OPINION

In Arabic, Not
A Word Of Peace

JEFF JACOBY

Special to The Jewish News

T

he Institute for Peace
Education, an organization
based in Tel Aviv, has been
up and running for a year.
So far, its founder has only failure to
report.
David Bedein, an Israeli media ana-
lyst, created the institute in the wake
of a meeting he had with Yassir Arafat
in November 1996 in Bethlehem.
Why, he asked the PLO chairman, do
you regularly invoke peace and the
"peace process" when you speak to for-
eign audiences in English, but never
say the same things to your own peo-
ple in Arabic?
"I say such things all the time,"
Arafat told him. Bedein replied that
he had never heard Arafat — or the
Palestinian Authority — issue even
one peaceable sentiment in Arabic.
Arafat assured him he was wrong.
On its face, Bedein's charge would
seem ludicrous. The very premise of
the 1993 Oslo accord — and the
Nobel Prize that Arafat shared with
Shimon Peres and the late Yitzhak
Rabin — was "land for peace." In
exchange for territory and autonomy,
Arafat and the PLO offered to make
peace with their enemies, abandoning
the path of terrorism and Jew-hatred.
Arafat pledged in writing that the
PLO would revoke its charter, the

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for the
Boston Globe.

research and asking to be aware of any
Palestine National Covenant, which
official Arabic-language expressions of
calls explicitly for Israel's destruction.
peace. He was invited to the authori-
He signed an international document
ty's offices in Ramallah and presented
vowing to end all anti-Israel propagan-
with
a sheaf of statements.
da.
"But
these are all in English," he
Before the eyes of the world, he
said. "I'm looking for material in
shook Rabin's hand and solemnly
Arabic." They had none to show him.
agreed to exhort all Palestinians to
The institute communicated with
reject terrorism and violence. Speak
every Israeli
Photo by AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
peace to his peo-
and Palestinian
ple? That was the
academic insti-
least of Arafat's
tution and
obligations.
with
an array
But four years
of media out-
after the famous
lets. It contact-
handshake, those
ed Israeli pe-ace
obligations
activists
remain unful-
known for
filled. Even the
their defense
least of them.
of Oslo or
For the past 12
their defense
months, the
of Arafat.
Institute for Peace
None could
Education has
supply any
scrutinized every
Arabic
state-
broadcast of the
ments
from
Palestinian
the Palestinian
Authority's radio
Authority
pro-
and television
moting,
network. It has
Yassir Arafat: Different audiences.
defending or
reviewed every
embracing
statement
peace
with
Israel.
released in Arabic from the Palestinian
The PLO's failure to abide by the
Authority's Ministry of Information. It
terms
of the Oslo accord has been
has scrutinized Palestinian newspapers,
comprehensive.
It has not repealed its
which answer to Arafat.
noxious covenant. It has not outlawed
So far, it has found no words of
terror groups. It has refused either to
peace.
extradite terrorists to Israel or to pun-
Bedein sent a request to the
ish them itself. It has sanctioned the
Palestinian Authority, describing his

LETTERS

staff member and board member is ded-
icated to the mission of Hillel, which is
the instillation of reflective, moral and
critical thinking in our students in the
context of Jewish values. Hillel's success
results from an unswerving dedication
to that mission, and we take pride in
the successes of Hillel's alumni that
result from their education here.
Recent actions taken by Hillel's board
were the result of a long and exhaustive
investigative and deliberatory process.
The sole goal of the board is to ensure
that every Hillel student receives the
emotional and educational support we
promise them and their parents.
Personal relationships, organizational
affiliations and other issues did not and
do not enter into the board's delibera-
tions.
More specifically, the board's actions
were not influenced in any way by Mrs.

2/6
1998

30

Fleischer's position with the teacher's
union or pending union negotiations.
Hillel is committed to working within
the collective bargaining process and
abides by the terms of the collective bar-
gaining agreement. The board, which
represents the interests of Hillel's par-
ents, has no desire to create an antago-
nistic labor environment in which the
education of Hillel's children suffers.
Finally, due to statutory and Jewish
law, we cannot discuss the specifics of
this situation. We are bound to protect
the privacy of Mrs. Fleischer, teachers,
students and their parents. We cannot
engage in l'shon ha'ra in speaking badly
of others while teaching our children to
live by the laws of the Torah.
Hillel continues to be a premier edu-
cational institution for Jewish children
in Southeast Michigan. We will take
whatever actions are necessary to protect

and enlighten our students. This is our
promise; we stand by it.

Steven Margolin
President, Hillel Day School

Bibi Bashing
Unfair Reporting

At least James Besser, Washington corre-
spondent to The Jewish News, is consis-
tent. His forte is bashing Benyamin
Netanyahu and the present government
of Israel regardless of the topic in hand.
So it is with his description of
Netanyahu's immensely successful
appearance at the National Unity
Conference for Israel.
Mr. Besser, as usual, basks in his own
pejorative descriptions of Netanyahu
("Bibi's Risky Strategy" Jan. 23). He
writes of his "tattered banner;" "shaky

murder of Arabs who sell land to Jews.
"Land for peace" has proved a hoax:
Israel surrendered the land — all of
Gaza and every major West Bank
town, including Hebron — but the
Palestinians never came through with
the peace. For peace is not what the
Palestinians want. Victory is.
Which is why, as Bedein has con-
firmed, to his regret, you can listen
intently for 12 months and never hear
the word "peace" escape the lips of any
Palestinian leader when he speaks to
Arabs in Arabic.
What you can hear is an endless
stream of anti-Israel incitement, cele-
bration of terror attacks, and calls for
"Liberating" Israel from its Jews:
"All options are open, including the
armed struggle if necessary" — Amin
Maqbul, PLO official, at a Nablus
rally March 30, 1997.
"The presence of Hamas on
Palestinian territory is very important
for building the Palestinian homeland"
— Muhammad Dahlan, head of
Arafat's Preventive Security Service, in
Gaza, June 14, 1997.
"Oh Allah, destroy America, for she
is ruled by Zionist Jews ... Allah shall
take revenge on behalf of his profit
against the colonialist settlers who are
the sons of monkeys and pigs" —
Sheikhlkrama Sabri, the Arafat-
appointed mufti of Jerusalem, July 11,
1997.
"Our war with Israel and the Jews
has not ended and will not end until a

PEACE on page 32

support;" "inherent weakness;" his
friends of "questionable motive" dealing
in "prophetic theology;" his "hard line
policies" and lack of dedication to the
"peace process" as were Besser's heroes,
Rabin and Peres.
Then there is the ominous quoting
of unknown Jewish sources enforcing
Besser's destructive political agenda.
On top of all this, Besser assumes the
expertise of a Christian theologian
enlightening us all on the objectives of
the Christian Right comes the
Armageddon. None of this, of course,
has anything to do with reporting
what actually transpired at the confer-
ence.
Fortunately, another observer,
Morton Klein, national president of
the Zionist Organization of America,
was also at the scene and paints a
totally different picture. Mr.

