UP FRONT

The Stand Of Oz

t

Amos Oz, Israel's best-known writer, is joyful over
? the victory of 'the good guys' in the national
election.

LARRY DERFNER

F

Israel Correspondent

or a novelist of such
subtlety and delibera-
tion, Amos Oz had a
( r ery simple response to the
,-
Israeli election: "Immense
; joy."
As in previous election
campaigns, Mr. Oz was an
activist in this one. "I'm an
-4_31d political guerrilla," he
_said in an interview a week
after the voting, "and on
I quite a few occasions I've
I tried to help the good guys
> win."
Israel's best-known writer,
whose many books include
the novel, My Michael, and
the collection of essays, In
The Land of Israel, Mr. Oz
set aside his work in recent
weeks and focused on the
campaign — speaking, giv-

,

ing interviews and writing
polemical pieces. He even
did a televised political
advertisement for the "good
guys."
Unlike in other cam-
paigns, though, Mr. Oz did
not support the Labor Party
this time, but the more left-
wing Meretz (Vigor), which
made an excellent showing
and is negotiating to join a
government headed by Yit-
zhak Rabin.
"It is no secret that I pre-
ferred Shimon Peres to
Rabin (as Labor leader), but
this was certainly not the
only reason I switched," he
said. "I felt that Meretz gave
a precise manifestation to
my political convictions on
war and peace. And it offers
a counterbalance on Rabin's
left" to prospective coalition
partners from the right.
Mr. Oz, 53, has been a

moral leader of the opposi-
tion since the Likud took
power in 1977. Seen as one of
the Labor socialist elite, he
personified what the Likud's
conservative, mainly
Sephardi, masses had
despised and defeated: a
secular Ashkenazi intellec-
tual, a kibbutznik (until he
moved some years ago to the
desert town of Arad because
of his son's asthma), and a
political dove.
He dared suggest that the
Palestinians' welfare had to
be taken into consideration,
that Israel didn't have the
right to keep them under
eternal military occupation,
and that Israelis were being
corrupted in the process. Yet
Mr. Oz, a veteran of the Six
Day War and Yom Kippur
War, had little patience for
what he called the "naive
left" — those who roman-

Amos Oz supports "the good guys."

ticized the Palestinians as
innocent victims who want-
ed only justice. He once de-
scribed the Palestinian
resistance as "one of the
most brutal national libera-
tion movements of the cen-
tury."
The solution, as he saw it,
was land for peace, and let
the two peoples part ways.
He believes the Israeli
electorate gave a "loud and
clear" mandate for that ap-

proach. Although Likud
leaders insist it was cosmetic
issues that turned voters off
— the party's divisiveness,
its image of disarray — Mr.
Oz thinks the Likud's failure
points to something more
fundamental.
"Despite all the sound and
fury surrounding the issues
of corruption and the inter-
nal fights of the Likud, deep
down the election was
almost a referendum on the

ROUND UP

-The Tukkel: A Home
Away From Home
`,, Ethiopian immigrants lit-
-)erally took absorption into
their own hands. In three
weeks, 11 men built a tradi-
tional Ethiopian grass-and-
wood but to serve the 500
immigrants living in an
___Acco mobile home site.
The immigrants waited for
more than 18 months for a
community center, in which
they could pray and so-
cialize, to be built. When
none materialized, they
1 began work last April on a
tukkel, a round, one-story
I wooden building that can
hold up to 90 persons. The
thatched roof was made from
grass, just as has been done
for centuries in Ethiopia.
1 The tukkel's construction
was organized by Getu Min-
' tuwab, a carpenter who built
12 tukkels for the Israeli em-
bassy in Addis Ababa, Ethi-
opia. Every afternoon after
Hebrew class, he and his
team worked on the project.
'-)The completed tukkel cost
(' less than $10,000. (The
original community center,
to have been a -double
trailer, would have cost
$160,000.)
The tukkel was officially
opened late last month by

,1

Minister of Housing Ariel
Sharon and Member of
Knesset Geula Cohen.
Visitors may see the site by
calling the American
Association of Ethiopian
Jews' Jerusalem office, 011-
972-2-663-969.

Moynihan's Plea
For Serviceman
Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, D-N.Y., recently
sent a letter to President
George Bush urging that
every step be taken to secure
the freedom of Israeli ser-
viceman Ron Arad and all
other captives held in Leb-
anon, Zachary Baumel, Avi
Feldman and Yehuda Katz.
Mr. Arad has been missing
since 1986.
A bipartisan group of 41
senators signed Sen.
Moynihan's letter, which
states in part, "It is greatly
in America's interest to
demonstrate that this kind
of behavior is not acceptable.
Today Ron Arad and others
are captives. Tomorrow,
Americans may again be in
this situation. The United
States should act vigorously
to demonstrate its opposition
to this kind of conduct
whenever and wherever it
occurs."

'Wailing Wall
Service' Protested
New York — The Ameri-
can Jewish Committee this
week protested the creation
of a "Wailing Wall Service"
by the Home Mission Board
of the Southern Baptist
Convention, calling such an
idea "a manipulative use of
Jewry's holiest site."

In its brochure, the Home
Board calls for the following
steps in presenting the
"Wailing Wall Service,"
which takes place as part of
what it calls A Day of Prayer
for America's Youth in
Crisis:
"Explain the Jewish
custom of visiting the Wail-
ing Wall," the brochure
states. "Ask youth to share
testimonies of how Jesus has
helped them deal with crises
in their lives. Have youth
stand in front of the Wailing
Wall and pray for anyone
they know who may be in
crisis. Share with the youth
how Jesus is the answer to
every crisis. Ask them . . . to
indicate if they would like to
talk to you about becoming a
Christian. At least twice
during the year, have the
Wailing Wall prayer
meeting with church staff."

"The AJC is appalled by
this use of the 'Wailing
Wall' and we vigorously pro-
test the SBC's manipulative
use of Jewry's holiest site,"
AJC Interreligious Affairs
Director Rabbi A. James
Rudin said in a letter to the
Home Board. "The Western
Wall has profound meaning
for Jews within the specific
context of Jewish history
and Jewish experience. To
lift it out of that context and
use it to promote witness to
another faith is abusive and
offensive."

Gorby Plants
A Tree In Israel
What would Lenin say?
What would Trotsky say?
Might they suggest Mikhail
Gorbachev has forgotten his
communist roots? That his
commitment to socialism
has been trunk-ated?
During his visit last month
to Israel, the former Soviet
leader planted a sapling at a
Jewish National Fund forest
in Jerusalem. He didn't even
look up when photographers
asked him to raise his head
for a picture, explaining,
"Planting a tree is too seri-
ous a matter to be disturbed
by posing."

Gorby in Israel:
Serious business.

Not settling for a symbolic
gesture, Mr. Gorbachev
planted his tree "like a real
farmer," according to JNF
World Chairman Moshe
Rivlin. He was not done un-
til he had watered the sapl-
ing and helped his wife,
Raisa, plant a tree as well.
Also participating was
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy
Kollek, who appreciated Mr.
Gorbachev's efforts to bran-
ch out in fields other than
politics.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11

