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The Deal Breaker

"There will be more than enough time in the future to
discuss some of the more contentious issues that will
-have to be dealt with. But right now, let's get started."
— U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell after meeting
with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

ell, not quite. Two realities need to be
faced up front if there are to be any
hopes for either long-range peace or
short-term reduction in the violence and
mistrust that shapes Israeli-Palestinian relations.
The first is the Palestinian claim to a "right of
return" to the homes they left in 1948. In the run-up
to Sharon's meeting next week with
President George W. Bush, officials have
made it clear that the Israeli prime minister
will insist that the claimed right is a non-
starter in any plan for long-term peace. The
Palestinians have to give it up, he will argue, and they
know it.
Sharon is right to be wary. Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat used the right of return issue at
the end of the talks at Camp David in July 2000 as an
excuse to walk away from all that he and then-Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak had been bargaining over.
And he used it again to stalemate the continuing dis-
cussions at Taba January 2001, after the September
renewal of the intifada (uprising). It would be folly to
enter the proposed final stage of the road map formu-
la and bargain in good faith on issues such as perma-
nent borders or a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem
with that massive deal breaker still pending.
Sensible negotiators for the Palestinians and every-
one else knew then that Israel could never agree that
all of the 3 million-plus Palestinians have an absolute
right to emigrate to within the borders the United
Nations set in 1948. A massive inflow of Palestinians
— working in concert with the 1 million Arabs who
already live within the Green Line — would effective-
ly destroy the Jewishness of the Jewish state. Even
accepting a few tens of thousands, as Barak seemed
prepared to do, would be acceding to long-term and
substantial problems of internal stability because the

W

newcomers would always chafe at their
minority status.
And yet Israel cannot expect the
Palestinians and the other Arab states to rec-
ognize Israel's right to exist and simply walk
away from a claim that they have pushed for
decades with no substantial advance conces-
sion. Assuming the Palestinians take the first
necessary step of ending the violence and
acknowledging Israel's right to exist, Sharon
would be wise to make clear in advance what
Israel is prepared to do for individual
Palestinian families who fled or abandoned
their property in 1948. That would clear the
air for some progress.

EDITO RIAL

Giving Back

is the season to honor those helping to build
a better Detroit by giving back — either
through service or leadership.
Some visibly contribute by lending their
names and influence to a cause or need.
Others like to work quietly and anonymously
behind the scenes. Most prefer a middle
ground, toiling alone or in a small group on
the edges of the public spotlight.
In our jaded world, giving back too often is greeted
with indifference or cynicism. In the vast majority of
cases, however, the giving is genuine, adding fresh,
powerful brushstrokes to Detroit Jewry's canvas of car-
ing.

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Making A Gesture

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The second reality that needs to be addressed
at the start is mostly symbolic.
We understand Sharon's reluctance to take
any steps such as reducing the Israeli military
presence in the West Bank or Gaza that
could make it easier for Hamas, Islamic Jihad
and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to strike at
innocent civilians. If, after 32 months of ter-
rorist attacks, security were not the foremost
consideration, what would be?
Yet the time is at hand for some sort of
gesture from Israel that can help moderate
Palestinians believe that the Jewish state does
want both an immediate step away from
confrontation and an eventual stable peace with a new
state.
Without compromising security, Israel could make
a sustained effort to dismantle those ideologically
based hilltop settlements — usually just a few mobile
homes'— that it has allowed to spring up in the dis-
puted. territories in violation of its own rules. These
outposts serve no long-term need of Israel's and would
disappear in any successful negotiation anyway.
Further, they needlessly inflame local Palestinian opin-
ion, for they are symbolic of a larger claim that the
settler movement makes to all of Judea and Samaria.

But a lessening of tensions is going to take move-
ment by both sides; it cannot even begin until the
Palestinians show a commitment both to ending the
violence and recognizing the Jewish state. Israel could
help the new Palestinian prime minister and his secu-
rity officers by making a gesture that Palestinians
would understand as a token of a sincere interest in
de-escalation.
If the Palestinians will curb their most militant fac-
tions, Israel would serve its own interests well by rein-
ing in the handful of zealots whose homes on the hills
are breaking the law. ❑

Almost every night other than Shabbat this time of
year, synagogues or banquet halls provide the backdrop
for a tribute dinner that recognizes "giving back" and
serves as a major fund-raiser for a cause or need.
The crush of dinners in late spring, no doubt, takes a
toll on donors at all levels. Givers don't have unlimited
resources or even unlimited interests. Amid the con-
stant scramble for precious gift dollars, peo-
ple of means are forced into the uncomfort-
able position of having to be selective about
which causes or needs to support.
So as a community, it's important we keep our focus,
respect the breadth of needs, spread our good will and
nurture the Jewish ideal of embracing those who are
less fortunate.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Michigan's charismatic
ambassador, spoke to how the art of giving back makes

the world a better place. She told of how it answers the
call of tikkun clam (repair of the world), a central tenet
of Judaism.
"We are put on this planet for something more than
just serving ourselves," she said in keynoting the
Detroit Board of the Jewish Theological Seminary's
annual dinner May 8 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Southfield.
"In fact, it's easy to serve ourselves; everybody's doing
that. We are put here to do something more important,
which is to serve the world. It's not just about serving
the almighty dollar. It may be serving the Almighty.
Her sendoff to the dinner guests was elegant yet sim-
ple in making her point: "Thank you for putting feet to
your prayers, giving arms to your vision and legs to
your dreams. Thank you for honoring people who give
back." ❑

EDIT ORIAL

J11

5/16
2003