L
The Pullout Begins
Gaza and the West Bank were filled this week
with unmistakable signs of change: Palestinian
police are getting set to move into Jericho, some
160 lightly armed European peacekeepers will
soon take up positions in Hebron, and a dozen
Jewish settler families — undoubtedly the first
of many to come — abandoned the small Gaza
settlement of Dugit for temporary tents just in-
side Israel.
Ready or not, the new era envisioned in the Is-
rael-PLO peace accord is actually upon us —bar-
ring yet another unforeseen and unfortunate act
of terror that would prompt either party to slow
the process once again. Just how peaceful this era
will be, however, remains to be seen.
No doubt, confusion and chaos will accompa-
ny the transfer of authority. Palestinians likely
will test their new power and vie among them-
selves for slices of the pie. Some bloodshed is all
but assured.
All this makes for a very trying time for Israel
— to say the least. Some Israelis — as well as
Jews in the Diaspora — believe Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin is so intent upon making peace
that he is willing to give away too much, too fast
and they fear the future. The more than 100,000
Jewish settlers in the territories are most vul-
nerable at this time.
But there is no turning back; nor is there any
reason to do so at this point, despite the legiti-
mate concerns that abound. It took courage for
Israel to decide last September to make peace
with the PLO, and it will take courage for the
agreement to be implemented.
As generations of Jews have prayed, and as
Mr. Rabin said that fateful day at the White
House: 0-se shalom bimromov, hu yaase shalom,
olaynu v'al kol yisroel v'imru, omayn. "May He
who establishes peace in the heavens, grant peace
unto us and unto all Israel; and say ye, Amen."
Yom Hashoah, Hazikaron;
Two Unforgettable Days
This day and the days ahead are often too hard
to bear.
The mere fact that most of us don't know that
today (April 8) is Yom Hashoah, a day to re-
member the Six Million, screams that there is so
much more education to do, so much more that
parents need to tell their children and grand-
children. That we don't know is as sad as the day
itself.
Then there is April 13, Yom Hazikaron, Israel's
Memorial Day, a time often overshadowed by the
day following, Independence Day in Israel.
People, sometimes Jews, say that they are tired
of hearing about the Holocaust. Yet the truth is
that the Shoah is branded in the fabric of every
Jew
Sadly, April 8, the 27th of Nisan, can be just
another day. Even on some area Jewish commu-
nity calendars the day has no special designation.
For Jews, and hopefully thinking civilization,
the memory of the Holocaust isn't reserved for
one day, but is on our collective minds every day.
Here in the United States we are blessed that
our children can choose to graduate from high
school and find a college before they set on a ca-
reer. In Israel, the priority is entirely different.
Children mature quickly. The Israel Defense
Force requires them to leave their parents before
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the ink on their high school certificates dries. Some
will die protecting a country, an ideal, before our
children complete their freshman year of college.
All the while we in Detroit and in the United
States feel free to ignore, to champion, to support
and to criticize from our long-distance perch, with-
out our lives, our security on the line.
Last April in a military cemetery in Jerusalem,
some of the Michigan Miracle Mission members
saw for themselves. There, frontline buddies, some
childhood friends, some siblings and some par-
ents met over the graves of their dead loved ones.
The sobbing, the moaning was fresh.
The lesson: This cemetery was a brisk walk
from another unforgettable monument, Yad
Vashem. It is also the obligation of those who went
to Israel, especially as we approach the April 18
anniversary of the Mission, to remember what
we saw.
Neither one of these days can be forgotten or
taken for granted. They must be observed.
Before we celebrate Israel's independence, we
partake of the sadness of two other days. There
is no way independence can be appreciated un-
less we realize and teach what it cost.
It shouldn't just be two days marked on a cal-
endar in April because it is part of us every day.
WI-1116
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Letters
Pollard-Dreyfus
Comparison
President Clinton's decision to
deny Jonathan Pollard clemen-
cy, as reported in the April 1 ed-
itorial, is lacking in both
fairness and compassion. Es-
sentially, President Clinton
chose to accept former Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger's
assessment that Jonathan Pol-
lard is a traitor, undeserving of
clemency.
To suggest another rationale
is, I believe, to misread the pres-
ident's decision as well as to di-
lute his responsibility for
making it.
President Clinton chose to ig-
nore some troublesome ques-
Comparisons have been
made between the Pollard and
Dreyfus affairs. In the latter, it
is unlikely that Alfred Dreyfus,
convicted of treason, would
have been able to leave Devils
Island alive without the inter-
vention of Emile Zola.
One writer of outstanding lit-
erary talent and personal
courage made a difference by
forcing (embarrassing) the
French government into even-
tually admitting that the evi-
dence against Dreyfus was
tainted. That type of interven-
tion has been sorely lacking in
the Pollard affair, hence the re-
sult.
The Pollard case, like the
Dreyfus case, has much to do
with anti-Semitism. And that
message has become lost in
Washington despite the prox-
imity of the Washington Holo-
caust Museum and the good
intentions of those who made
its existence possible.
Irving Warshawsky
West Bloomfield
Howitzer:
A Desecration
Jonathan Pollard:
Clemency denied.
tions: Why, despite how much
the Middle East political land-
scape has changed since 1987,
does the evidence against Pol-
lard continue to be classified se-
cret, including the famous
Weinberger memo to Judge
Robinson prior to sentencing?
How does one know false or
misleading information was not
planted in the Pollard file? (Re-
call, there is a disconnect be-
tween the charges to which
Pollard pleaded guilty and
Weinberger's pre-sentencing
charge of treason.)
Why did Judge Steven
Williams, writing the minority
opinion for the appellate court,
call Pollard's punishment "a
fundamental miscarriage ofjus-
lice"?
"Top Gun— a Howitzer finds a
home at Machpelah Cemetery"
(March 30) caught my atten-
tion, and it made increasingly
less sense as I continued read-
ing it.
On Oct. 12, 1944, my broth-
er, 1st Lt. Sherwood L. Racey,
was killed in action in France
shortly after D-Day. His body
was subsequently returned for
burial in Toledo, Ohio, the city
of our birth.
In this tranquil plot of land,
owned by a synagogue, a beau-
tiful stone memorial was erect-
ed dedicated to those Toledo
men and women who gave their
lives in World War II. This
memorial is inscribed with all
the symbols of the American
branches of service, paying hon-
or to their hallowed remains in
a dignified and loving way.
Thus, when I read that
Machpelah manager Paul Sav-
ille decided that a howitzer can-
non stored at a military
department in Pennsylvania
would be brought to the Mach-
HOWITZER page 8