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Not Ready For Prime Time
,
demn. It is also incidents such as Palestinian
First Lady Suha Arafat's recent allegations
about Israel's use of "toxic gases." They were
no aberration; her words reflected the views of
the Palestinian "street," unchanged despite sig-
nificant movement in the peace process in
recent months. It is significant that no top
officials in Gaza City had courage enough to
condemn Mrs. Arafat's noxious remarks.
We think the Republican presidential hope-
ful, Senator John McCain of Arizona, was
pretty much on target last week. It is not land
exchanges that guarantee a lasting peace," he
told an interviewer, "but the character of the
regimes that enter into such agreements.
Despotic, corrupt and militant regimes do not
make good peace partners."
When a leader jails his opponents for voic-
ing on-target criticism, that's despotism. The
record of PA officials pocketing aid money is
well-documented corruption. And the contin-
uing refusal to confront anti-Semitic hatred
and incitement sure adds up to militancy.
The Palestinian would-be state has miles to
go before anyone should trust it to be a reli-
able partner in peace. 1-1
Who's The Greedy One?
T
his week's report saying Swiss banks
have at least 54,000 accounts that
they should have returned to Holo-
caust families should make it easier
for the Jewish community to push for speedy
and generous restitution to Shoah victims.
The admirably aggressive effort by Jewish
organizations such as the World Jewish Con-
gress were motivated by the con-
viction that the dwindling num-
ber of survivors were entitled to
simple justice. As evidence
mounted that banks, museums
and nations were still illegally
holding valuables looted from
European Jews, it seemed simply
fair to return the property as
quickly as possible.
More recently, new efforts to
document how German compa-
nies used slave laborers, including
Jews in death camps as well as
Gypsies and others interned out-
side the camps, made plain how many indus-
tries profited from this inhuman practice.
But the effort to achieve a humane and ade-
quate settlement was driven by competing
efforts, in some cases motivated by lawyers
who seemed to be in the fray at least in part
because of the contingency fees they might
collect.
And on a more significant level, Jewish
leaders feared that the push for restitution
could shadow the gentile world's view of the
incomparable human tragedy of Shoah.
Knowing the history of anti-Semitism and its
consistent effort to link a nation's economic
woes to "greedy Jews," they sensibly were
reluctant to seem "too pushy" — no matter
how worthy the cause of restitution.
But the report of the Volcker Commission's
three-year inquiry into what
Swiss banks did with money
deposited by Jewish account
holders is pretty convincing
about who was actually greedy.
In 1995, the banks said they had
found 775 unreturned Jewish
accounts; the commission found
54,000. The banks said they
acted honorably; the report
found instance of banks bleeding
the Jewish accounts with exces-
sive fees and stonewalling when
Jews asked what had happened
to their money.
Greed is, no doubt, a human trait. But it
isn't uniquely — or predominantly — a Jewish
characteristic. The new evidence about who
stole from whom should fortify the resolve
of Jewish leaders to demand a full and fair
restitution. Among other things, it might
help the looters and their successors live
with their consciences.
❑
Photos by Bi ll Hansen
IV
hen Yasser Arafat ordered a
crackdown on his opponents last
week — sending a handful to jail
and threatening the immunity of
critical legislators — he helped remind a lot of
us in the United States how far the Palestinians
are from a modern democracy.
We are often tempted to believe that when
Israel is negotiating tough issues with the powers
that be in Gaza City, it is dealing with a govern-
ment that meets the usual expectations of honor-
ing its laws above its leaders. But that would be
wishful thinkinab as Arafat's actions show.
It's not that the Palestinian Authority might
not evolve over time into a more stable and
trustworthy entity. We'll see more about the
prospects for that after the state is recognized
and, equally crucial, how it handles the com-
ing question of a successor to Arafat.
But the current state of internal Palestinian
affairs is no source of comfort. It is not just the
continuing problem of verbal incitement and
anti-Semitic, anti-Israel content in the class-
room and on state-sanctioned media, which
we have long deplored and which the Clinton
administration wrong-headedly refuses to con-
IN FOCUS
Hopes For Healing
Above, Mary Ann Siegel, former MJAC board member, lights
sage with a feather in support of Native Americans during
the Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition's Dec. 1 healing service
at Adat Shalom Synagogue, held as part of World AIDS Day.
Below left is West Bloomfield's Sylvia Block, who lost son
Nathan to AIDS in 1996 at age 42. The MJAC board mem-
ber said it's "very emotional when you light a yahrzeit candle
for a child, no matter how old he or she was. That just broke
me up." The Temple Beth El member also teamed with five
other MJAC supporters to unveil a MJAC Family quilt panel
in memory of loved ones lost to AIDS. Rabbis Sheila
Goloboy and Aaron Bergman spoke; about 150 people
attended. Below right are service
candles and programs. Southfield-
based MJAC was founded in 1991
to boost AIDS awareness, support
and prevention.
LETTERS
All Rooms
Are Safe
I want to thank you for your
wonderful article regarding
Rabbi Moshe Polter ("An
Experienced Hand," Nov.
26).
However, one point was in
error. A statement made as to
our three moves due to fire
regulations could be misinter-
preted as if the rooms in Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek were
unsafe. State fire requirements
for an all-day school occupy-
ing a building are greatly dif-
ferent from other fire codes
for permitted uses for assem-
bly, day care or afternoon
schools. The review process is
12/10
1999
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