UP FRONT

Growing Up Angry

Young Israeli voters, on the Right and the
Left, share a strong dislike of Arabs.

INA FRIEDMAN

Special to The Jewish News

oung voters express a
full range of views
about the upcoming
national elections. Some are
animated, some could care
less about discussing poli-
tics. But the one topic they
talk about eagerly is their
feelings about Arabs: fear,
disdain and- enormous
resentment that they vent in
the strongest terms.
"I'll vote for any party
that'll finish off the Arabs,"
declares 18-year-old Udi, a
proud follower of Kach (the
late-Rabbi Meir Kahane's
party, which has been
barred from the Knesset be-
cause of its racist
philosophy). "They don't
belong here, and they should
be sent off somewhere,
anywhere: into Sinai or the
Arab countries."
"You and I can't walk the
streets of Tel Aviv safely,
but Arabs can," snaps 20-
year-old Tal in the midst of
what is otherwise an im-
pressively reasoned state-
ment about why he will vote

y

for a right-wing party be-
cause of its leader's integri-
ty.
Yet it's not only among
supporters of the Right that
a deep aversion to the Pales-
tinians can be felt. At the
opposite end of the spectrum,
youngsters openly express
feelings that clash head on
with the philosophies they
profess.
"If I had my way, I'd close
them all up in the territories
tomorrow," proclaims 21-
year-old Dov, who intends to
vote for Labor or perhaps
inch over to the new union of
left-wing parties called
Democratic Israel.
"The Palestinians may be
getting a rotten deal," he
continues, "but that's no
reason for them to sym-
pathize with people who
charge about the streets
shouting Allahu akbar as
they hack away at Jews."
That kind of ambivalence
is not uncommon in Israel
and cuts straight to the
heart of the national
dilemma: how to keep the
security so widely associated
with the occupied territories
without keeping the 1.7

million Palestinians who
threaten the Israelis' sense
-of safety and well-being each
time they're spotted on the
street.
Whether out of wisdom or
chagrin, neither of the two
main political parties ad-
dresses this conundrum
head on. The Likud has pro-
posed autonomy for the Pa-
lestinians but has studiously
avoided negotiating it.
Labor's stand is even more
confusing; it embraces both
autonomy and "territorial
compromise" without defin-
ing what either of them
means.
Perhaps that is why so
many of Israel's youngsters
are drawn to the parties at
the poles of the political
spectrum. They, at least,
speak clearly of disengaging
from the Palestinians,
whether by withdrawing
from the territories (and ac-
ceding to an independent Pa-
lestinian entity) or by an-
nexing them and coaxing,
squeezing, or openly driving
the Palestinians out.
In any case, the enduring
predicament that Israelis
call "the situation" is not

just the focal issue for young
voters in the upcoming elec-
tion, it seems to be the
only issue. Talk to them
about immigration, econ-
omics, or relations with the
United States and they tend
to shrug, as though such
matters were simply beyond
their ken.
They know unemployment
looms large for them when
they complete their army
service. They also know that
competition for places in the
universities will be fierce,
especially because of the in-
flux of so many talented
youngsters from the Soviet
Union. But even these prob-
lems, which stand to affect
them directly in the
foreseeable future, do not

seem to engage their atten-
tion.
"We're in the army, and
security is our business right
now," explains Elad, who
has only six months more to
go. "When you're out there
on the front line, believe me,
it's hard to think about
what's going to come later."
Still, life in the army
doesn't isolate youngsters
from the world around them
Politics is a topic of discus-
sion in their units, and they
get much of their informa-
tion from the at my radio sta-
tion, Galei Zahal, whose po-
litical coverage is detailed,
lively, and penetrating.
So penetrating, in fact,
that if any issue can be said
to come in second as a focus

ROUND UP

Agreement Targets
Czech Synagogues
Damaged synagogues and
abandoned Jewish
cemeteries abroad will be in-
cluded under an agreement,
signed last week by the
United States and the Czech
and Slovak Federal Repub-
lic, to protect historic
buildings and other sites
representing the cultural
heritage of the two coun-
tries.
"The Jewish communities,
which now have a very high
average age, are by them-
selves not capable of caring
for all the monuments and
relics that need preserva-
tion," said Rita Klimova,
Prague's ambassador to
Washington. "These should
and must be preserved to
serve the new small but
growing Jewish community
and also because the Jewish
heritage is an indivisible
component of our
Czechoslovak culture."
A new group called the As-

sociates of the U.S. Commis-
sion for the Preservation of
America's Heritage Abroad
has been formed to raise
funds needed to repair the
institutions covered under
the bilateral agreement.

Would You Pay
To See Bernie?
Remember when you told
your boss you couldn't make
his son's bar mitzvah be-
cause you were visiting your
sick mother in Seattle,
when, in fact, you spent the
afternoon sitting at home
reading the National En-
quirer?
Or how about the time you
told Cousin Hymie you
wouldn't be there for the bar
mitzvah of his precious son,
Stanley, because you had to
travel to Kansas City to
meet long-lost relatives who
just emigrated from the
Soviet Union. Long-lost
relatives? Ha!
Well, now New Yorkers —

who else? — are PAYING to
attend a bar mitzvah.
It's called Bernie's Bar
Mitzvah, a new musical by
Howard Perloff showing at
the 24 Karat Club in
Manhattan.
In addition to witnessing
the "bar mitzvah," guests
are asked to join the dancing
(which, naturally includes
the Horah, and some wild
and crazy disco stuff) and
partake of the festive meal.
What a surprise. The main
course is chicken.

To obtain the Haggadot,
contact the Jewish Braille
Institute, 110 E. 30th St.,
New York, N.Y. 10016, or
call (212) 889-2525.

A page of the Haggadah.

Braille Institute
Offers Haggadot
The Jewish Braille In-
stitute of America is offering
free Haggadot in large print,
Braille or cassette.
Available are:
• A large-print traditional
Haggadah, edited by Philip
Birnbaum.
• The Reform movement's
New Union Haggadah, in
large print.

• A one-volume edition of
the Haggadah in Braille,
edited by the late Cecil Roth.
• A four-volume Conser-
vative Haggadah in Braille.
• A three-volume Reform
Haggadah in Braille.
• A one-volume children's
Haggadah in Braille.
• On cassette, the Koren
Haggadah, recorded by the
late Cantor Paul Kwartin
and the Union Temple choir.

NCSJ Sponsors
Matza Lift 1992
In response to an emergen-
cy request from Jews in the
former Soviet Union, the
National Conference on
Soviet Jewry is sponsoring
Operation Matza Lift 1992.
Eighteen dollars, which
includes the cost of shipping,
will provide enough matzah
for one family. Without
these donations, many
families will have to go
without matzah this Pesach,
according to NCSJ.
Send contributions —
checks should be made out to
the NCSJ and marked Mat-
za Lift — to the NCSJ, 10 E.
40th St., Suite 1701, New
York, N.Y. 10016.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11