COMMUNITY VIEWS

Showing That We Are One

these pages, my family and I anxiously
he emotionally crushing
followed the unfolding of the shatter-
events of the past few weeks
ing peace process over the fortnight
have left all of us breathless
before
my planned departure. The
and devastated. It has virtu-
U.S.
State
Department "warning" not
ally eliminated any real hope for early
to
travel to Israel was issued
peace in the Middle East. The
48
hours prior to my flight
promise of Oslo and the
time.
dream of Camp David seem
My only concern was
distant as we watch the
that
the "warning" would
painful scenes from our
become
a prohibition, or
homes during the hourly
that
my
flight
might be
reporting of CNN (Cable
canceled.
At
no
point was I
News Network) and the net-
concerned
with
my
person-
work newscasts.
al
safety.
I
felt
this
was
not
Our individual and collec-
a
time
to
pull
back
from
tive sense of hopelessness,
DR. CONRAD any commitment to Israel
however, need not leave us
GILES
or to the Jewish people. At
with a feeling of impotence.
any rate, the warning never
Special
to
As with many aspects of our
became a prohibition and
the
Jewish
News
life, we can either decide to
my flight was nearly full.
philosophize and wring our
My six-day visit to Israel
hands or be moved to action.
was
overwhelming
in its impact. Set
Choose action. We have too many
aside
the
original
meetings
of the Jew-
philosophers anyway.
ish
Agency
for
Israel.
This
was
my
My personal journey, and the rea-
18th
set
of
those,
and
they
went
well.
son for this small essay, is frankly by
You
may
be
assured
that
your
charita-
chance. The calendar calls for meet-
ble dollars are well spent by the
ings in Israel of the Jewish Agency
Agency.
Board of Governors in February, June
and October. Tickets obtained, hotel
United To Empty
reservations secured and meetings
This visit had an entirely different
scheduled, I planned to leave for Israel
kind
of impact. It had two faces. First,
on Oct. 23. As with other readers of
the exhilarating participation in a soli-
darity march from the Zion Gate to
Dr. Conrad Giles of Bloomfield Hills
the Western Wall with more than
is vice chairman of the board of trustees
1,000 North Americans, young and
of the United Jewish Communities, the
old, representing most Jewish commu-
New York-based national umbrella
nities on our continent. The march
organization for North American feder-
was coupled with a visit to Gilo, still
ations.
under attack by Arabs in a neighbor-

T

would not respond? One cannot
believe that this is a spontaneous
uprising.
I find it interesting to note that it is
Ms. Ahwal's opinion that parents are
not sending their children to die. If
the Palestinians wanted a stop to this
violence, it could be done easily. You
mean to tell me that parents of 12- to
14-year-olds in Ramallah have no idea
where their children are? If they didn't
want them to become martyrs, they
could educate them on peaceful means
of demonstration and/or keep them at
home out of harm's way.
The problem is that they are as
unsure of what they are fighting about
as the rest of us. Palestinians live freer
in Israel than they would in any other
Arab country, and they were on the

cusp of achieving a transfer of land
unprecedented prior to Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and the 1993
Oslo accords. Just when they could
have had it all, they found the conve-
nient excuse of Likud leader Ariel
Sharon's visit to the Al-Aksa mosque
in Jerusalem as the basis of this war,
which took a few weeks to be named,
as it was over nothing.
We have been given a preview of
what the Palestinians will do to respect
our Jewish holy sites, if given the
chance, vis-a-vis the Tomb of Joseph
and the Jericho synagogue. Now that
any sense of trust between the Pales-
tinians and Israelis has been shattered,
the Palestinians are less likely to gain
additional land and the Israelis are
back to where they were — in a per-

DETROIT SLATES UNITY MISSION TO ISRAEL

Planning is under way for a Michigan Unity Mission to Israel Jan. 14-19. It
is under the auspices of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, in
cooperation with congregations and organizations throughout the state.
"More than anything else at this time of crisis and isolation for Israel,"
said Penny Blumenstein, Federation president and mission chairwoman,
"this trip will give us the opportunity to stand with Israel's people, to hold
their hands and demonstrate our solidarity in a way that nothing else can."
Participants on the five-day trip will get Israel's perspective of the issues
from experts in the field and spend a day in the central Galilee, Michigan's
Partnership 2000 region.
Other plans are still being made, including the cost of the mission, "but
we'll do everything we can to keep the fees as low as possible," Blumenstein
said. "This could be the largest community solidarity mission in the coun-
try. The greater our numbers, the stronger our message."
For information or to reserve a place, call or e-mail Susan Kamin at Fed-
eration, (248) 203-1524, or kamin@jfmd.org

ing village and a mass rally at Presi-
dent Moshe Katzav's home, where we
shared the profound sadness of the
surviving relatives of the four young
men who died in the defense of Israel.
It is the second face that presents
the greater challenge. The personal
face. The practical face. The always-
lively pedestrian mall on Ben Yehudah
Street in Jerusalem is empty now. The
hotel rooms are vacant. The streets are
filled only with permanent residents.
If we ever need to show that "We
Are One," the time is now. The
march was a start. We will never be
given a better opportunity to demon-
strate our solidarity with the people
and the land of Israel.
Seared forever in my memory is the
picture of an Israeli gentleman in his
30s, dressed in a suit and tie standing in

front of the Kotel (Western Wall) hold-
ing a small, handwritten cardboard sign
reading: "Thank you for coming!"
When you hear the call to join
with others to travel to Israel, say
"Yes!" You have never been more
needed. You will never be more
appreciated, and you will never feel
better about your commitment and
dedication.
From Jan. 14-19, our community
will join hands with our family in
Israel as the Jewish Federation of Met-
ropolitan Detroit, along with congre-
gations and organizations throughout
the state, mount the Michigan Unity
Mission to Israel. It will be truly a
"mission with a mission." Please
come.
We have no choice but to do the
right thing. ❑

petual state of vigilance, fear and ter-
ror, or maybe they never really left
there.
Barbara Haddad

"In 1968, the director general of
UNESCO received a letter from the
Syrian Minister of Education, reject-
ing the findings of a UNESCO Com-
mission that had examined textbooks
used to teach Arab children in refugee
camps financed by the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
"The report noted that a majority
of the 127 textbooks reviewed by the
Commission employed the 'deplorable
language of anti-Semitism, distorted
history, incited to violence, and were
educationally destructive because stu-
dent exercises (were) often inspired by
a preoccupation with indoctrination
against Jews rather than by education-
al aims."' Wrote the Syrian minister:

Oak Park

Why Is Hatred
SO Sacred?

There are many people who are hav-
ing trouble understanding how the
Palestinians have rejected an offer to
provide them with lands and substi-
tuted violence and chaos ("Shocks
And Aftershocks," Oct. 13, page 6).
The beginning comments in Chap-
ter 9 of Nathan C. Belth's book A
Promise to Keep (Times Books, 1979)
appear to offer some insight.

LETTERS

on page 40