A Ceasefire, For Now
Reality Lessons
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
IlAr hen Ronit Ridberg first
learned of a rally to
protest the loss of
human life this month
in the Middle East, she was eager to
participate.
A senior at Duke University in
Durham, N.C., Ridberg expected the
rally — a march from one end of the
campus to another scheduled the day
after Yom Kippur — to decry violence
and commemorate the losses on both
sides.
But she began to feel uncomfortable
when an Arab classmate looked at her
with surprise and asked, "What brings
you out today?"
The discomfort grew as Ridberg
looked at the placards around her,
some of which were "very anti-Israel"
and "one-sided."
"I was really distraught that day,"
she recalled, adding, "I wanted to be
active and wanted to make a statement
but wasn't sure what kind."
The recent violence in Israel has
spawned a proliferation of anti-Israel
rallies on college campuses, which in
turn are sparking confusion and dis-
tress among some American Jewish
students.
While Jews and Arabs at some cam-
puses have been able to maintain bet-
ter relations throughout the escalation
of violence, the situation at others has
been more confrontational. In the past
two weeks, these incidents have
occurred at U.S. universities:
• Yelling slogans like "You're killing
us!" and "Israel is a fascist state!" 200
Arab students protested at a University
of Michigan Hillel teach-in on the
peace process.
• At Concordia University in
Montreal, Arab demonstrators burned
Israeli flags and held up placards signi-
fying that a Jewish star is equivalent to
a swastika. Students walking into the
main building were confronted by
video images of Palestinian children
being killed.
• Anti-Zionist Chasidic Jews joined
Arab protesters at a demonstration at
Rutgers University in New Jersey;
where some of the placards called for
the "liquidation" of the Jewish state,
according to the local Hillel director.
• Exhibits displayed in the student
union of Detroit's Wayne State
University say Israelis are "the murder-
ers of innocents," "U.S. taxes to mas-
sacre Palestinians must stop," "It is our
Aksa not their Temple" and "Zionism
is Racism."
• Plans for a joint Jewish-Muslim
community service day were post-
poned indefinitely after some Jewish
and Arab students at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign yelled
epithets at each other during what had
initially been planned as a peaceful
demonstration. Others on both sides
have tried unsuccessfully to draft a
statement of shared principles.
Israeli Unity, Of Sorts
AVI MACHLIS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
C
ustomers at an Israeli super-
market wince at photos of a
Ramallah mob lynching two
reserve soldiers who acciden-
tally turned into the West Bank town.
"They are barbarians and they hate
us. That is the problem," says Orit, a
cashier. "Now there is nothing left to
do, no chance for peace."
The horrific lynchings and the dead-
ly violence has left Israel as it usually is
during times of national crisis —
briefly unified.
People across the political spectrum
are together if only in their disgust, as
many saw the lynching as a personifi-
cation of the deep enmity Palestinians
feel towards Israelis.
Now, in the streets or on TV talk
shows, the tone of the public debate is
different. Israeli Jews are no longer
shouting at each other and are trying
to pull together to face the challenges
ahead.
During the Sukkot holiday this
week, usually an upbeat time through-
out Israel, the feeling of despair has
become more tangible in the public
mood.
Several annual festivals were can-