UP FRONT

Poll Shows American Jews
Are More Hawkish On Israel

MITCHELL BARD

Special to The Jewish News

T

he American Jewish
community is much
more hawkish than
past polls have shown, ac-
cording to the latest Ameri-
can Jewish Committee poll
of American Jewish at-
titudes (conducted in July-
August). Jews remain
almost evenly divided on
most of the controversial
issues, but attitudes toward
the territories and set-
tlements are not as "dovish"
as some would suggest.
A majority said "you can
never trust the Arabs to
make a real peace with
Israel" and 92 percent
agreed the Arab refusal to
accept Israel's legitimacy is
a major obstacle to peace.
The most dramatic shifts
in opinion occurred with
regard to the territories. For
example, 57 percent said
that Israeli occupation of the
West Bank will not erode
Israel's democratic and hu-
manitarian character. This
constitutes a 20 point in-
crease from two years ago.
Similarly, 30 percent said
Israel should expand set-

Dr. Mitchell Bard is editor of
Near East Report. •

tlements, up from 25 percent
two years ago; 29 percent
disagreed.
A narrow plurality (39
percent to 31 percent) said
settlements are an obstacle
to peace, but do not believe
(33 percent to 31 percent)
Israel should stop set-
tlements in exchange for an
end to the boycott.
Contrary to suggestions of
overwhelming American
Jewish support for the
"principle of land for peace,"
the survey found 45 percent

No evidence exists
in the poll that
sentiment has
turned against
Israel.

rejected it. By a 35 to 34 per-
cent plurality, respondents
said Israel should offer the
Arabs territorial com-
promise in the territories in
return for credible guar-
antees of peace, but this was
the lowest level of support in
three years. In addition, 54
percent agreed that "since
Jordan is already a Palestin-
ian state, there's no need for
another. Palestinian state."
Only 13 percent disagreed.
As a result of the Gulf War
and the Scud missile attacks

on Israel, 67 percent said "it
is even more clear that
Israel must hold on to the
West Bank to provide Israel
with strategic depth against
Arab attack."
When asked what solution
they prefer to the Palestin-
ian problem, 15 percent said
annexation; 32 percent said
Israeli military control of
the territories, with local
self-rule for the Palestinians
(the Likud position); 12 per-
cent said return major por-
tions of the territories to
Jordan, with appropriate
security arrangements (the
Labor position); 4 percent
said create a Palestinian
state in all of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, and the rest
didn't know or were
undecided.
Once again, the evidence
points to a near-majority of
American Jews advocating
more "hawkish" views.
The way in which ques-
tions were worded obviously
affected some answers. For
example, 27 percent agreed
Palestinians have a right to
a state in the territories, so
long as it does not threaten
Israel; 40 percent disagreed.
When asked, however, if in
the framework of a peace
agreement, Israel should
allow the establishment of a

Are...12. I. Joins, Cowpox* I. I. O. LJerafte.....0.....aosiymba.

Palestinian state with .ac-
ceptable security ar-
rangements, 51 percent said
yes, 21 percent no.
Other issues caused less
disagreement. American
Jews overwhelmingly ob-
jected to U.S. efforts to link
aid to Israeli flexibility.
Eighty percent favored
Israeli control of united
Jerusalem. Also, 83 percent
agreed the PLO is deter-
mined to destroy Israel, a
nearly 20-point increase
from two years ago. Fifty-
one percent said that if the
PLO recognizes Israel's
right to exist, ceases terror-
ism and ends the uprising,
Israel should negotiate with
the PLO. Twenty-three per-
cent disagreed.
Nearly half the American

Jews surveyed think Ad-
ministration criticism of
Israeli policies is not useful
for prodding Israel to make
concessions in the peace pro-
cess. A- majority said the
U.S. should stop criticizing
Israel for expanding set-
tlements. And a plurality (40
percent) believe the criticism
we hear stems from anti-
Semitism.
Conventional wisdom also
holds that Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir is un-
popular among American
Jews. The survey found,
however, that Mr. Shamir
and Mr. Peres tied as the
most popular Israeli politi-
cians, with Mr. Rabin and
Mr. Arens tied as the next
most popular with 55 per-
cent and 54 percent

ROUND UP

Tel Aviv Opens
Drug Rehab Clinic
Tel Aviv.— Israel's largest
medical complex, the Tel
Aviv Sourasky Medical
Center, has become the first
hospital in the country to set
up a drug rehabilitation
clinic.
The clinic will carry out a
three-point program: treat
drug abusers, conduct
research, and provide train-
ing for physicians,
counselors and other profes-
sionals about addiction
prevention and rehabilita-
tion.
Some 35,000 addicts live in
Israel — one of the lowest
rates of illicit drug use
among developed nations.
But -health officials warn
that there has been a
notable lack of public infor-
mation on the dangers of
drug abuse in the country.
Treatment at the new
clinic will follow a model de-
veloped at Rockefeller Uni-
versity Hospital in New

York, which emphasizes
maintenance treatment and
social and occupational re-
habilitation while the pa-
tient lives at home.

Jews Increase
In Territories
Despite continued intifada
violence in Gaza and Judea
and Samaria, Jewish set-
tlers are still moving into
the territories in increasing
numbers, according to a
report in Hebron Today, the
official newsletter of the
Jewish community of
Hebron.
The report sites increases
in Jewish populations in the
following communities, from
December 1987 through
May 1991:
• Har Hebron — 214.3%
• Hebron — 162.5%
• Oranit — 150%
• Efrat — 111.4%
• Emanuel — 110.5%
• Elkhana — 92.3%
• Ariel — 88.7%

Har Hebron, which com-
prises 13 towns, jumped
from a population of 700 in
1987 to 2,200 in 1991; the
city of Hebron went from 200
to 525 Jewish residents that
same period; and the city of
Oranit went from a popula-
tion of 1,100 in 1987 to 2,750
in 1991.

Stamps Feature
Jewish Comedians
The U.S. Post Office re-
cently issued a number of
new stamps celebrating
American comedians in-
cluding two Jews — Fanny
Brice and Jack Benny. The
stamps are designed by ar-
tist Al Hirschfield, who also
is Jewish.
The late Mr. Benny, born
Benjamin Kubelsky in
Waukegan, Ill., was popular
on both radio and television.
He died in 1974.
Ms. Brice, born in 1891 in
New York, was a leading
stage comedienne and star of

The Fanny Brice stamp.

Fanny. She died in 1951.
The last time the U.S. Post
Office issued a stamp featur-
ing a Jew was 1988, when it
cited Bernard Revel, a
founder of Yeshiva Univer-
sity.
The Hirschfield stamps are
available in books only.

Cassettes Focus
On Alzheimer's

The Hebrew Union Col-
lege-Jewish Institute of Re-,
ligion has produced a series
of cassettes dealing with
Alzheimer's patients and
their caregivers.
The tapes, which original-
ly aired on New York radio,

feature interviews with the
medical director of Project
Crisis, the Jewish Associ-
ation for Services , for the
Aged; a geriatric
psychiatrist and consultant
to nursing homes; and the
director of HUC-JIR's New
York School of Education.
Among the topics discuss-
ed are the status of research
into the causes and treat-
ment of Alzheimer's disease,
factors contributing to diag-
nosis and misdiagnosis, car-
ing for a loved one affected
by the disease, the advan-
tages and disadvantages of
at-home and nursing-home
care, and risk factors in-
volved in contracting
Alzheimer's.
For information, contact
the Office of Community Re-
lations, Hebrew Union Col-
lege-Jewish Institute of Re-
ligion, Brookdale Center, 1
W. Fourth St., New York,
N.Y. 10012.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

11