OTHER VIEWS
that a daughter, Anneke Burke-
Kooistra, lives in Mayville, Mich.
Anneke, who met her Jewish
American husband, Donald Burke, on
an Israeli kibbutz where both worked
as volunteers, converted to Judaism;
she lectures about what her parents,
now both deceased, did during the
Shoah when their country was over-
run by the Nazis.
One of the girls' mothers volun-
teered to drive them to meet her and
they heard the rest of the story from
Anneke, who was 6 at the end of the
war.
Anneke told about her late father,
Wop, who worked for the under-
ground, and how he found out that
some nearby Jews needed a place to
hide from the Nazis. He looked for
places for the helpless Jews, but to no
avail. He and Heil knew they couldn't
let the Jews be caught by the Nazis, so
they took them into their small house.
They had three young daughters to
feed and care for, and they
with mistrust and dislike dur-
were people of small means.
ing the war for keeping to
They decided to keep the
themselves — when finding
hidden strangers from their
out what they did, gave them
daughters for fear they would-
a huge basket of flowers. Now
n't be able to keep it a secret.
there is a plaque on the house
Basically, the daughters had no
in honor of its previous resi-
idea that there were eight more
dents. Through the interven-
people in their house for four
tion of some of the hidden
RAC HEL
years.
people (two are still alive and
KAP EN
During the day, the hidden
well and live in Israel), the
Com munity
Jews were in the dining room
Kooistras were recognized by
Vi ews
with the doors locked and the
Yad VaShem as righteous gen-
blinds closed; they came out
tiles.
only at night when the children
The Adams students wrote a 10-
already went to bed, their room
minute play — No Room for Hate —
locked. The Nazis came to check the
for four characters, including young
house a number of times; but whenev- Anneke. With the play, the girls have
er they came, the Jews were hidden
made it past district and state
under the floorboards beneath the
National History Day project compe-
front hallway. By the grace of God,
tition. The nationals will take place in
the Kooistra family sustained them-
June at the University of Maryland in
selves and their hidden guests through
College Park. No matter if they win
the war; on Liberation Day, all eight
or not, this enthusiastic foursome feel
emerged from the hiding place and
they already have won by bringing to
stood for a picture, now Anneke's
light such an extraordinary story of
prized possession.
courage and love of humanity, the
Neighbors — who treated them
story of Wop and Heil Kooistra. CI
5
kind of unacceptable "incitement'
activities and both must immediately
halt what they are doing. This asser-
tion is maddening in its dishonesty
and represents a grotesque slander
that rivals the medieval claim that
Jews were behind the bubonic plague.
The truth is this: For years, official
Palestinian institutions — education-
al, social, religious, and governmental
— have explicitly, consistently and
proudly put forth a message that
championed the idea of murdering
Jewish babies in their carriages, hack-
ing Jewish women to pieces, killing
Jews wherever they may be found and
annihilating the State of Israel. Not
even Palestinian Authority President
Yasser Arafat himself ever attempted
to demonstrate that Israel was doing
the same, yet that is exactly what the
road map implies.
Now, let's think about terror for a
moment.
This past Shabbat, the father of the
late Malki Roth was at our home.
This is how Malki's life was snuffed
out.
Twenty-three-year-old Izzedine al-
Masri was educated and came from a
comfortable, well-respected family in
the West Bank village of Aqaba.
Together with a 19-year-old girl,
Ahlam Tmimi, who was a journalism
student in university, al-Masri was
trained to carry out the sophisticated
and brazen murder of Jewish
main been financing, encour-
women and children in
aging, assisting and carrying
Jerusalem.
out the same terror for years.
Mind you, the whole opera-
The question of the day is
tion was planned with women
how to deal with such terror.
and young children as the spe-
After terrorists recently
cific target of choice with the
killed seven Americans in
goal being to kill as many as
Saudi Arabia, Vice President
possible.
Dick Cheney had this to say,
SHI MON
Izzedine al-Masri was a
"The
only way to deal with
APIS DORF
bright, capable young man
this
threat
ultimately is to
Spe cial
from a well-respected family.
destroy
it.
There's
no treaty
Comm entary
As a parent, I imagine him to
that can solve this problem.
be the kind of young man
There's no peace agreement,
with a great deal of potential. The end no policy of containment or deterrence
of the story is that he chose to actual-
that works to deal with this threat. We
ize his potential by blowing himself
have to go find the terrorists."
up in a popular Jerusalem pizza
I ask you, if Osama bin Laden's
restaurant thus killing 15-year-old
right-hand man volunteered to get rid
Malki Roth, her best friend, and
of Islamic terrorism while still claim-
many other Jewish women and chil-
ing that Osama was a great leader and
dren.
a hero, do you think Mr. Cheney
Izzedine's father expressed his pride
would push his boss to take up the
in how his son fulfilled his potential.
man's offer? Well, this is exactly what
Izzedine's brother said, "Palestinians
the road map advocates.
everywhere can now hold up their
Yasser Arafat's right-hand man of 20
heads."
years — a man who still says that
That is the ugly, barbaric, evil face
Arafat is the true leader of the
of terror.
Palestinian people — is now being
In Palestinian society today, Hamas
called upon to clean up Palestinian
is 100 percent committed to the kind
terror once and for all.
of terror that exploded in Sbarro
Why do I feel like we've been the
pizzeria and so many other places in
way of this road map before and that
Israel. Islamic Jihad is likewise 100
the fee for another trip will be paid
percent committed to the same terror.
with the blood of more innocent
The Palestinian Authority has in the
Jewish women and children? El
No Room For Hate
very day, hundreds of mostly
non-Jewish schoolchildren
accompanied by their teach-
ers visit the Holocaust
Memorial Center.
Besides the host of exhibits, the
West Bloomfield-based center also has
a survivor on hand to share experi-
ences about the Shoah. Recently, what
especially resonated for a group of
ninth-grade girls from Rochester
Adams High School was the story of
Wop and Heil Kooistra, the Utrecht,
Holland, couple who hid eight Jews in
their house during the Holocaust. The
students were determined to make
this moving story the subject of their
National History Day project.
The four friends — Tori Minton,
Kim Perwerton, Lindsay Carniak and
Christine Harder — wanted to create
a play depicting the Kooistras. They
were told by the Holocaust survivor
E
Rachel Kapen is a West Bloomfield resident.
The Wrong N ap
Pikesville, Md.
iff y son and I were recently
having breakfast togeth-
er. The New York Times
was open on the table in
front of me, and every so often I
would grimace and pound my fist on
the table.
"Abba, what's wrong?" he wanted to
know. I explained that I was reading
the text of the Mideast road map, and
that I was outraged.
It is not the purpose of this article
to dissect the road map kilometer by
kilometer and show why it is a flawed
diplomatic document. Rather, I want
to highlight two fundamental issues
that are not just maddening in their
dishonesty, and grotesque in their
immorality, but that represent vicious
slander of Jews on the one hand and
callous disregard for Jewish life on the
other.
The road map states, "All official
Palestinian institutions end incitement
against Israel." It also states, "All offi-
cial Israeli institutions end incitement
against Palestinians."
The inescapable implication of this
mirrored use of language is that the
parties are engaged in the exact same
Shimon Apisdorf is an author and
educational director of the Jewish
Literacy Foundation. His e-mail address
is shimon@jevvishliteracy.org
5/30
2003
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