EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Two-Front Battle

have a country of our own. This is not
a matter of Jewish paranoia. It is not a
matter of seeing ourselves perpetually
as victims. It is a matter of under-
standing your own history.
After the Holocaust and before
David Ben-Gurion declared a State of
Israel and opened the borders of Israel
to all Jewish refugees, there was a peri-
od of time when thousands upon
thousands of survivors continued to
live in camps. In one account, U.S.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower visit-
ed the refugees and was appalled that
the Jews were being "kept" alongside
their Polish persecutors, continuing to
live like prisoners behind barbed wire.
There was simply no place to go.
Secondly, I believe that what
[Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak
did in offering an unprecedented 90
percent of the West Bank for a Pales-
tinian state and Palestinian sovereign-
ty in the Muslim and Christian quar-
ters of the Old City in Jerusalem,
should be recognized as on par with
the courage and heroic leadership of
[slain Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin.
It was an act that tended to the "Jew-
ish soul" and sought to uphold the
dignity of both Arab and Jew in the
State of Israel. Barak's political gen-
erosity and leadership needs to be rec-
ognized, supported and sustained.

Difficult Challenges
We are in the midst of one of Israel's

most difficult challenges to peace. Can
Israel maintain its vision for peace, con-
tinue in the spirit of Rabin and follow
the leadership of Barak? We must not
concede the peace accords to violence
and mayhem. The answer is not more
violence. It never has been. One more
massacre never left the world a better
place. Negotiation, compromise, for-
giveness and hope must prevail.
I miss the land that I encountered
as a teenager. I miss the simplicity of
that experience. It was so easy to fall
in love with a land that felt so vital, so
vulnerable and so alive with possibili-
ty. Perhaps loving Israel is like loving
another human being. If our love is to
deepen, we must learn to accept con-
flict and compromise. We must accept
that things are not as we would always
like them to be.
But we do not abandon each other
when things get hard. We take time to
look and learn. We try to find our
way back to solid ground. We refuse
to surrender to the pain and grief. We
remain in charge of our actions and
emotions. And always, everywhere, we
hope for a better tomorrow. ❑

Atlanta

A

mission and message mirror those of
the Palestinians in the territories.

s images of Israeli soldiers
firing on Palestinian stone
Damage Control
throwers flashed across the
As
one of numerous Palestine Teach-
video screen, the audience
Ins
presented last week on campuses
When scenes
b
b grimaced and grumbled.
across the nation, the Georgia Tech
of funeral processions of teen-age
event also should provide a clarion call
martyrs" flashed by, shouts of "Allah
for American Jewish com
akhbar" ricocheted around
munities to begin retooling
the room, like gunfire.
our PR machines — and
Then a hearty cheer went
limit the damage bound to
up. The screen showed a lit-
be caused in the coming
tle boy, maybe 10, con-
years to Israel's image by the
fronting an Israeli soldier —
media and a well-oiled Pales-
one-on-one — with no one
tinian/American-Arab pro-
else in sight. At arm's dis-
paganda machine.
tance, the boy threw stone
Because we're in for a
after stone at the soldier's
prolonged
battle — one that
head and chest. The soldier
JAC OB
will
include
more deaths,
pointed his rifle at the boy
SCHRE IBER
more
TV
images,
more mis-
and took aim. The boy per-
Contri buting
guided international pressure
sisted. The soldier, not want-
Ed itor
on Israel. And informational
ing to kill a child who posed
"Middle East forums"
no immediate danger to his
designed for super-involved
life, turned and jogged away.
Jews just won't do. We need an effec-
These images were just part of a 90-
tive, aggressive plan and system for
minute "Palestine Teach-In" held in the
Student Center at Georgia Tech in
Atlanta on Sunday. About 125 people,
mostly of Arabic descent, came to the
program to hear the "facts" about the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The event, sponsored by the Mus-
lim Students Association at Georgia
Tech, Arab-American Anti-Discrimi-
nation Committee, Palestine Right to
Return Coalition, Women Interna-
tional League for Peace and Freedom
and Christian Peacemakers Team, was
a sophisticated propaganda-fest, well
disguised as an educational program.
Knowledgeable speakers and deter-
mined activists took the stage and pre-
sented sets of facts that sounded rea-
sonable, fair and logical. Out of con-
text? Yes.
educating more Jews, the media and
Stretching the truth? Big time.
other communities.
Expertly designed to make the
Make no mistake, the Palestinians
unsophisticated listener believe Israel
and their supporters are gearing up for
is a criminal state set on murdering
a campaign of violence (and propa-
Palestinians? Absolutely.
ganda) against Israel because, in the
For me, the program was nothing
words of the Teach-In's speakers —
new. Been there. Done that a hundred
who wrongly believe Palestinians can
times.
apply the lesson of Israel's withdrawal
Still, after the breakdown of the
from Lebanon — "violence is the only
peace process, it was important for me
thing Israel understands."
to witness firsthand exactly what the
In their view, Israelis are imperial-
Arab-American community here was
ist, incapable of reason and bent on
preaching to itself and to the public.
Palestinian destruction. And while
And the forum did not disappoint: it
they accuse the Jewish state of "dehu-
provided a useful glimpse into the
manizing"
them, they continue to
hearts and minds of moderate (sound-
deny Israel's basic right to exist.
ing) Arabs in our community, whose
They continue to believe that, since
Israel "stole" their land in 1947 and
Jacob Schreiber is editor of the
1967, all Israelis are criminals, all
Atlanta Jewish Times, a Jewish Renais-
Israelis are fair game — and legitimate
sance Media publication.

