Historic

Samir Mashni, Sen. Levin and Eugene Driker at the
April 25 press conference.

Jewish and

SHARON LUCKERMAN

Palestinian

arly last month, U.S. Sen.
Carl Levin, D-Mich., with
four local Jewish American
and Palestinian American leaders,
headed to Israel to share their Mideast
peace and investment plan with Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Deputy Prime Ministers Shimon Peres
and Ehud Olmert.
With the Israeli leadership as well as
the Palestinian Authority's on board
— "strong support," said Levin — the
quintet continued their journey to the
West Bank, where they met with
Palestinian businessmen from the
Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Their mission was to create invest-
ment and provide loans to businesses
within the Palestinian Authority to
help spur economic development and
job creation as a building block
toward Middle East peace.
On April 25 at the Detroit Club,
Levin, who is Jewish, joined Jewish

Americans

form a unique

joint venture

to spur peace

and economic

development

in West Bank

and Gaza.

Special to the Jewish News

33

American leaders Eugene Driker of
Detroit, architect Arnold Mikon of
Huntington Woods and Robert Sher
of West Bloomfield and Palestinian
American leaders Azzam Elder of
Dearborn and Samir Mashni of
Canton in announcing their new busi-
ness endeavor in the Gaza Strip and
West Bank: the Michigan Fund for
Peace and Economic Development.
Other founding members of the cor-
poration include Terry Ahwal Morris of
Canton, development director at
Madonna University in Livonia; CPA
Michael Maali, currently of Chicago;
and Florine Mark of Farmington Hills,
the largest franchise holder of Weight
Watchers International in the United
States.
Driker, Sher, Mashni and Morris
accompanied Levin on the Mideast trip.
"Jews by nature are problem
solvers," said attorney Eugene Driker,
co-chair of the fund with attorney
Samir Mashni. "The path to peace
runs up against realities like financial
desperation and high unemployment.

People who have nothing to live for
do desperate things. Giving them
something to live for is in the right
direction, not a panacea to all prob-
lems."
Fund member Azzam Elder, the
deputy Wayne County executive, said
the local Jewish and Arab American
communities are heavily involved in
education and humanitarian issues. "It
makes sense for both communities to
come closer together and focus on a
common economic effort," Elder said.
He added that compared to the pes-
simism between Arabs and Jews in the
Middle East, the Michigan Fund ini-
tiative can serve as a model:
Palestinians and Jews engaged and
focused on the positives between the
two people. "I'm confident something
good will come out of this," Elder said.
The group is considering supporting
ventures like processing olive oil in the
West Bank, making furniture in Gaza
and fulfilling high-tech needs within
the Palestinian Authority, said co-chair
Mashni. Also being considered are

5/ 5
2005

25