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A Public Service of
A This Publication
10/17
1997
36
Di's Legacy
And The Jews
Jewish organizations are beginning
to become involved in the land mine ban.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
he death of Britain's
Princess Diana in a grisly
car wreck in Paris was a
major blow to her pet
cause, the movement to ban land
mines — a movement that is belated-
ly winning support from Jewish
groups, according to anti-
land mine activists.
Jerry White, founder and
director of the Washington-
based Landmine Survivors
Network, said that "no light
shone as brightly as hers in
illuminating the issue. But
even after her death, mine
victims around the world and
others are stiffening their res-
olution to win an agreement
to ban mines this year."
That movement was hon-
ored this week — and
awarded $1 million — with
the Nobel Peace Prize.
White has a more person-
al understanding of the issue
than most — he was badly
injured by a land mine dur-
ing a camping trip in the
Golan Heights in 1984,
when he was a student.
White played a major role
in Diana's trip this summer
to Bosnia to promote the
land mine ban issue.
"While she was there, I put her in
touch with the president of the
Jewish community in Sarajevo, who
has been trying to win support for
de-mining the Jewish cemetery in
that city," he said. "The princess was
very impressed with him."
Israel, cautious about its own
defense, has shown little interest in
the drive to ban land mines, White
said. But he has been working to get
Israeli experts more involved in
efforts to provide better care for vic-
tims of these weapons.
"I was injured there, and spent six
months going through their [rehabili-
tation] program," said White, an
Irish-Catholic. "They have excellent
treatment programs. I would like
others to take a look at what they
have to offer."
White said that Jewish groups have
lagged behind church organizations
in fighting for a land mine ban,
accident that claimed Diana's life, the
Israeli media recalled an incident
with singer Elton John, who charged
the paparazzi hounded him out of
the country.
Only a few hours after arriving in
the summer of 1993, John fled the
country. He later issued a press
release claiming he had been
"harassed by aggressive photographers
on motorbikes ... causing
danger to other traffic."
That same year, singer
Sinead O'Connor broke
the cameras of two pho-
tographers who were
snapping away as she left
the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher.
Jewish
groups have
lagged
behind
churches.
although some groups are beginning
take notice.
This summer, the Union of •
American Hebrew Congregations and
the Central Conference of American
Rabbis wrote to President Bill
Clinton, urging the administration to
join the Ottawa process, the
Canadian-led effort to forge an inter-
national ban on land mines. Last
month, the administration reversed
course and decided to participate in
that process.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the
supposed role of paparazzi in the auto
Arnold Schwarzenegger
told Israeli photographers
he encountered during a
July 1995 visit that he
had "never seen more aggressive jour-
nalists."
One Israeli press photographer,
Brian Hendler, told the Jerusalem Post
that he sometimes finds the behavior
of the Israeli press "pretty disgust-
ing." They will "do anything to get a
picture, paparazzi or not," he said.
Increased competition between
two Israeli papers, Yediot Aharonot
and Ma'ariv, has only increased the
aggressiveness of photographers, he
noted. "This type of competition," he
added, "means anything goes." 0
•