CC

Peace cannot be made
with a leadership and
a population that
refuse to take their
heads out of the sand
and realize that Israel
is here to stay.

targets of violence. Arid when Israelis
shoot back at rioters, they are using
"illegal force" because the Jewish peo-
ple have no right to be anywhere in
their vicinity in the first place.

Defining Compromise

Sure, the Palestinians are willing to
compromise." Here are the terms, as
laid out by the Palestinian leadership
and echoed by the sponsors of the
Teach-In:
1. A new peace process must be
developed, mediated by the interna-
tional communiy ("America is too
biased"), and an international peace-
keeping force must be deployed to
"protect" Palestinians before negotia-
tions can commence.
2. Israel, for absolute starters, must
agree to return to its 1967 borders,
including dismantling of all "settle-
ments," withdrawing from east
Jerusalem and relinquishing sovereign-
ty over the Temple Mount.
3. Israel must grant the "right of
return" to the "millions" of Palestini-
ans refugees, including repatriating
them in Israel proper and compensat-
ing them for their losses.
As we all know, these are codes for
the demise of the State of Israel.
Unfriendly, ineffective foreign troops
on our soil, going back to ridiculous
borders, having to dislodge 200,000
people from cities like Ramot, Gush
Etzion, East Talpiot, saying bye-bye to
security at the Kotel (Western Wall),
and letting "millions" of Palestinians
into Israel so they can democratically
vote the Jewish state out of existence (if
not physically destroy it from within)
— are just not going to happen.
Indeed, the only reason Israel went
down the Oslo road was its belief the
Palestinians were willing to compromise
on these positions.
Peace cannot be made with a leader-
ship and a population that refuse to take
their heads out of the sand and realize
that Israel is here to stay; that this is the
21st century, not the time of the
Ottoman Empire, not the time of the
British Mandate, not even 1967. Unless
Palestinian positions change, Israel will
opt to fight (see Syria). And it will kill,
when it has to, rather than be killed —
television and the international commu-
nity be damned.
Israelis will be the ones fighting on
the front. American Jewry must help
our brethren — and ourselves — by
implementing judicious, well-planned
PR and lobbying efforts to bolster Israel
in Washington and to counteract Pales-
tinian propaganda in the media.
Let's get to it. 111

11/24

2000

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