OTHER VIEWS
We Can't Let Up
elpless. Hopeless. Agony.
Despair. These emotions
rage through my body as I
sit home and watch CNN
(Cable News Network), seeing the
results of a suicide bomber blowing
himself up at a Passover seder in
Netanya, Israel.
"Why is this night different from
all others?" the youngest member of
that seder would have asked.
Unfortunately, it's not different.
Almost every day, there is a terrorist
attack killing Israeli civilians. The pain
that rips my heart apart every time I
read about the loss of life — on both
if
Josh Berman, 17, is a senior at Huron
High School in Ann Arbor. He is president
of Central States Young Judaea, which
includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and
West Virginia. He represents 16 states on
the national Young Judaea board.
sides — makes me want to cry.
As a member of the Jewish and
Zionist communities, it is very easy
to feel helpless at times. However,
we can never stop trying. We must
find ways to support our brothers
and sisters in Israel. They have not
given up hope; therefore, we cannot
give up hope either.
In February, I and 42 other
American teenagers went to Israel
on a solidarity mission through
Young Judaea, a Zionist youth
movement sponsored by Hadassah.
We were there to help, and to show
our support for an Israeli society
that needs us now more than ever.
Their morale is low, their hope is
dwindling, yet they refuse to give up
hope.
On our trip, we had the privilege
of staying with 12 Israeli teens in a
hotel in Jerusalem. Throughout the
course of the week, the 54 of
their country. Unlike in the
us formed an unbreakable
United States, many of the
bond not only as teenagers,
Israeli teens, although some-
but also as people who have
what scared, are filled with a
been living in the shadow of
sense of pride in defending
terrorism, as people learning
their home.
how to let life go on, and as
Natan Sandakah, a teen we
people constantly searching
met at Hadassah Hospital,
for a way to help.
JOS H
almost gave his life support-
Everyone has his or her
BER MAN
ing the people of Jerusalem.
own way of dealing with the
Natan was in Jerusalem one
Commu nity
situation. Many of the Israeli
day when he noticed what
Vie w
teens support Israel simply
appeared to be a religious
by living out their daily
Jew walking down the street.
lives. They go out to eat,
Something didn't feel right,
they go out to dance on the
so he chased the man down
weekends, they don't let the
to ask him some questions.
terrorism detei- them from their
The man did not stop walking, and
daily routine. They do their best to
as Natan jumped on him, the sui-
enjoy a "normal" teenage life.
cide bomber blew himself up.
Others are excited to help by
Natan's body absorbed most of the
becoming part of the Israeli Defense
impact from the blow, preventing it
Forces so they can physically defend
from reaching the innocent civilians
Bush Rescues Arafat
Washington
ehind President Bush's verbal
jabs at Yasser Arafat, a man
he clearly holds in con-
tempt, was a strong helping
hand to rescue the Palestinian leader
from the isolation of his besieged
bunker in Ramallah.
An increasingly irritated president
repeatedly told Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon this week to halt his
assault on Palestinian terrorists, pull
back his troops and release Arafat.
Bush left little doubt he'd like to see
Arafat replaced, but that didn't stop
him from rescuing the Palestinian
leader.
Fearing Sharon wanted to do to
Arafat what Bush wants to do to Iraq's
Saddam Hussein, the American presi-
dent demanded the Israeli leader
"immediately" withdraw from
Palestinian areas, "including
Ramallah," and make several other
concessions with nothing tangible in
return.
Bush conveniently sidestepped all
the evidence uncovered of Arafat's
direct complicity in terror operations;
the president awkwardly argued that
Arafat is not a terrorist because he
signed agreements with Israel and was
B
kg
4/12
2002
38
Douglas M. Bloomfield is a former
executive director of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee. His e-mail
address is chnb@his.com
ready to negotiate, although Bush
himself conceded that Arafat had con-
sistently ignored or violated all those
agreements and failed to bargain in
good faith.
It's no wonder that Arafat feels he
can safely ignore Bush's admonitions.
The president dropped his demands
that Arafat dismantle the terrorist net-
work, denounce suicide bombings and
tell his people in Arabic the violence
must end.
And Bush wants Sharon to ease
Arafat's isolation so he can consult
with aides prior to Powell's arrival
later this week. An Israel Defense
Forces withdrawal from Ramallah, as
Bush demands, means Arafat is free to
resume business as usual.
This is a major victory for Arafat.
He dug in his heels, ignored all
demands from Washington, played his
favorite role — victim — and waited
for Bush to deliver his "get out of jail
free" card. Arafat never uttered a word
about the need to halt terrorism and,
in fact, glorified those responsible for
the Passover Massacre.
Arafat is not just going free. He is
to be rewarded. American diplomats
are saying Arafat cannot possibly tell
his people to end the violence without
having something to show in return
for the 18 months of pain and suffer-
ing he put them through. So Israel
must provide him something to boast
about.
Bush has made two major demands
on Israel: Drop its refusal to
begin political negotiations
under fire, and immediately
freeze settlement activity, a
basic Palestinian demand,
which robs Sharon of a valu-
able bargaining chip and
complicates his domestic
political situation.
could cause many thousands
of people to flee east across
and destabilize the regime of
King Abdullah.
Thus, Bush's highest priority
this week is not fighting ter-
rorists or getting an Israeli-
Palestinian cease-fire, but res-
DOUGLAS M. cuing moderate Arab regimes
BLOOMFIELD from their own people.
Special
The anti-Israeli and anti-
Bush Is Entangled
American rage on the streets
Commentary
In ordering the Israeli pull-
of the Arab world — some
back, Bush is also rescuing
spontaneous, most staged —
the terrorist organizations by halting
is largely generated by state-controlled
Sharon's assault on their operations.
media, not so much out of sympathy
Israel will show the world the evi-
for the Palestinians as out of the
dence against Arafat, the Palestinians
regime's desperate need to distract an
will declare it all lies and fabrications,
angry, oppressed population.
the Europeans will side with their
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
buddy Yasser and the suicide bomb-
who brutally crushed Islamists threat-
ings will resume.
ening his government, likes to say that
But Bush apparently felt he had few
the anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and anti-
choices. He personally would have
western vitriol in Egyptian media is
preferred allowing Israel more time to
just a way for his people to "let off
clean out the terror network, but
steam. But the problem facing Arab
some advisers feared that giving
leaders, none of whom rules by popu-
Sharon a free hand could lead to a
lar choice, is that through intensely
bloodbath on the West Bank with rip-
one-sided reporting in their state-
ples going far beyond, potentially
dominated media, they've whipped
destabilizing the region.
their people into such an anti-Israel
Key American allies Jordan and
frenzy that demands are growing to
Egypt were especially worried,
rescue their poor Palestinian brothers
although their problems are largely of
from the despised Zionists.
their own making.
Those princes, potentates and
Jordan, where nearly two-thirds of
assorted dictators, never fearful of
the population is Palestinian, fears
fighting to the last Palestinian, have
that the upheaval on the West Bank
no desire to take on the Israelis them-