Sending Syria A Signal
communicate to Syrian leaders
diminish in favor of the State
that his closing the offices would be
Philadelphia
its seriousness of purpose.
Department"
(i.e.,
a
softer
"related" to regaining control over the
ollowing an intensive three-
Fortunately, it has a powerful
approach
toward
Syria
will
Golan
Heights
from
Israel
(a
distant
hour meeting with Syria's
tool at hand — the Syria
prevail).
prospect,
at
best).
President Bashar al-Assad
Accountability and Lebanese
Adding a touch of levity, the
The terrorist groups themselves
recently, U.S. Secretary of
Sovereignty Restoration Act.
president of the Syrian
brazenly announced operations as
State Colin Powell announced some
This
legislation, introduced by
Chamber of Commerce and
usual, if a touch more discreet. In
good news: The Syrian president had
Reps.
Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.,
Industry claimed that if
Beirut, Hamas asserted its office in
made "some closures" of terrorist
and
Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, R-
Washington
imposed
econom-
IEL
DAN
offices openly operating in Damascus. • Syria was open. Representatives of
Fla.,
mandates
economic sanc-
ic
sanctions
on
his
homeland,
Islamic
Jihad
boasted
that
"This
is
just
PIP
ES
But just the next day, Powell switched
tions
against
Syria
should
yrians
"could
rely
on
other
talk"
and
"Nothing
has
changed."
Spe
cial
to the future tense in discussing these
"We heard nothing of that," stated a countries, especially Malaysia"
Comm entaly Damascus not end its:
closures: "I welcome what [Assad] said
• support for terrorism;
to take up the slack.
Popular Front official. "No change has
he was going to do."
• occupation of Lebanon;
With terrorist offices open
occurred in our situation," added a
What happened?
and
and his regime insouciant,
leader of the Democratic Front for the
Powell again and again insisted that
• possession and continued develop-
Assad shows a risky contempt for the
Liberation of Palestine.
Assad not just mouth the right words
ment
of weapons of mass destruction.
administration
that
just
overthrew
his
Several
Syrian
spokesmen
further
but really shutter the offices of Hamas,
Should
the Assad regime continue
Baathist
neighbor
to
the
east.
In
fact,
amplified
their
government's
attitude.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the
these policies, the Engel bill contains
Imad Fawzi Al-Shueibi, an analyst, air- there is a reason for this apparent
Popular Front for the Liberation of
provisions such as banning U.S.
madness — his experience in early
Palestine-General Command. "It's per- ily dismissed the whole subject of ter-
exports to Syria and prohibiting U.S.
2001 with Secretary Powell.
rorist offices. "I think that talking
formance that we'll be looking at in
businesses from operating there.
That's
when
the
chief
U.S.
diplomat
about these organizations, such as
the days and weeks and months
Introduced just a month ago, it
visited
Damascus
to
complain
about
Hezbollah, is symbolic." He actually
ahead." Powell had warned Assad of
already has 85 co-sponsors in the
Syrian.purchases
of
Iraqi
oil
in
viola-
lectured
the
Americans
that
if
they
"consequences" should he ignore the
House; and Rep. Engel tells us that he
-
tion
of
the
U.N.
sanctions,
winning
were
serious
about
democracy,
they
U.S. demands. Secretary of Defense
what the State Department spokesman is confident it will pass — unless the
would leave these offices open.
Donald Rumsfeld further reiterated
administration actively lobbies against
called a "direct commitment" from
Likewise, Mandi Dakhlallah, editor
this message: "Words are one thing,
it.
Assad to desist. But the illegal oil
of the government-run daily newspa-
actions are another."
Secretary Powell has acknowledged
imports
continued
and
even
increased.
per Al-Baath, scorned Powell's message
But Assad flouted these warnings.
using
the bill to pressure the Syrians to
In
reaction,
Washington
not
only
did
(the U.S. government "does not have
"We are still talking" about what to
make
improvements,
so logically he
not
penalize
the
Syrians
but
it
soon
many
tools
to
pressure
us")
and
cre-
do, he informed Newsweek, adding
should now want to see it enacted into
dropped the entire subject.
atively interpreted the secretary's visit
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle
law. It offers him exactly the right
to signify that Washington considers
mechanism to convince Assad & Co.
East Forum. Gary Gambill, who edits
Syria "a party to conduct dialogue
A
New
Hammer
that they need to make fast, deep, and
its journal, 'Middle East Intelligence
with and not to threaten or employ
lasting changes.
Bulletin," contributed to this report. Pipes' pressure on." He also understood from To compensate for this mistake, the
Or else the squeeze will begin. LI
Bush
administration
now
needs
to
e-mail address is Pipes@MEForum.org
it that "the role of the Pentagon will
F
S
Offering A Jewish Renaissance
Washington, D.C.
here is darkness in the
world. Storm clouds whirl
around us, hatreds flame
passions of destruction, fear
impels renewed prejudices, and fanati-
cism drives reason into the shadows.
And yet, there emerges a quest for
truth, a yearning for meaning, a savor-
ing of values.
We see the world of the Jewish peo-
ple alight as a new fire of dedication
burns brightly in the night. We learn
Torah, train leaders, engage our dis-
tant children and inspire others in our
community. We resist the demagogues
T
Richard M. Joel is outgoing president
and international director of Hillek The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. He
will become president of Yeshiva University
in New York City June 12. This is an
excerpt from his farewell address as leader
of Hilleh he joined the staff in 1988.
and promote dialogue; we train advo-
cates and never forget to sing.
In some ways, one of the great les-
sons of Hillel's success lies in the lan-
guage we have together developed. We
are about hope, not fear; celebration,
not commemoration; not just remem-
brance, but renaissance. We've taught
that being Jewish is an option, not a
condition, and we must get young
Jews to see value in exercising the
option.
If you want your children to have a
Jewish background, you have to give
them a Jewish playground.
What matters is building a commu-
nity of communities, where participa-
tion is more important than affilia-
tion, where doing Jewish matters more
than being Jewish.
We've learned that pluralism is not
relativism, but it's allowing a thousand
Jewish flowers to blossom and respect-
ing one's right to be wrong.
learning, owning and living
the values of Torah.
Our people must embrace
their story not only as readers
but as authors. They will
quickly learn that the ebb and
flow of their existence
throughout history has been
RICHARD M. dictated not only by a
Communal Mantras
Celestial Force, but by the
JOEL
desire of their forbears to act
Our anthems of "Maximizing
Special
the number of Jews doing
Commentary as a chosen people in the face
of an unwelcoming world.
Jewish with other Jews," and
Their story is about the
"Wherever we stand, we stand
blurred line that makes almost indis-
with Israel," are important communal
tinguishable miracles and human tri-
mantras that must inform beyond the
umphs, Divine intervention and
campus.
inspired will. When you embrace the
Our purpose, in its simplest form, is
love affair between the Transcendent
to inspire Jewish young people to
and the Jewish people, you realize that
embrace their story. It is a 4,000-year-
the only thing separating the parting
old story steeped in miracles about a
of a sea and the blossoming of a desert
proud people with a simple purpose
— to partner with God in making the
JOEL on page 34
world a better place. They do this by
We've understood that
young people want a life that
makes sense, that leadership is
vision plus an implementation
strategy and that we need to
offer both promise and prod-
uct.
5/16
2003
33