kN,

Israeli-Palestinian

Teen

s Are

Talk i ng

conflict generates

lively discussion

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Copy Editor/Education Writer

A

here at home.

s the latest Palestinian
intifizda (uprising) rages
through its second year,
the debate over the policy
and ethics of the situation has
sparked vigorous discussion among
local teens. And they don't have to
be of Jewish or Arabic descent to
have strong
feelings
"I've changed
since I went on
a peace march .
in Washington
on April 20,"
said Daniel
Keller, 16, of
Ferndale. "I
used to be neu-
tral. Now I'm
more pro-
Palestinian."
Keller, a
Workmen's
Circle Sunday
school graduate,
is a student at
Roeper Upper School in
Birmingham. Along with a dozen
other students in teachers Dave
Crawford and Jeannie Haynes' class,
"Peace and War in the 20th
Century," Daniel spoke frankly
about his often-controversial opin-
ions.
"People feel that Jews who are
anti-Zionist are anti-Semitic," he
said. "I don't consider myself anti-
Semitic."
The open atmosphere of the
school is one reason Ariella Lis, 15,
of Farmington Hills transferred to
Roeper this year. "I am strongly
Zionist," she said. "Anyone who
wants a Jewish state of any kind is

.
'

Clockwise from upper
left: Josh Kimmel of West
Bloomfield High School is
concerned about world
terrorism.

Roeper student Daniel
Keller said he had been
neutral, but now better
understands the non-mil-
itant Palestinian cause.

Roeper student Ariella Lis
explains her view of
Zionism.

6/28
2002

62

West Bloomfield High's
Jared Goldberg and
Ashley Aidenbaum.

technically a Zionist.
"But people who are pro-
Palestinian are not bad people. One
of the principles of this country is
we ought to be pro-anything — or
anti-anything we want to take a
moral stand against," Ariella said.
Classmate Nate Reti, 18, of
Detroit agreed that "people who live
in Palestine and people who live in
Israel are good people.
"It's the governments that are
bad," he said. "If it wasn't for gov-
ernments and skewed religious
beliefs, we'd be able to come to a
solution."
Said Daniel: "Unless they can get
a democratically elected government
in Palestine, they're doomed."
Ariella called Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon "an embar-
rassment," adding that, politically,
"No one expected him to last this
long.
"There's so much propaganda in
the left wing, portraying Jewish sol-
diers as killing machines," Ariella
said.
People living in Israel do tend to
be wary of anyone of Arab descent,
she said, "but, if their family is
killed in a restaurant while eating
dinner, it's understandable that they
would be suspicious of
Palestinians."
Daniel stressed that he was "not
trying to back up the extremist
Palestinians who want to destroy
Israel."

Shades Of The 1960s
Just as in the Vietnam era, young

people are seeing opinions on the
.Mideast situation come between
family members as well as friends.
There are eight people in 15-year-
old Alicia Castaneda's family, and