100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials may be under copyright. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact the Bentley Historical Library at bentley.ref@umich.edu

June 07, 1996 - Image 18

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1996-06-07

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

;-\

ci:=(

4.4eN4c.:

Bibi's Opportunity

In the coming days, Binyamin Netanyahu is ex-
pected to present his government to the Knes-
set for a vote of confidence. A scant 71/2 months
ago, Mr. Netanyahu and then-Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin were nearly tied in opinion polls
in their contest to lead the Jewish state. How-
ever, many observers believed that Rabin's re-
lentless presence and, thanks to the vision of
then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, advances
in the peace process would have led to a solid
Labor victory in the October scheduled voting.
But since last November, the Israeli electorate
has endured the bullets of an assassin, the bombs
of Islamic fundamentalists, the rockets of ter-
rorists and the response of overwhelming
artillery. Each took a terrible toll on the nation's
psyche. Collectively, these events brought down
in a thundering crash the Rabin-Peres vision of
leading the Jewish state into the 21st century.
And Mr. Peres, having neither the personality
nor the record of his slain predecessor, could not
withstand the challenge.
In the end, Mr. Peres was not fated to be the
elected prime minister of Israel. Nonetheless,
history will judge him as one of the great figures
of the early years of the modern Jewish state.
He was the last great bridge that Jews had to
Israel's tumultuous early decades.
Since Rabin's 1992 victory, we have been
steadfast supporters of the efforts of Israel's lead-
ers toward peace. We remain so. Yet, we offer
our sincere congratulations and best wishes to
Mr. Netanyahu. He is the choice of the Israeli
majority.
And we applaud Mr. Netanyahu for his first
post-victory speech. He thanked Mr. Peres for
service to the state — and quieted the boos of
Likud supporters — while vowing unity among
the electorate. "The peace begins at home," he
said, "but we must continue it outside of Israel.
And we plan to advance the peace and the ne-
gotiating process."
Mr. Netanyahu also should be credited for
promising equality for Israel's Arabs, continued
movement toward a free-market economy and
strong ties with Diaspora Jews. Elsewhere, he
has offered the Foreign Ministry to David Levy,
a moderate, and is said to be keeping hardlin-
ers away from the Defense Ministry. Finally,
one of Mr. Netanyahu's first acts as prime min-
ister-elect was to reassure, via telephone, the
leaders of Jordan and Egypt.
Much of the world is viewing this election as
a potential disaster. We do not. We're keenly
aware that Mr. Netanyahu's Likud Party has
vowed to pump millions of new dollars into the

4.4

Dry
Bones

A BRIEF HISICRI)
OF 1XMOGRACY

TOE SECRET
BP0-(11- %Pan
Tue. OLDER

-

1)MoCRATic

9-es- r6m

cc

<

controversial West Bank settlements, has
pledged never to allow Jerusalem to be divided
and has vetoed the formation of a Palestinian
state. Each stand is anathema to Palestinians
and their supporters. Any one, if not handled
with the greatest of diplomacy, can end the peace
process. As if that were not enough, Mr.
Netanyahu will need all of his skills to man-
age a fractious coalition upon which resurgent
religious parties could place extraordinary
demands.
Despite this, Mr. Netanyahu has a phenom-
enal opportunity to be a historic peacemaker.
Had Mr. Peres been victorious and signed a fi-
nal pact with Lebanon, the Palestinian Author-
ity and Syria, perhaps 50 percent of Israel would
have rejoiced. Mr. Netanyahu, however, can
push through an agreement that the vast ma-
jority of Israelis will favor.
The Likud leader knows that the march to-
ward that ultimate goal, albeit so difficult to
imagine, is irreversible. And he understands
that he has been handed the coveted silver plat-
ter. His stature and politics could not have start-
ed this process. Yet, Mr. Netanyahu inherits an
Israel whose troops do not patrol in Gaza or most
of the West Bank. It is a country whose economy
is now soaring and whose diplomatic standing
— thanks to the peace talks — is unprecedented.
We do not believe that Israel's prime minis-
ter-elect will jeopardize such gains. He seems
more of a pragmatic politician than an idealogue,
although his stated convictions are clear. And
that's good news. Politicians believe in the art
of compromise, a crucial ingredient in the frag-
ile effort of Mideast peace making. Mr. Ne-
tanyahu might appear to offer maximalist
positions to the Arabs when declaring Jerusalem
Israel's eternal capital. But, to Jews, Arab claims
on large chunks of Jerusalem are equally nox-
ious. Creative solutions to such conflicting as-
pirations will judge the ultimate success of Mr.
Netanyahu's stated hopes.
Above all, we recognize that a democratic elec-
tion and a peaceful transition of governments is
taking place in Israel. We pray for the day when
that can be said about surrounding Arab states.
This is not Algeria where an election's results
were canceled; nor is it Syria, where an esti-
mated 20,000 residents in a city of dissidents
were murdered by the regime.
The torch of leadership now passes to a new
generation, one born into independence. Mr.
Netanyahu's challenges are abundant. May he,
too, succeed in the momentous task of leading
the Jewish state.

