This Week WORDS presents a free, fun-filled family evening as Apples & Honey turns "Sweet 16" Thursday, September 13 Tishrei 5763 • 1.9, 2002 5-8 p.m. Jewish Community Center • D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus, 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield For more information or to volunteer, please call the J.E.F.F. Department at (248) 645 7860. - completing a 2,800-square-foot .renovation and a 750-square-foot nenovation addition to their Farmington Hills colonial, the thing that impressed homeowners Pam and Randy Smith most about the Gittleman Construction team was its word. "Everything they said would happen, happened," Pam said. "There were no surprises. Gittleman said this job would take five months and it took exactly five months. Keeping their word. That's what makes Gittleman different." So, if you're looking to add on or remodel with a contractor you can trust, why not put one of Southeast Michigan's most respected names in residential construction to work for you? With an emphasis on function, aesthetics and budget, Gittleman Construction is committed to exceeding your highest expectations. Just ask the Smiths. Call today, and discover how easily Gittleman can convert your home dreams into reality. GITTLEMAN N-IN-10- CONSTRUCTION inc 2085 E. WEST MAPLE, SUITE A101 WALLED LAKE, MI 48390 248.624.5400 9/13 2002 30 CUSTOM www.gittleman.net RENOVATIONS 654130 from page 28 Even if Yehiyeh's intentions are good, he is still finding it difficult to imple- ment them: Last week, he met in Gaza with representatives of Palestinian political groups and tried — in vain — to convince them to hold their fire. Yehiyeh's main line of argument was that the Palestinians should give a chance to the "Gaza/Bethlehem First" deal he reached with Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. Under that deal, the Palestinian . Authority will resume control for secu- rity in those areas, and Israeli troops will withdraw. If quiet prevails, the arrangement will be extended to other areas. Every Palestinian "has to help us to make the rule of law prevail in our areas, from the areas that the Israeli troops leave," Yehiyeh told Reuters. "If the situation remains as it is, we will never be able to set up our state." However, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Fatah militias all announced that they opposed the deal, and would con- tinue their "acts of resistance" against Israel. Ultimately, Yehiyeh failed to meet the two major conditions Israel and the United States set: unifying all mili- tias and P.A. security bodies under one umbrella and ensuring that the funda- mentalist organizations accept the orders of the Palestinian Authority. Yehiyeh has found little help in Zuhair Manasra, the new West Bank head of the RA.'s Preventive Security Service. Manasra has been unable to impose his authority on the various militias in the region. Some feel Yehiyeh will find support for his position among the Palestinian population. Analysts point to recent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip in which Palestinians called on their gov- ernment to provide "bread and work," and a recent public opinion poll that showed Palestinian support for a more moderate line. A recent survey by Search for Com- mon Ground, an organization devoted to conflict prevention and resolution, showed that 80 percent of Palestinians would support a large-scale nonviolent protest movement, and 56 percent would participate in its activities. Skeptics, however, point to other polls that have shown strong popular support among Palestinians for suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks against Israelis. According to the Common Ground survey, carried out by the Palestinian Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, 62 percent of Palestinians think a new approach is needed in the intifada. Overwhelming majorities — from 73-92 percent — approve of vari- ous methods of nonviolent action, according to the poll. Large numbers of Palestinians also told the pollsters that they would be willing to participate in specific nonvi- olent actions, including boycotts and forms of mass civil disobedience. Thus, some wondered if the Palestinian political atmosphere was ripe for a new policy along the lines Yehiyeh was urging. Even Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said last week thit he believed the Palestinians were realizing the futility of their assault on Israel, making him optimistic that the two sides might soon return to peace talks. HONOR from page 29 Not every rabbi who received the High Holiday package felt inspired. Rabbi Gerald Wolpe, former spiritual leader of Har Zion Temple, a Conservative congregation in Penn Valley, Pa., wrote an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent high-- ly critical of the rabbinic group's move. Rabbi Wdlpe says it is "totally off base" for the group to be tailoring the High Holiday prayers to "be more sensitive to our enemies," in part because Jewish prayers are already aimed at the suffering of all people. "I am very uncomfortable with the approach that says, 'I know how God would aced he only had all the facts,"' Rabbi Wolpe says. "To me, this is not good theology. It's not even good Judaism." ❑ need to recognize the holiness of every human life, and the tragedy of every loss." For Rabbi Bolton, that story trans- lates into the current need to_ defend the religious values underpinning the Jewish state. Current Israeli policies are threatening Israel's moral character to such a degree that we may soon reach a point of no return," she says. But Rabbi Lippman, of the inde- pendent Kolot Chayeinu: Voices of Our Lives, in Brooklyn, says rabbis run certain risks by voicing anything less than total support of Israeli actions. "The voice from the American Jewish community has been pretty monolithic — you're quickly labeled anti-Israel if you say anything critical of Israel," she says. " ❑