized of circumstances,
but also by the commen-
tary that accompanied it.
Dean Reynolds, Mr. Jenn-
ings' man in Jerusalem,
had this to say; "Having
paid for a performance by
violinist Isaac Stern, they
were determined to get
their money's worth:' Oops.
Another tagline like that
and people may begin to
wonder what the A in ABC
stands for.
With many similar taun-
tings of the Israel govern-
ment and spokesmen on the
record of media actions in
recent years, defensive
duties become apparent.
This is where a call to action
by AIPAC — American
Israel Public Affairs Com-
mittee— emphasizes real-
ism.
In a new volume entitled
Communicating With the
Media which its authors,
Toby Dershowich and
Thomas Dine, define as a
pro-Israel manual, the
following appeal is address-
ed to "Dear Activist":
You've just read a '(
newspaper article on the
Middle East so tilted
against Israel or so devoid
of pro-Israel facts it
makes your blood boil. Or
you've just heard an anti-
Semitic remark on a radio
talk show. What can you
do?
At first you may want to
call AIPAC and ask them
to respond. But wait, you
are part of AIPAC! Your
regional AIPAC office or
AIPAC headquarters in
Washington can be a
source of information,
and you can ask for help.
But you are the best per-
son to respond. You are
the one who can produce
the most valuable results
and you can have the
most effective impact in
your community ...
We have been successful
in lobbying together in
the political arena, from
local officials to the U.S.
Congress. Now we need to
communicate more effec-
tively with the media
world ...
You are the key to the
pro-Israel community's
media effort and we are
looking forward to work-
ing with you.
This message calls for pro-
test against the destructive
plotting against Israel, and it
also invites commendation
when friendliness and de-
fense of Israel are demon-
strated. It encourages letter
writing when it is necessary
to express anger, and ap-
proval when judgment is
merited.
We have proof of both at-
titudes. Now we have a new
attempt to encourage pres-
sure of virtual submission by
Israel. It received emphasis
from President Bush in his
address to Congress. Not all
editorial opinions endorsed
such tactics, and we have an
especially differing viewpoint
in our community.
In an editorial on March 3,
the Detroit News express-
ed a warning against
pressures on Israel by
declaring:
One clear lesson of the
Gulf war ought to be that
Israel is not the main
cause of instability in the
region. Israel is a country
where small children
have been instructed not
to pick up strange small
objects ____ lest they be
bombs. It is a country
where children are taught