Tilowit,,,G
9014CA D1DATES
AGAimsi A
AND
COA
%6I NG w1410-1
ONE slUcK.

ISN'T - 114e.
N6u) SYSTEM
A WT MoRE
EFFICIENT?

SURE

Letters
Sad Day
For Peace

It is a very sad day when the gov-
ernment of Israel is chosen by
Arab terrorists. Yet that is exact-
ly what happened on May 29.
Prior to the llamas attacks,
Peres was comfortably ahead in
the polls among Jewish voters.
This lead was eliminated by the
suicide bombers. Prior to the rock-
et attacks on northern Israel and
the predictable Israeli response,
a large vote among Israeli Arabs
was expected for Peres. After the
response and the tragic accident
at the U.N. camp, the Israeli Arab
attitude toward Peres changed.
Early reports that approximate-
ly 80,000 Israeli Arabs cast blank
protest ballots means that those
blank ballots numbered 2 112
times the Netanyahu victory mar-
gin of under 30,000 (1 percent).
The result is tragic for both Is-
rael and its neighbors. It is not
only the Palestinians who are the
victims of this election. Israel has
dreamed throughout its existence
of living in peace with its neigh-
bors. Never had this objective
been so close to being achieved.
Israel now has a government com-
mitted to building pieces of land
instead of a land of peace.
If Netanyahu follows through
on his party's plan for massive set-
tlement in the West Bank, is it
realistic to think that the Pales-
tinian street — which polls show
was becoming increasingly sup-
portive of the peace process — will
remain quiet? Isn't it more real-
istic to believe that Palestinians
will become more sympathetic to
llamas with a decrease in secu-
rity for Israel under Likud?
Is it realistic to believe that
Netanyahu can deliver peace with
Syria while keeping his promise
to keep all of the Golan? Is it re-
alistic to believe that the problems
in southern Lebanon can be re-
solved without reaching an accord
with Syria?
The last Likud prime minister
was Yitzhak Shamir. Upon his
defeat he acknowledged that he
had been prepared to drag out his
"negotiations" for 10 years while
building enough settlements to
ensure that a political settlement
based on territorial compromise
was impossible. Netanyahu may
well carry on this tradition, pre-
tending to make peace while

creating conditions that will make
it impossible.
One can only hope that Amer-
ican Jewry does not provide blind
support for Likud policies that
most American Jews — who all
polls show clearly support "land
for peace" — reject. If blind sup-
port for Likud is provided, some
day they may remember that
when a strong voice in support of
Israel making peace with its
neighbors was needed, they were
silent when peace was obtainable.
It is well to remember that
"silence is the voice of complicity."

Kenneth Knoppow

Farmington Hills

Normal Process
Of Birth

Thank you for your interview
with Elaine Kahn. As a childbirth
educator, it is refreshing to see
you show our community that
there are alternatives and choic-
es in birth that are safe. The more
that women are made aware of
the ancient and normal process
of birth, the more they will seek
out professional midwives whose
safety record is far superior (be-
lieve it or not) to our present-day
high-tech obstetrician/hospital ex-
perience.

Cheryl Ettinger

Southfield

Missing
Rabbi Gershon

This summer I will not only be los-
ing a rabbi, I will be losing a
teacher, spiritual counselor and
a friend. I was very saddened to
hear that Rabbi Bill Gershon will
be leaving Detroit for Minneapo-
lis. However, I understand the cir-
cumstances and am happy for the
Gershons, knowing that they will
be loved as much in Minnesota as
they were and are here.
Rabbi Gershon acted as a Jew-
ish role model for me and my fel-
low classmates at Shaarey Zedek
Hebrew School. When he entered
our lives nine years ago, the stu-
dents at Shaarey Zedek found
themselves eager to come to class.
Minneapolis is extremely for-
tunate to have Rabbi Gershon,
Raquel and their three children.

Daniel Cherrin

West Bloomfield

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan