itorial
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VOTE
Pipe Dream Or Pipe Bomb?
r
or too lon ba , teachina
teaching Palestinian
children to hate Jews has been a key
component of Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat's propaganda
mill. On a political level, he unceasingly touts
the 1947 U. N. partition
plan calling for a Jewish
and a Palestinian state.
All the while, he's
involved in Middle East
peace talks.
But telling his people
one thing in Arabic —
often quickly translated
and reported — and the
>::
rest of the world something
else in English is clearly
self-destructive. It only
complicates efforts to win
over his people as well as
Israeli Jews, as a group
deeply skeptical of the Palestinian Authority's
concern about their welfare.
In the same vein, Israel's new government is
obligated to do its part to temper the rhetoric
and help broker a lasting peace.
Violations of both the Oslo and Wye peace
blueprints will be made. Addressing them in a
sane, professional manner — almost against
the natural tendency of the Mideast's diplo-
matic winds — becomes critical.
But the foundation for true peace must be
laid in the Palestinian schools, where highly
impressionable children are ingrained with
rabid anti-Semitism. Indeed, Arab textbooks in
Gaza and the West Bank today denote Israel as
Palestine and declare, "We must fight the Jews
and drive them out of our land." Beyond that,
the Palestinian summer camps, recruiting
grounds for Palestinian military and political
activists, teach retaliation for the Jews taking
"everything in 1948."
The Palestinians must understand — with
the help of U.S. pressure
— that ending such breed-
ing grounds for violence is
paramount.
For its part, Israel must
scrutinize its own text-
books for prejudice to
show the world that it
practices what it preaches.
Also, it must affirm the
citizenship rights and
responsibilities of Arabs
who legally live under its
domain by extending the
same social and public ser-
vice funding levels that Israeli Jews receive.
Meanwhile, repressive actions by Israeli soldiers
on the West Bank and in Gaza must be quick-
ly investigated so there's no question what
caused them and there's reassurance they aren't
Israeli policy.
Political observers say Middle East peace
will come because there's no plausible alterna-
tive. But an unchecked 100-year conflict, with
echoes back to the seventh century, can kill
and maim much more before realizing its end.
Without a genuine grassroots-initiated dia-
logue, which starts in the education system of
both peoples, lasting peace in the region will
continue to be only a pipe dream that could
quickly turn into a pipe bomb. 1 I
The Wrong Lesson
I is one thing to mourn the high school
students and teacher shot to death by
fellow students in Littleton, Colorado;
it's quite another to use that tragedy to
arouse new complaints about anti-Israeli senti-
ments in the textbooks of Palestinian schools.
But in a stretch of logic, that is what Moth-
ers Against Teaching Children to Kill and
Hate (MATCKH) has clone, with some assis-
tance from the Agency for Jewish Education of
Metropolitan Detroit. The Littleton schools
can hardly be accused of teaching ethnic and
religious hatred, and there is no evidence that
the boys who killed their classmates were incit-
ed by any state-sponsored bigotry.
As we say in the accompanying editorial,
Palestinian textbooks need to be reformed to
eliminate their hateful lessons about Jews —
a cause in which MATCKH deeply believes.
But the Palestinian children to whom
MATCKH would have local Jewish students
pen letters will not be doing the textbook
rewriting — a fact obvious to the Akiva
Hebrew Day School students that
MATCKH's President Molly Resnick
addressed May 5. The students acknowl-
edged that the letter writing was more a
class exercise than an influential activity.
Class time is valuable. Before AJE and
school officials put their imprimatur on an
advocacy group's presentation to students, they
should be sure the instructional plan truly
enriches student time.
Meanwhile, well-intentioned advocacy
groups like MATCKH are more apt to inspire
support if they avoid reading their own zealous
passions into events that have nothing to do
with their cause.
Should the Detroit Jewish community
take a stand on state gun control?
Yes
No
Vote on JN Online www.detroitjewishnews.com
Results from last week's poll (34 respondents)
If Palestinian statehood comes about, Jerusalem should...
remain united in Israel (74%) 4;::.i.have its eastern sector
in Palestine (12%) become an international city (15%)
IN FOCUS
Volunteer Power
To honor Yad Ezra's 150 regular volunteers, the Oak Park-
based kosher food pantry hosted a Volunteer and Board of
Directors Appreciation Dinner May 16 at Congregation Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses. Many of the volunteers have been with
the organization since its founding in 1990. Volunteers of vari-
ous ages and backgrounds handle intake and food distribution,
office tasks, data entry and the planning and execution of pro-
jects and events. To volunteer, call (248) 548-FOOD.
LETTERS
Guns Do Have
Purposeful Role
We should take exception to
the anti-gun views espoused
by Tom Diaz ("A Changed
Man," May 28). The advoca-
cy of high-profile Jews perpet-
uates the unfortunate
(and anti-Semitic)
stereotype that Jews are
timid people, too squea-
mish to defend them-
selves.
This article also
touched me on a per-
sonal level, since my life
took a direction oppo-
site to that of Mr. Diaz.
The first time I attend-
ed a Jewish function
was to see an Orthodox
Jew give a speech at the
Jewish Community
Center advocating
increased civilian own-
ership of firearms. Since
then, my acceptance of
Judaism and advocacy of gun
ownership have both grown
tremendously.
Jews in Israel have no
notions of Jewish timidity.
Since the 1970s, Israeli gun
laws have allowed for
increased access to firearms.
6/4
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Detroit Jewish News
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