Transformation
Of Arik
The
Elected as a hawk, Ariel Sharon
now champions Israeli restraint.
DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
ip
Jerusalem
rime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected four
months ago on a pledge to restore Israel's
sense of security, finds himself holding
back the dogs of war as Palestinian mili-
tants continue picking off Israelis on West Bank
roads and firing mortars at residential communities.
After Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat's
Fatah Party took credit for murdering two Israelis
this week in drive-by shootings, Sharon found him-
self under intense pressure from his right wing to
stop complying with the cease-fire and to unleash a
punishing — perhaps even mortal — blow to
Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Due in Washington for talks early next week, how-
ever, Sharon has chosen to heed the broad interna-
tional consensus on maintaining a cease-fire agreed to
last week, in hopes that diplomacy and political pres-
sure will impress the Palestinian Authority.
"I am not going to drag this nation into war,"
Sharon declared at a meeting of his Likud Party on
Monday. "This is not the time. This would be a
grave mistake."
Members of his party looked grim and downcast.
.
One of them, a West Bank settler, heckled Sharon,
insisting that settler leaders do "not want war —
just security."
At the funeral the next day of one of the mur-
dered Israelis — 38-year-old Doron Zisserman —
settlers spoke openly of their bitter disillusionment
with the man often depicted as Israel's arch-hawk,
whom they supported in the elections for prime
minister earlier this year.
"What kind of cease-fire is this?" asked Rabbi
Chaim Druckman, a leading figure in the National
Religious Party and the settlers' movement. "We
cease and they fire."
Compounding the outrage for Israelis, Fatah offi-
cials said the group's militia would continue attack-
ing Israelis, arguing that the cease-fire applies only
to those areas under sole Palestinian control — not
to Israeli settlements and surrounding areas.
Influence Of Peres?
Zisserman, a father of four, was shot Monday by a
Palestinian sniper as he was driving into the West
Bank settlement of Einay.
The attack took place as a funeral was being held
for Danny Yehuda, a 37-year-old father of three who
was killed in a drive-by shooting earlier that day.
Making A Statement
The annual singles mission to Israel gets a subsidy and a new focus.
AMY MINDELL
Special to the Jewish News
I
n response to the political situation in the
Middle East, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's annual summer singles
mission has been modified to broaden aware-
ness and show encouragement to Israelis.
Organizers also changed the mission's name, now
billed as the Young Adult CommUNITY Mission,
and changed parts of the itinerary.
"We've modified our trip," confirmed Federation
Senior Associate for Community Outreach and
6/22
2001
22
Education Alaine Waldshan. "It used to be an
adventures trip and a singles mission, but we
changed it this year.
"Our goal is to support Israel. We're encouraging
young people to unify because Israel really needs our
support right now."
In addition, the trip is being deeply subsidized by
the local Federation as an additional way of dedicat-
ing community resources to Israel. The North
American organization of Jewish federations, United
Jewish Communities (UJC), has also contributed
funds.
The basic trip is seven days in Israel for $800. It
Likud critics told reporters that Sharon had fallen
under the spell of his dovish foreign minister,
Shimon Peres of the Labor Party.
They offered this view despite the fact that
Sharon and Peres feuded openly at Sunday's Cabinet
meeting over Sharon's refusal to let Peres meet with
Arafat. Sharon has repeatedly stated that there will
be no negotiations until the Palestinians halt all
attacks on Israelis.
According to another analysis, Sharon is adopting
a policy of restraint because there is no clear recipe
for a successful Israeli military campaign against the
Palestinians, no matter how widespread the desire
for revenge.
The past nine months of conflict, during which
the Israel Defense Force has tried all manner of
weapons and tactics, have shown the complexity of
the military challenge that guerrilla warfare presents
to a regular army, especially in areas of high popula-
tion density, such as the Gaza Strip.
Moreover, many messy "successes" on the ground
are wiped out by the price Israel pays in the court of
international opinion.
However, some analysts believe Sharon is merely
waiting until evidence of Palestinian belligerence is
so overwhelming that the Israeli response is met
with broad international understanding. Under this
scenario, Sharon does not believe Arafat will adhere
to the cease-fire, but must give Arafat every oppor-
tunity to demonstrate that.
International Pressure
In addition, attempts to contain the violence by a
broad array of foreign diplomats plainly are having
an effect on Sharon.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told CNN-
TV on Tuesday that a remarkably broad interna-
tional consensus is evolving around the cease-fire
negotiated last week by U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency Director. George Tenet.
Annan's high personal standing in Israel has
enabled him to engage Sharon in a meaningful
includes roundtrip airfare from Detroit, travel to
Israel on El Al, first-class hotels, professional tour
guides and all meals. For an additional $199, partici-
pants can add a three-day extension that will include
the more "adventurous" portion of the trip: rafting
down the Jordan River, rappelling down historic
mountains, mountain biking at Mitzpe Ramon and
floating in the Dead Sea.
Anyone is welcome whether single or coupled
(though no families), whether new visitors to Israel
or trip veterans. The upper age limit is 40, but as
one organizer noted, "We're not checking IDs."
The first part of the trip, which begins July 1, the
"unity" portion, is described as an important time to
show support for Israel. "It's not business as usual in
Israel right now," said Scott Kaufman, national co-
chair of the UJC Young Adult Mission to Israel and
a Detroit trip leader. "The typical plan and reasons
for going to Israel are different. The trip will appeal
to those who are more committed, and who want to
show support for Israel." "We've added a lot of con-