Central
To Survival

Israel must retain an unequivocal Jewish majority
and a cohesive Jewish society, general says.

ROBERT A. SKLAR

Editor

T

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The Center's Festival Dancers and Janice Charach Epstein Gallery
present...

a weekend with
Judith brin ingber

Renowned authority on Ladino-Sephardic Dance

An internationally renown 'authofity on Ladino-Sephardic dance, Judith Brin Ingber is also an acclaimed
writer, lectures, perfumer and editor. Her work has appeared nationally and in Israel.

workshops in the zell dance studio:

Friday, July 15 & Saturday, July 16 • 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Center & Festival Dancer Members: $5 • Non-Members or at the door: $8

lecture/demonstration/performance
of sephardic music & dance in costume

Sunday, July 17 • 2-4 p.m.

janice Charach Epstein Gallery • No admission charge
Part of the Jewish Costumes of the Ottoman Empire Exhibit

for information and reservations, call 248.432.5577

Supported by the Cohen-Woolf Jewish Dance Heritage Fund
and the Jewish Life & Learning Department

THE CENTER

Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit

7/ 7
2005

18

D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building • Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus
6500 West Maple Road • West Bloomfield

98767(

o be a Jewish democratic state,
Israel must retain its solid
Jewish majority, making dis-
engagement from the Palestinian-con-
trolled territories a matter of Jewish
survival, a famed Israeli security strate-
gist told a local Jewish National Fund
audience last week.
"The essence of Israeli existence is to
be Jewish and democratic at the same
time so that our
children, and the
children of our
children, will be
able to live in a
Jewish democrat-
ic state," Major
General Uzi
Dayan told 170
JNF supporters
at an informa-
tional breakfast
on June 28 at the General Dayan
Jewish
Community
Center in West Bloomfield.
"So Israel should make a historic
decision to disengage from the
Palestinians, with a territorial compro-
mise about borders," he said.
The biggest challenge facing the
Sharon administration today, he said, is
making this historic decision while
continuing to effectively fight terrorism
and retain the cohesion of Israeli socie-
ty. In contrast to disengagement, set-
tlers believe. that Jews have a God-
given right to all of the biblical Land
of Israel and oppose any pullout from
the Gaza Strip or the West Bank
(Judea and Samaria),
Dayan is the nephew of Israeli mili-
tary hero Moshe Dayan. His service as
national security adviser spanned five
prime ministers before he retired three
years ago. He's now president of the
Zionist Council in Israel and the JNF
Israeli youth movement.
By year 2020, Dayan explained, 10.5
million people will live between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean
Sea; only 45 percent will be Jewish,

down from 52 percent today. "We
should retain a solid Jewish majority,"
he cautioned, "only by moral and legal
means."
"In order to exist," he affirmed, "you
have to be strong."
When Dayan was 1 year old, his
father died fighting for Israel's inde-
pendence. Uzi joined the Israel
Defense Forces in 1956. He was on the
front lines in the 1967 Six-Day War
under the command of his famous
uncle, the defense minister general.
In addition to shaping national secu-
rity, Uzi Dayan has advised Israeli
prime ministers on strategic relations
between Israel and the U.S. He said
the most strategic asset of Israel is a
cohesive Jewish core. To maximize this
asset, he said, Israel must raise a socio-
economic flag to fly alongside its
national security flag. This second flag
would promote public education, job
creation and land development.
"Education is the equal opportunity
for everybody," Dayan said. "It's the
basis for everything: infrastructure, the
economy, jobs. That's why I'm
involved with the JNF Israeli youth
movement. Dealing with young people
is helping build Israel's future."
Job creation continues to lag in the
face of the nearly 5-year-old reign of
terror waged by Palestinian terrorists
against Israel. Unemployment hovers
around 9 percent.
Dayan called for stepped-up devel-
opment, especially within the Negev,
to rev up Israel's economy and allow
for a less-concentrated population
growth.
Elaborating on that point, local JNF
supporter Hannan Lis told the break-
fast crowd, "The land of Israel is
owned by the Jewish people and 62
percent of the land mass is the Negev,
but only something like 8 percent of
Israelis reside there. Almost all reside
between Tel Aviv and Haifa. In the
past 50-plus years, we have failed when
it comes to getting the Negev to
become truly part of the State of
Israel."
"If there's a future for Israel," Lis
said, "the future is in the Negev."