OTHER VIEWS

Positives Among Uncertainty

I

am strongly connected to Israel,
both professionally and personally,
and taking a trip there always
excites me. But my most recent visit, in
early March, left me with uneasy feelings
about Israel's current state of affairs. The
constant themes of my experiences and
meetings were of contradiction and
uncertainty.
Wanting to act and feel Israeli, I rode
the buses, walked the commercial prom-
enades, visited the open-air markets and
patronized the curbside restaurants. I
even walked through Arab neighbor-
hoods and the Arab market in the Old
City of Jerusalem. But I spoke to other
tourists who purposely limited their
sightseeing, traveled only by taxi and
were touched by suspicion and fear.
On one of my first days in the coun-
try I was able to hear, along with 750
English speakers, the head of the Likud
rebels — Knesset member Uzi Landau.
For those unaware, the rebels are those
party leaders who are opposing Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw
from Gaza and the northern West Bank.
In his remarks, Landau charged that

Allan Gale is the associate director of the
Bloomfield Township-based Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit.

Sharon has no mandate from those who
voted for him in 2003 because his elec-
tion platform then did not include such
a withdrawal.
Yet, some in the audience noted that
Richard Nixon, Yitzchak Rabin and
Franklin Roosevelt contradicted their
election platforms when in office, lead-
ing their nations in new directions.
Another questioner disputed Landau's
charge that the withdrawal has no strate-
gic value, saying that a people's will — a
majority of polled Israelis favor the with-
drawal — "trumps" that argument. In
other words, at present, settler ideology
is being trumped by the desire for a
chance for peace.
As part of his concluding remarks,
Landau dismissed calls for him to carry
the "rebellion" further and leave the
Likud party. Israeli politics now favors
electability over ideology — a contradic-
tion or a political reality?

Tense Times

On Shabbat, I walked from the center of
town to a synagogue in the French Hill
neighborhood, passing through several
Arab neighborhoods. Arabs and Jews
live almost on top of each other in the
Jerusalem area, but mostly maintain a
distinct physical and emotional separate-

them and respect them. Yet the
ness. I also visited the Museum
Palestinian intifada touched
on the Seam, an effort support-
here as well, and those relation-
ing conciliation and co-exis-
ships are fragile and minimal at
tence, which is located on the
present. Still, I noted that the
divide that separated then
Arab-cultivated land that abuts
Israeli-controlled west Jerusalem
the community is protected by
from Jordanian-controlled east
the residents of Efrat. And there
Jerusalem for 19 years. Even
is obvious prosperity of the
though there are now attempts
AL LAN
neighboring
Arabs, who have
by Israeli and Palestinian leader-
ALE
benefited
from
their economic
ship to reduce tensions, co-exis-
Corn munity
relations
with
Efrat.
A new
tence seems far off
Persp ective
emergency care facility is open
There is much tension
to all who need treatment —
between the peoples. Jerusalem,
Jew or Arab.
a city holy to Jews, Christians and
I participated in almost two days of
Muslims, has divisions that seem to con-
tradict the teachings of those faiths. And meetings at Israel's foreign ministry,
seeking to update my pro-Israel message
now that tension will be further tested,
and advocacy skills. There was less evi-
as Israel moves to withdraw from some
territory. Both governments will attempt dence of contradiction there, but there
was an effort to contradict Israel's image
to maintain the rule of law. The Israelis
as a place of war and conflict. The
will seek to prevent violent demonstra-
image-makers want to "re-brand" Israel
tions in the face of its withdrawal plan.
as a place of interesting people, a place
The Palestinian government will seek to
of medical and technological advances
control lawless gunmen who do not sur-
render to the central authority or bow to that help the world, and an ally worth
supporting.
the "monopoly of power" of the
That is a clear message I can come
Palestinian Authority.
I visited Efrat, a Jerusalem suburb that home to Michigan with, and share. As
for the future of Israel and its people,
is across the Green Line. Efrat is a place
including my many friends and rela-
where the residents reach out to their
tives, only each new day will tell. ❑
Arab neighbors, befriend them, employ

4

Strains Of Nazi. Germany?

I

n his State of the Union speech
on Feb. 2, President George W.
Bush lauded the democratic rule
against the evil of tyranny. A prime
example of the great advantage of
democracy is the now-democratic
nation of Germany, which, when
under Nazi rule, sought to perpetrate
genocide against the Jewish people.
Twenty years after the Holocaust,
democratic West Germany formed
diplomatic relations with the Jewish
state and they have been friends and
allies ever since.
These interesting relations between
these two unlikely friends were beset
by strife from the outset mostly
because of the great number of
Holocaust survivors who managed to
rebuild their shattered lives in the
State of Israel, which was established
from the ashes of the Holocaust.
Many survivors vehemently oppose

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2005

48

Rachel Kapen, an Israeli native and
daughter of Israel pioneers, is a resident
of West Bloomfield.

anything German,
including the German
language, because it
reminds them of the
horrors they endured.
In a pre-commemoration of 40 years
of diplomatic relations between Israel
and Germany, Germany's president,
Horst Kohler, spoke on Feb 2 in a spe-
cial session in the Knesset in
Jerusalem. Before his speech, a debate
raged over whether it would be proper
for the German language to be spoken
in the Israeli parliament. However,
there was no alternative: the German
president was unable to address the
Knesset in any other language. So a
compromise of sorts was reached: he
would begin his address in Hebrew:

Hansiah hazot, hayom hazeh, vhashaah
hazot meragshim oti meod — "This
journey, this day and this hour move
me greatly."
Kohler read from a prepared speech,
but the Hebrew gesture wasn't suffi-
cient for those who opposed the
German language, associated with the
Nazis, being heard in the Knesset.
They boycotted the session, saying it
would be painful for survivors to hear

fore, there could be no atone-
German within the walls of
ment and no forgiving and as
the Knesset.
a result, no normal relations
This recent uproar epito-
between us and them."
mizes the history of Israeli-
Upon hearing of the ratifi-
German relations.
cation of the resolution by the
On March 14, 1965, Israel
Knesset, then-West German
and then West Germany
Chancellor Ludwig Erhard
decided on forming diplomat-
stated, "I feel a deep satisfac-
ic relations. This decision was
RAC HEL
tion that after years of tragedy
ratified by the Knesset on
KAP EN
and strained relations with
March 16; out of the 120
Comm unity
Israel, we will be able to find a
members, 66 voted for the res-
Persp ective
basis to form normal and pro-
olution, 29 voted against it
ductive relations."
and 10 members abstained.
It is worth noting that the Council
Levi Eshkol, then Israel's prime min-
of Arab Foreign Ministers, on hearing
ister, said at that stormy session that
of formalized diplomatic relations
"... the mind should override the emo-
between Israel and West Germany, was
tions ... the considerations of con-
so outraged that it decided to sever
science and history are above and
diplomatic ties with West Germany.
beyond political realism ... but we
Getting back to President Kohler's
have to make use of every opportunity
address, delivered in German, he artic-
to strengthen the establishment of the
ulated the deep shame of his country
nation in its new Homeland."
Then the leader of Herut, a forerun- for what transpired on its soil, a shame
that will be Germany's tragic legacy
ner of today's Likud, and a future
prime minister, Menachem Begin, said forever. He vowed to fight relentlessly
the growing anti-Semitism in his land
in a typically fiery speech that "every
German is a "son of death" (ben mavet, and always be at the side of the Jewish
state.
a Hebrew expression) and he has
Time will tell. ❑
Jewish blood on his hands ... there-