4404,44.

OPINION

triking Parallels,
i 939 And Today

GARY ROSENBLATT

J.,ditor

The parallels
are striking and
difficult to ig-
nore — though
many of us are
doing our best.
Refugees fleeing
oppression and
seeking asylum set sail for
America, only to be denied by
the administration in Wash-
gton.
This week's headlines tell
the sad tale of Haitians risk-
ing their lives to come to
these shores, only to be
rebuffed by the Bush ad-
ministration, whose new
olicy is to intercept the
refugees and return them to
Haiti.
Fifty-three years ago this
Month, the ship was the St.
Louis, which sailed from
Germany with 936 passen-
ers — 930 of them Jewish
refugees —fleeing Nazi
terror. They were bound for
Havana, but for most of the
assengers Cuba was but a
way station en route to the
*inited States.
That voyage became a har-
rowing microcosm of the
rld's indifference to the
plight of European Jews.
Denied entrance in Havana,
the ship appealed to the
'United States but was re-
jected and eventually
returned to Europe, where
ost of its passengers are
presumed to have perished
in German gas chambers.
The experience was
valuable for Hitler, who saw
that the free world, for all of
its rhetoric, was not
repared to save the Jews. A
Nazi magazine in 1939
wrote: "We are saying open-
ly that we do not want the
7ews while the democracies
keep on claiming that they
are willing to receive them
and then leave the guests
out in the cold. Aren't we
savages better men after
all?"
■■ • That question still hangs
in the air today. The United
States says that many of
those who have chosen to
flee Haiti are seeking to im-
prove their economic condi-
tion rather than because of
4`a well-founded fear" of po-
litical persecution, Wash-
ington's criterion for
asylum. (It should be noted
'that, just prior to World War
II, European Jews who
sought to escape to these

shores were also classified as
economic refugees.)
Haiti is not a democratic
country; it is a military dic-
tatorship and undergoing
violent turmoil. To ask these
people to stay in Haiti and
formally apply for the right
to emigrate is impractical
and lacks compassion.
Besides, returning fleeing
Haitians without first learn-
ing whether they have prop-
er cause to be given political
asylum is a violation of a
United Nations convention
on the treatment of refugees,
a convention that until now
had been actively advocated
by the White House.
The United States has a
moral imperative to provide
asylum, even if only tem-
porarily to determine the
ultimate status of the Hai-
tian refugees.
How can we expect other,
less affluent, countries to act
nobly when we do not lead
the way? When thousands of
Vietnamese boat people
were shipped back to their
homeland recently, against
their will, the United States
decried these actions and
criticized the British in

Jewish refugees run the British blockade in 1939.

Hong Kong for refusing to
take the boat people in. But
when the refugees hit close
to home, literally, the White
House retreats.
American Jewish organ-
izations have recognized the
need to speak out', against
the Bush administration's
response and to call atten-
tion to the painful lessons of
Jewish history, when op-
pressed Jews found the gates

of freedom closed to them.
Rabbi David Saperstein of
the Union of American Heb-
rew Congregations, repre-
senting Reform Judaism,
noted that "today's refugees
cannot in conscience be held
hostage to tomorrow's ideal
solutions. Their lives are at
risk now; they seek refuge
and freedom in the symbolic
glow of the light of the
Statue of Liberty torch." He

asserted that "a cold and
cruel response not only
imperils them, it diminishes
us; it dims the Statue's
light."
We Jews who are so quick
to accuse others of ignoring
our plight must raise our
voices to the chorus of those
who seek help for the Hai-
tians. Our religion, our cons-
cience and our history de-
mand that we do more. ❑

Israelis Rethink The Golan Heights

CAROLINE BARNES

s observers ponder pos-
sible freedom for Syr-
ian Jews, a develop-
ment of potentially even
greater significance has pass-
ed unnoticed: the dramatic
shift in Israeli public opinion
regarding the Golan Heights.
Since Sytia agreed to attend
peace talks with Israel last
July 18, the percentage of the
Israeli public open to ter-
ritorial compromise on the
Golan has more than doubled,
from under 15 percent to
roughly 35 percent. Moreover,
some leading Israeli military
thinkers are saying com-
promise may be feasible.
According to Israeli pollster
Hanoch Smith, as long as
there was no real prospect of
negotiations, Israelis almost
unanimously opposed any ter-
ritorial compromise on the
Golan. Since 1973, 80-95 per-
cent of Israeli survey
respondents had taken this
stance.

A

Caroline Barnes is a research
assistant at Project Nishma, an
educational project on Israeli
security and the peace process.

As recently as May 1991, 87
percent rejected compromise,
in a poll conducted by the
Guttman Institute of Applied
Social Research.
conventional
Indeed,
wisdom held that territorial
compromise on the Golan
Heights was militarily im-
possible. The margin for error
on the 500 square-mile Golan
Heights is obviously far
smaller than in the 36,000
square-mile Sinai desert. Not
only must Israel fear Syrian
control of high ground direct-
ly overlooking Israeli settle-
ments, but Syria must worry
about the defense of its
capital, Damascus, situated
only 28 miles from the Israeli
border.
Nevertheless, the fact that
Syrians are sitting down face-
to-face with Israel, without
preconditions, is causing
many Israelis to rethink their
options. Five days after Syria
agreed to talk, telephone in-
terviews showed 38 percent of
the respondents willing to
compromise on the Golan for
a peace agreement and securi-
ty guarantees with Syria. And
in two separate studies con-
ducted last August (by Hanoch
Smith) and last October (by

the Guttman Institute), over
40 percent of Israelis express-
ed openness to compromise on
the Golan.
Finally, in November, 1991,
the largest Israeli public opi-
nion poll ever conducted (by
the Na'amat women's organi-
zaton) showed 31 percent of
the respondents willing to
return at least part of the
Golan in exchange for peace.
An axiom of Israeli politics
holds that Israelis respond far
more favorably to actual peace
initiatives than to hypotheti-
cal questions. But this axiom
has not been tested since
Egyptian President Sadat's
1977 trip to Jerusalem.
Before Sadat's visit only
one-half to two-thirds of Israeli
Jews were willing to return
the Sinai to Egypt; im-
mediately afterward, the
figure jumped to over 85 per-
cent. Similarly, between June
and Nov. 23, 1977, two days
after Sadat's departure from
Jerusalem, those Israelis who
believed Egypt to be in-
terested in reaching a peace
agreement with Israel on con-
ditions acceptable to Israel
grew from 53 to 90 percent.
Syrian President Assad, of
course, is not Sadat. While

Sadat's visit caused a sudden,
extreme shift in Israeli opi-
nion, Assad's gestures and the
Israeli response have been
more tentative and incremen-
tal. Should Assad make a
dramatic move like Sadat's,
Israeli opinion could be ex-
pected to shift even further in
favor of territorial
compromise.
Furthermore, the Golan is
not the Sinai. The Golan's size
and topography pose thorny
military problems. This nar-
row strip provides Israel with
high ground, strategic depth,
water sources, and surveil-
lance advantages. Yet despite
this, some retired Israeli
generals now believe that ter-
ritorial compromise on the
Golan is not only possible but
a necessary ingredient for any
peace agreement with Syria.
Lacking the ideological and
religious significance of the
West Bank, the Golan
presents a difficult but
theoretically solvable military
problem. At its core, the pro-
blem remains one of restoring
Syrian pride while assuring
Israeli security.
Compromise is no longer
militarily or politically un-
thinkable. ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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