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Importance Of Participating
At The Incredible Israel Fest

It's called the Incredible Israel Fest, and it in-
cludes a walk, Israeli-style entertainment and
much more.
Yes, there have been past walks, and yes, many
in our community seem numb to the cause.
But we can't be.
When we're the most ambivalent is when we
should walk the most. The Walk for Israel pre-
sents an interesting dynamic. There are com-
munity members who choose it as the sum total
of their affiliation with the Jewish community.
There are also many Detroiters, who could walk
the route blindfolded, and who have every rea-
son not to show up but still do.
What the Walk offers is a gathering place for
the community. It's an opportunity to transcend
any differences we might have politically or re-
ligiously when we make Israel common ground.

For those who have never been to Israel or who
long to be back, it's a chance to feel closer to their
dream.
This Fest honors Israel's 47th anniversary as
a state. There will be participants who have
shared in all 47 of those years, who still feel it
important enough to make a physical and per-
sonal statement by walking. There are those who
will be first-timers.
Yes, surveys have indicated that younger
American Jews have less of an "ownership" of
matters relating to Israel. We're not asking any-
one to "own" Israel. However, issues of identity
are more important than ever. If Israel is indeed
the heartbeat of the world's Jewry, then a sim-
ple 3.5-mile walk on Sunday is an important way
for all of us to measure our pulse.

Political Moves

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The U.S. Embassy, Republican leaders of the
House and Senate would have us believe, will
soon move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The cost,
however, will be the crippling of the already bat-
tered peace talks between Israel and her Arab
neighbors. The Palestinians claim Jerusalem as
their own. Formulators of the current Israeli-
Palestinian talks wisely decided to push the is-
sue of Jerusalem off for several more years. They
knew that its explosiveness could only be dis-
cussed against the backdrop of sustained
progress in direct talks.
Jerusalem is Israel's capitol, a reality that no
government should doubt. Relocation to
Jerusalem of all embassies — all but two are
in Tel Aviv — should be done. But this is not the
time. More disturbing is how this issue was
brought to the forefront.
Last week, Bob Dole, the Senate majority
leader and GOP presidential front-runner, in-
troduced legislation authorizing the move. A sim-
ilar measure was introduced in the House by
Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Some American Jews are ecstatic over the pos-
sibility. At the American-Israel Public Affairs
Committee's annual policy conference last week,
Mr. Dole's remarks on the matter received a wild-
ly enthusiastic response. Five years earlier, Mr.
Dole probably would have been pelted with toma-
toes by the same crowd. At that time, he had in-

troduced a different type of measure into the
Senate. The legislative body had passed a res-
olution affirming Jerusalem's place as Israel's
capital. Mr. Dole sought to press a vote to repeal
that resolution.
Mr. Gingrich almost always takes a pro-Israel
line. But this time he is a step ahead of the U.S.
and Israel governments — and sensible policy.
Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's govern-
ment, and a small group of American Jewish op-
ponents, led by Americans for Peace Now, are
upset. They know that pushing the embassy
move now further rocks the shaky peace process.
The Clinton administration has been reluctant
to upset the Jewish electorate, which it, too, is
wooing for the 1996 presidential campaign.
The nasty agenda at work here ultimately will
undermine American policy in the Middle East,
destroying the U.S. role as an honest broker in
the region. Jewish groups are being told what
they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
And, appallingly, Jerusalem's legitimacy has
been made an American political issue.
There is less than a year left until the offi-
cial start of the 1996 presidential primary cam-
paign. In the interim, we hope that some
candidates can justify how undermining the
Middle East policy of successive Democratic and
Republican administrations is worth destroying
the peace talks.

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41 1

AND THE
BAD NeWS?

Letters

Sinai
Support

I wish that I could adequately de-
scribe my feelings regarding the
treatment I received these past
two weeks at Detroit's Sinai Hos-
pital.
Entirely aside from the out-
standing surgical and medical
mastery of Drs. Wirthlin, Gun-
ther, Engel and Sabin and their
support people, the good will and
enthusiastic attitude exhibited
on a constant basis at all hours
by the lab and nursing people in
every area has been indescrib-
able. I can only say that it was
demonstrated very clearly that
somewhere up high in adminis-
tration there has been generat-
ed an overwhelming belief
reaching into every level of Sinai
that this institution is dedicated
to providing the highest level of
skill and true concern for pro-
viding the very best of care to
every patient.
Also, on a personal note, Lu-
cille and I want to thank our
family and friends who offered
prayers of support during Hi's
surgery.
Hi and Lucille Dorfman
Farmington Hills

.

More About
Dr. Steinhardt

I wish to take this opportunity to
thank the Jewish Federation and
the sponsors for doing a unique
service to the community by hon-
oring eight seniors over 80 last
Sunday. It was done with care
and with dignity.
Today I received the Jewish
News and read the description of
my husband, Dr. Steinhardt:
"past president of the Detroit
Zionist Federation and a libera-
tor of the Nordhausen Concen-
tration Camp." It seems to me
that for the many people for
whom this is the only source of
community information, it will
seem that this is no reason for be-
ing honored. He was a medical
officer in the First Division and
witnessed the evidence of the
Holocaust which strengthened
his commitment.
The pertinent facts of his de-
votion to Jewish continuity, of
which Israel is an integral part,
were not mentioned at all. He

was a respected and well-known
contributor of articles of Jewish
interest to the Jewish News and
other publications from 1977-87.
Dr. Steinhardt promoted the
Hebrew lan;-_-age and estab-
lished a scholarship for young
people to spend time in Israel. He
was the founder and principal
contributor of the Adolescent Psy-
chiatric Annex in Petah-Tikva,
Israel.
Freda Steinhardt
Southfield

Tough Action
Against Terrorists

Since none of the experts on ter-
rorism could give a plausible ex-
planation for why Middle East
terrorists would want to blow up
a federal building in Oklahoma
City, it was not too surprising
that the perpetrators turned out
to be from elsewhere.
It is unfortunate that Arab-
Americans were harassed or
blamed for the incident, but it is
pure hypocrisy for certain lead-
ers of that community to whine
about being persecuted when
they have, in fact, supported
heinous acts in the past and
when certain Arab-Americans,
probably a small minority, con-
tinue to help finance terrorism
against Jews.
The truth is most "Arab-Amer-
ican" organizations were really
Palestinian-American groups
that never represented more
than a tiny fraction of people of
Arab descent. The majority of
Arab-Americans are Lebanese
Christians who have long been
victims of terror and have no in-
terest in providing any aid or
comfort to murderers. The more
vocal minority, however, made
its living as apologists for PLO
terrorism.
Since Oslo, of course, the PLO
is kosher, so it is no longer nec-
essary to apologize for the PLO.
So why aren't these Arab-Amer-
ican leaders the first to back pro-
posed legislation aimed at
preventing Americans from find-
ing terrorist groups like Hamas?
They claim it is a matter of civil
liberties, but they neither admit
that terrorists receive support
from America nor condemn it. In-
stead, an effort is made to paint
the legislation to cut off Ameri-

TERRORISTS page 8

