away, now stored in large
blue and rust-colored metal
containers resembling
dumpsters. Later, when
residents are back in perma-
nent homes, their furniture
and photo albums will be
returned.
Humor these days is grim.
Pranksters have added the
letter yud to signs reading
"Tel Aviv," changing the
word tel to til, missile.
Numerous Tel Aviv
residents have decorated
their cars with the bumper
sticker, "I stayed in Tel
Aviv."
Thirty miles away and
just before sunset, Jerusa-
lem is bathed in quiet ele-
gance, a silky blue sky over-
head. From a distance, it ap-
pears a city at peace. In fact,
it is a city undergoing tre-
mendous change.
Rolando Eisen is a
member of the Jerusalem
City Council and director of
RIM Industries, which em-
ploys more than 250
workers. Mr. Eisen calls the
pace of economic change in
Jerusalem "the fastest,
deepest broadest it has ever
been. Jerusalem will be a to-
tally different city in three,
four, five years!'
The key to Jerusalem's
change is improved business
and Soviet o/im, Mr. Eisen
says. The new Soviet im-
migrants need "a vision, a
sense of progress, a sense of
direction!' They are coming
to Israel as materialists, not
Zionists. This means in-
creased business competi-
tion and capitalism.
Mr. Eisen believes the im-
migrants must be helped
and encouraged to set up
new businesses, especially
in the building industry
where some 97 percent of
the workers are Arab.
At the same time Jerusa-
lem is anticipating a boon in
business, Israel is facing in-
creased pressure from the
U.S. government to alter the
status of its capital city, Mr.
Eisen says.
"The American govern-
ment is becoming more
receptive to the Arab posi-
tion of Jerusalem not being
a united city and the capital
"The U.S. is
becoming more
receptive to the
Arab position on
Jerusalem."
—Rolando Eisen
of Israel," he says. Today,
when Americans speak
about "occupied territories,"
they aren't just talking
about Judea, Samaria and
Gaza, he says. They mean
Jerusalem.
Mr. Eisen is a member of
the One Jerusalem Party, an
affiliate of Labor. But his
views are not so distant from
those of Knesset member
Reuven Rivlin of Likud.
Like Mr. Eisen, Mr. Rivlin
is concerned that the
American government ap-
pears willing to reconsider
the status of Jerusalem, at
least half of which every
Arab lays claim to, he says.
"The whole situation is be-
ing changed!"
Israel is ready to
negotiate, he says, but not if
it means dividing Jerusa-
lem or the establishment of
a Palestinian state.
"We are not stubborn," Mr.
Rivlin says. But he warns
Israelis would be negotiat-
ing for much more than
land: "We are negotiating
for our future and our lives!'
The fine details of peace
talks separate Labor and
Likud. But Israel's left and
right seem to have more in
common than ever now that
the Gulf war is over.
Leading doves in Israel are
silent, left speechless by the
vision of Palestinians danc-
ing on their roofs in support
of Iraqi leader Saddam Hus-
sein. Among the few still
heralding the dream of a
peace that accommodates
both Palestinians and
Israelis is Danny Zeidman,
a member of Shalom
chshav (Peace Now).
A fiery and impassioned
speaker, Mr. Zeidman says a
continued Israeli presence
in the territories is en-
dangering the state's
existence.
Faced with an ever-
increasing Palestinian pop-
ulation, Israel will either
become largely Arab or will
cease to become a democra-
4
cy, he says. "And that is a
guarantee for turning Israel
into a northern Ireland!'
He also questions how
long the United States,
money from which is desper-
ately needed to resettle
Soviet o/im, will contribute
financial aid in view of
Israel's determination to
maintain control over the
territories.
"I'm predicting that
within a matter of months,
or even weeks, Israel will be
faced with the option of con-
tinued aliyah or the dream
of a greater Israel," he says.
Mr. Zeidman believes the
Gulf war opened new doors
for peace negotiations, "and
if we don't take advantage of
this, I think Israel will be
making a historic mistake!'
The immorality of the
Palestinian situation is
especially disturbing, Mr.
Zeidman says. He remem-
bers watching an Arab
worker hang a flag of Israel
in downtown Jerusalem in
preparation for Israel In-
dependence Day. Fearing for
his life should other Arabs
see him, the man covered
his face in his kaffiah.
"That," Mr. Zeidman says,
"is not the kind of social
reality that can hold!"
It is a hot Thursday April
afternoon in the West Bank
— the territory the left says
must be the basis of a
Palestinian entity, the right
■
A resident of Ramat Gan
flies the flag from his
balcony after an Iraqi Scud
attack.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
29