•

COMMUNITY VIEWS

To
find out
who's
engaged
I always:

Peace Hinges On Opportunity

tion, appealing to the United Nations
spent three intense days in Israel
and
anybody else he could get to.
last week as part of a Masorti
That
is still under way.
(Conservative) mission to Israel.
Today,
Arafat's tactics have
•
Our primary purpose was to
changed.
He
has instructed the various
meet with governmental officials and
arms of his political party, which con-
leaders of the Masorti movement in
trols the PA, to attack Israeli citizens
Israel in a show of solidarity. Although
using terror tactics.
I've made many trips to Israel, this
• A byproduct of this
was the first on which I've
resort
to officially mandated
met so many members of the
or
directed
terror has been
Knesset in their official capac-
the
utter
collapse
of the
ities.
economic
cooperation
and
Naturally, everyone asks,
support
Israel
has
devel-
"How is it? Did you feel safe?
oped with the PA. That
What did you learn?" It has
accounted
for more than 85
been hard to distill the trip
percent
of
the
PA's exports,
into a few paragraphs — to
resulted
in
factories
along
find a theme that stitches
the
Green
Line
and
everything together.
LEONARD
employed 20 to 25 percent
Perhaps the most striking
WANETI K
of the total Palestinian
thing is that we heard a fairly
Special to
workforce
(about 120,000
consistent presentation of the
the Jewish News
workers) in Israel on a regu-
current situation from all
lar basis.
points of the political com-

pass, and this in a country where hail-
ing a taxi is a political act. Indeed, for-
mer Prime Minister Shimon Peres
stated that "Israel is a country of
drama. Sometimes, I think we're more
a drama than a country."
The general overview is that:
• At the last Camp David summit,
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat was offered everything he could
have wanted, save one. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak gave Arafat,
without any negotiations, more than
90 percent of the territories, a divided
Jerusalem with a Palestinian capital in
one part of Jerusalem, and a limited
right of return.
• The one thing Arafat did not get
was political sovereignty over the Tem-
ple Mount. This caused him to reject
the entire deal.
• Arafat returned home a hero
because he rejected the deal, and
began a political and military cam-
paign to shift the balance so that he
could get everything he wanted.
• His attempts to obtain support
for his rejection of Camp David from
Europe, the United States, Arab states
and the body of Islamic states failed.
• Arafat then turned to putting
children in the front lines, hoping that
the deaths of enough of them would
turn world opinion in his favor. He
became even more of a hero among
Palestinians. But the plan didn't work.
• In parallel, Arafat started a cam-
paign to "internationalize" the situa-

Leonard Wanetik, a West Bloomfield
resident, is president of Congregation
Bnai Moshe.

How Many Deaths?

As Stuart Schoffman of the Jerusalem
Report put it in his presentation: "At
the end of the day, we'll be sitting
down talking. The only question will
be how many graves will be dug by
then."
This may sound illogical. Why
reject such a wonderful deal? Why cre-
ate such suffering amongst one's own
people? Why sever the economic links
that feed, clothe, house and represent
the future for your people?
Therein lies the conundrum of the
Middle East, let alone Arafat. We can-
not understand it with American eyes
and ears. And Jews cannot permit
themselves to be complacent enough
to look and listen through an Ameri-
can filter.
Instead, one must ask questions. Is
this a political or religious situation?
Arafat has already signaled what he
believes. His pitch to his people is that
this is a religious war. In fact, he has
tried to appeal to Muslim populations
all over the world to take up the strug-
gle.
Although governments are not join-
ing in (so far), there have been attacks
on Jews (not Israelis, but Jews) and
Jewish (not Israeli, but Jewish) sites in
the United States, England, Australia
and France. If this is a religious situa-
tion, then, as Peres stated, "one can
compromise on politics. One cannot
compromise on religion."

What Is Peace?

Another key question is whether the
Palestinians see this as an issue of

1967 or 1948. If they see it as an issue
of 1967, then we can achieve true
peace — meaning, the cessation of
hostilities between the PA and Israel
on a permanent basis. If, however,
they see this as an issue of 1948,
bringing Israel's right to exist at all in
doubt, then there can be no peace as
we define it in the Western world.
Unfortunately, the latter appears to
be the case. It seems clear to a broad
spectrum of Israelis that Arafat and
the PA use the word "peace" to mean
cease fire," and nothing more. He •
and his cohorts have not given up on
the eventual destruction of Israel.

Visit

JN Online

Call

my mother

"

www.detroitjewishnews.com

So, What Can We Do?

• Be informed.
Realize that CNN (Cable News Net-
work) is not the news. On the Web,
Haaretzdaily.com, Jpost.com or
kol-israel.com provide a choice of many
Israeli media in English and Hebrew.
Learn where Gilo is — that it's not out
in the boondocks somewhere, but is to
Jerusalem as Farmington Hills is to
Southfield. Learn who the players in
Israel are, and what they stand for.
• Use the information.
Take what you gather from those
Israeli sources to discuss the situation
with your co-workers and neighbors.
Counteract the bias against Israel
shown by CNN, the BBC, AP and
others who depend on being nice to
the PA for their press credentials.
• Go to Israel.
Join the Bar-Ilan University mission
to Israel in December, the Jewish Fed-
eration of Metropolitan Detroit-spon-
sored Michigan Unity Mission to
Israel in January, some other mission
or go by yourself. Although tourism is
only about 3 percent of Israel's gross
national product, the sense of isolation
and loneliness is almost palpable. The
knowledge that you're there will lift
the spirits of everyone you meet.
• Most of all, make Israel important
in your life.
As Simcha Dinitz said to our
group, "If Arafat wants to make
Jerusalem an Islamic issue, we must
make Jerusalem a Jewish issue."
The situation is far from hopeless
but, as Israel's first prime minister,
David Ben-Gurion, once said: "It is
not possible to solve a small crisis. It is
only possible to solve a big crisis."
We do not know how, or when, the
crisis will become large enough. One
thing we can be fairly sure of, though,
is that Israel is ready to negotiate a
true and lasting peace — if only given
the opportunity. ❑

EXERCISE WAREHOUSE

TREADMILL SALE

The Leader

in

SLdNDICE

Treadmills

TROY

3271 Rochester Road
Just north of Big Beaver
in the Troy Point Plaza

248-528-1300

LIVONIA
31539 8 Mile Rd.
Just west
of Orchard Lake

248-476-2213

2 Complete
Show Rooms
of Floor Safes,
Wall Safes,
Gun Safes &
Drop Safes.

TL 15 & TL 30 Safes in Stock

WE CAN PROTECT YOU!
248-858-7100

,

SAFES
U LI JITE
1991 ORCHARD LAKE RD

SYLVAN LAKE, MI

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri 9:00-5:00
Wed 9:00 - 2:00 • Sat 2:00 - 5:00