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In your article ("Waiting for a
Room," Dec. 21, page 29), you
attempted to write an honest article
on the problem that exists with the
JWV Memorial Home, which is the
best-kept secret in the area. People
should not be ashamed to write and
voice their opinions to the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
and the Jewish Community Center.
We don't have $250,000 to donate to
the JCC for a room there. Financially,
we cannot exist for two or three more
years.
Where are all the Jewish philanthro-
pists who give millions of dollars to
other projects, both in the United
States and overseas? How about some
of those funds to help our JWV
Memorial Home? Some of these phi-
lanthropists are veterans. Some have
worked closely with our national elect-
ed officials. And some were saved by
the same servicemen whose pictures
hang in our Memorial Room.
We are not asking for much. We
want the future youth to know their
ancestors did serve our country, and
did fight and die serving our wonder-
ful country so we can be free. This
cannot be done without .a proper loca-
tion to display the historical items that
now rest in the Jewish War Veterans
Memorial Home.
quered the West Bank and Gaza and
offered land for peace, the Palestinians
concurred with the Arab • nations'
),
response of" no, no and no.
Although the millions of refugees
from World War II were quickly reset-
tled back home or elsewhere, and
Jewish refugees from Arab lands were
quickly resettled in Israel, the
Palestinians have remained in their
refugee camps for the past 53 years to
present themselves to the world as the
victims of Israel.
The Palestine Liberation
Organization terror incidents under
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat over the years have evolved into
a Palestinian war of terrorism against
Israel.
Dr. Marvin Sherman, retired psychi-
atrist, at a session of the Jewish
Community Center's Institute for
Retired Professionals, said, "If you are
in a forest, confronted by a bear that
wants to kill you, that is not the time
to read a book that will help you bet-
ter understand bears. You better figure
out how to defend yourself — and
fast.
Israel is coping with a terrible situa-
tion. It does not need "armchair" solu-
tions from diaspora Jews. Israel needs
most our wholehearted support.
Iry Marshall
Oak Park
past commander, JWV Department of
Michigan
Southfield
Arab Intent:
No Israel
Or a free
00nsultatiell
Lorio Ross
Entertainmentmc
Call (248)398-9711
1/4
2002
6
505 S. Lafayette • Royal Oak
www.lorioross.com
There are some Jews who want to
believe that, if only Israel did this or
did not do that, peace with the
Palestinians would quickly follow
("Dismissing Arafat," Dec, 21, page
20). Let me set the record straight.
The Arab nations want no Jewish or
Christian sovereignty in the Middle
East. They have destroyed the
Christian/Moslem government that
existed in Lebanon. They would like
to destroy Israel. They preach hatred
against Israel and world Jewry in their
mosques; and they teach hatred
against Israel and world Jewry in their
schools.
In 1948, when the Jewish people
accepted the United Nations Partition
Plan, which gave it only a fraction of
what was originally mandated for a
Jewish homeland, the Palestinians wel-
comed the Arab nations to drive the
newborn Israel into the sea. In 1967,
when, defending itself, Israel con-
3)
Shoshana Wolok
Their Promise
Is Baseless
So Hamas has suspended suicide
attacks on Israel ("Dismissing Arafat,"
Dec. 21, page 20).
On Dec. 17, Hamas, along with
Islamic Jihad, issued a manifest that
was released in the West Bank and
G27.1 Strip. The manifest ordered
Palestinians to continue their "armed
resistance" against Israel and to defy
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat's call to end the attacks. In the
same manifest, they proclaimed,
"Americans are the enemies of the
Palestinian people and that they too
are a target for future attacks."
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are ter-
rorist organizations that ruthlessly seek
to destroy all peace initiatives. By their
own admission, their primary goal and
objective is to drive the Jews into the
sea. Their deadly actions exemplify
their determination.
Their deep hatred for Israel is mani-
fested with every suicide bombing or
attack on women and children. They
continue to teach their children to
hate Israelis and Americans. They
rejoiced in the streets upon learning of
the Sept. 11 attacks on America. They
revel at the suffering of innocent civil-
ians.
If history is a gauge, any promise
given by Hamas or Islamic Jihad to
suspend deadly attacks on Israelis will
be followed by an excuse for breaking
it.
Raymond Dubin
Farmington Hills
Arafat Holds
No Influence
There have been recent attempts to
compare Palestinian terrorism to that
of Jews at the time of Israel's birth as a
state (Dismissing Arafat," Dec. 21,
page 20).
Such attempts provide an opportuni-
ty to contrast the historically solid
Israeli leadership with the' absolute
dearth of effective leadership on the
Palestinian side.
One can hardly deny that there were
Israeli terrorists; and the 1946 bomb-
ing of the King David Hotel, the most
famous act by the most famous of
these terrorist groups, the Irgun, is a
sad chapter in Israeli history. The dif-
ference is in the response of the legiti-
mate Israeli leadership to terrorism
from its own people.
In June 1948, a cease-fire was called
in the Arab-Israeli war. The Irgun
sailed toward the Israeli shore on a ship
called the Altalena with tanks, anti-air-
craft guns and tons of ammunition.
This would clearly have violated Israel's
pledge not to bring arms into the area
during the cease-fire.
When Israeli Prime Minister David
Ben-Gurion ordered that the ship be .
turned over to the government, the
Irgun commander (Menachem Begin)
refused. Ben-Gurion then ordered the -
ship to be fired upon — ordered his
men to fire upon fellow Jews. The ship
burst into flames, the munitions on
board exploded (weaponry that could
have been crucial for Israel's defense
during the war), and the Altalena sank.
Can anyone imagine Arafat issuing a
similar order? The fact that he either
cannot or will not do anything to con-
trol the rash of terrorism from his own
people illustrates his sheer incompe-
tence as a leader and his total disinter-
est in true peace in the Middle East.
Israel has declared him irrelevant
because that is exactly what he is.
Dr. Ehud Kapen
West Bloomfield