O inion
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Legacy Of Hate
n the last year, the Palestinian intifada (upris-
ing) against Israel has claimed more than 560
lives on both sides — as well as Yasser
Arafat's hopes to be remembered by history
as the man who led the Palestinians to
freedom in a permanent state.
Nov, Palestinians — along with Israelis
and Americans and the rest of the world
— must begin thinking about who would succeed
him should he be incapacitated by the illnesses he
suffers or by some opponent's bullet or knife.
The tragic fact is that none of those men currently
waiting to pick up the reins of authority can offer
any brighter outlook for the Palestinians or for a
permanent peace in the region. Two of the five lead-
ing potential successors embrace the Oslo Accords
and the other three reject that pact. But since the
intifada began, all have embraced higher levels of
violence and less reliance on negotiations.
None has publicly expressed any desire to combat
the root cause of the Palestinian condition today —
the insistence on seeing themselves as victims.
Arafat, who just turned 72, was shaped by the
Arabs' loss of the 1948 war against Israel, following
the United Nation's partition that recognized the
Jewish state. He drew attention to the plight of
Palestinians by instigating violence on innocent peo-
ple while stressing instances of harsh Israeli treat-
ment — all the time ignoring the refusal of the Arab
states to accept their refugee kinsmen.
But his insistence on trying to win all the wars
that the Arabs lost is futile and ultimately crippling
to his people. Having gotten the world's attention,
he needed to show the Palestinians' merit, not his
regime's corruption and the Palestinian clerics' intol-
erance.
Ironically, he didn't have to look further than
across the Green Line to see how Holocaust sur-
vivors, who lost far more in Europe than the
Palestinian Arabs ever did, turned their faces to the
future and built a thriving state. Instead, he has
Dry Bones
encouraged a whole new genera-
tion in the West Bank and Gaza to
wallow in a false view of the past
and has deprived them of the tools
and training they will
need to succeed in the
21st century.
Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon is allowing
his dovish foreign minister,
Shimon Peres, to talk with
Palestinian officials about ways to
create a meaningful cease-fire. But
he has discouraged Peres to meet
with Arafat, understanding that
the old terrorist who shook Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin's hand on
the White House lawn is too wed-
ded to rocks and rifles and the
persistent Arab romance with vic-
timhood to ever again walk the
path of peace.
Arafat tells the world now that
he can't control all the acts of vio-
lence against Israel; he recently
whined to an Italian interviewer
that he feared being assassinated if
he were to take strong steps like
locking up the masterminds of
Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a
sense, he is correct. Every time he
failed to act to contain the vio-
lence he uncorked, he diminished
his power to recork that jinni of
bloodshed.
When "Abu Amar" does step
down or is toppled by rivals and
his checkered keffiyeh is finally taken off the world
stage, the internal fight for succession will bode ill
for Israel as each faction is likely to embrace even
more militancy.
But it is a delusion to believe that Israel must
resume negotiating with him, must prop him up as
ME UN AND ISRAEL'S
KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS.
EDITO RIAL
Related Cover Story: page 18
the least of the evils. His day is over, his chance for
truly historic greatness squandered. Offered the
moment to put his people on the path to opportuni-
ty and freedom and respect, Yasser Arafat unforgiv-
ably sent them instead on the road to suicidal
despair. D
The Maccabi Spirit
IV
hen 173 Jewish teens leave Sunday
morning for a week of Maccabi
activities in Philadelphia and New
Jersey, athletics and parties will be
on their minds.
Don't tell them that the Maccabi Club
of Metropolitan Detroit, the national
Jewish Community Centers Association
and the international Maccabi movement have a
grander plan.
Since the Maccabi Games began in Memphis in
1982, athletics have been the key to involving
Jewish teens ages 13 to 16 in a week of Jewish
activities. For some, it is their first real exposure to
a Jewish experience and Jewish camaraderie.
Detroit's delegation has always emphasized the
Jewish component of the Games. It was
Detroit, led by the late Jay Robinson, that
fought to keep the event a weeklong experi-
ence. to include Shabbat. It was Detroit that
emphasized home hospitality, pairing the out-of-town
guests in 1984 with Jewish host families when the sec-
ond JCC Maccabi Games was held in the Motor City.
For some of the athletes — and some of the par-
ents — winning is everything. Maccabi Club vice .
president and delegation head Harold Friedman says
the most difficult task he has in recruiting new
coaches and dealing with some parents is to make
EDITO RIAL
Related story: page 93
Related Cyber Spot: page 62
the point that the Jewish experience is the key.
Detroiters want to win, and Maccabi celebrates its
victories. But most of these teens can, and do, par-
ticipate on their high school, summer league and
recreation teams. The Jewish experience is what's
unique to Maccabi — from the new Mitzvah day
programs to just mingling with other Jewish teens
from all over Detroit and all over North America.
It's called community building, and the Detroit
Maccabi Club has been doing it for 20 years.
Yes, we'll celebrate next week's gold, silver and
bronze medals. And we'll celebrate the Detroit
teams who give it their all and fall short.
But we'll also not forget the ultimate goal, and
what young Detroiters take away from a week of
associating with other Jewish athletes.
❑
8/17
2001
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