Dry Bo nes
Opinion
Editorials are posted and archived on JNonline.us .
IT'S JUNE 2006,
EXACTLY 2 .5 YEARS
SINCE JUNE 1981
•
SUMMER
RE—RUN?
WHEN ISRAEL
BOMBED SADOAM'S
NUCLEAR PLANT IN
IRAQ.
Editorial
A Guardian Of Israel
he Zionist idea that
inspired Israel's creation
held that even if all Jews
didn't move to the Jewish state, all
were to be partners in its estab-
lishment and development. The
Jewish National Fund, founded
at the fifth Zionist Congress in
1901, was a practical way to make
that idea a reality while raising
funds to purchase land. The JNF's
founding resolution made the
connection clear, stating: "The
fund shall be the property of the
Jewish people as a whole."
Much has changed over the
past 105 years. There are many
worthy ways to bring Jews and
their friends together in support
of Israel. But as the custodian
of the land of Israel for Jewish
people everywhere, the JNF still
provides a unique and vital place
in that partnership and in Israel's
future. While we are busy fight-
ing anti-Semitism, advocating
for Israel and building our own
communities, the JNF reminds
us that our Jewish homeland is a
work in progress that demands
our attention.
Though the scope of JNF
activity is broad and deep, it is
best known for its tree-planting
program and its once ubiquitous
fundraising Blue Boxes. But in
addition to planting more than
240 million trees, the JNF has
built more than 180 dams and
reservoirs, developed more than
250,000 acres and created more
than 1,000 parks throughout
Israel while maintaining educa-
tional and environmental pro-
grams. In doing so, it has success-
fully connected Jews the world
over with the Jewish state, giving
them a personal stake in the land
that still prompts Jews who visit
Israel to ask to see their tree or at
least imagine that any of the ones
they see could be theirs.
While once JNF helped estab-
lish the prospective borders of
Israel through land purchases,
today it is less concerned with
setting borders than what takes
place within them. While affores-
tation and draining swamps once
were vital to reclaiming fertile
land and stable soil, the JNF
today maintains Israel's forests
while focusing on technology
and water treatment to meet
the needs of Israel's people and
industry.
But while some things change,
others stay the same.
With a population of more than
7 million people, Israel needs to
look south. The JNF's Blueprint
Negev, an ambitious long-term
plan that envisions developing
the southern 60 percent of Israel
into a desirable place to live and
establish businesses, recaptures
the pioneering spirit of reclaim-
ing and resettling the land.
The first five-year goal is
to bring a quarter of a million
people to the region with another
quarter million during the fol-
lowing five years. To do so, JNF
will partner with the Israeli
government and other groups to
strengthen existing communi-
ties and establish 25 new ones by
providing infrastructure — water
desalinization and reservoirs
key among them — to attract
business and industry so the
residents can build homes and
find jobs.
The environmental impact will
be huge, and the JNF must care-
fully balance costs and benefits.
While seeking to manage and
minimize any harm to the Negev,
the project will help relieve over-
population and environmental
stress further north. More than 70
percent of Israelis live in the tri-
angle between Haifa, Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem, taxing the environ-
ment and raising property values
beyond the reach of many young
families.
The JNF is proof that Zionism
is not just about politics; it also
is about practicalities. With so
many groups and articles writ-
ten about the health of the "soul"
of Israel, we must not forget the
health of the "body." JNF works to
keep that body healthy and, like-
wise, we must work to keep the
JNF healthy. E.
two-track system, one
for target minorities
and one for all others.
That is a quota.
But there is another
reason why I don't
think it is good pub-
lic policy, and that
also involves human
dynamics.
Far too often, minor-
ity hires and admis-
sions are not allowed to fail. They
are either steered into soft cur-
ricula, away from math, the sci-
ences and engineering, or placed
in jobs where everything already
is humming along just fine.
Officials are often judged and
compensated by the promotion
and retention rate for minorities.
When they drop out of school or
leave the organization, it makes
that officer look bad.
The way to promotion is to
fix a bad situation,
to show what you
can do under pres-
sure. Minorities,.
however, frequently .
get shunted onto
a lateral track and
moved into parallel
positions. They may
be called promo-
tions but, in reality,
they lead nowhere
near the top management jobs.
Their superiors know very
well the terms under which they
were hired and are reluctant to
give them a job that could end in
failure.
Everyone fails at one time or
another and those who get ahead
learn through their failures.
No one benefits by cushioning
someone against failure; except,
of course, the official whose next
raise depends on promoting and
retaining minorities.
I have seen this dynamic at
work in my own profession and
those who work in large corpora-
tions say it is engrained there.
There is a stigma to affirmative
action and it is absolutely unfair
to talented minorities who get
labeled by it.
If we wait for racism and sex-
ism to totally disappear before
we end affirmative action, we
will be waiting for Godot. The
playing field will never be totally
equal.
What we should be doing,
instead, is to permit merit to rise
and to allow good people to fall
down in order to pick themselves
up again. E
A LOT HAS
r CHANGED
IN THE
LAST 25 YEARS.
THE THREAT IS
NOW SOO MILES
FURTHER TO THE
EAST, IN IRAN
E-mail letters of no more than 150
words to: letters@thejewishnews.com .
Reality Check
Freedom To Fail
I
don't think any column
I've written for the Jewish
News has brought a bigger
response than the one April 27
on the Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative (MCRI). They were
both pro and con, and all of them
passionate.
The proposal, which will
be on the state ballot this fall,
would prohibit affirmative action
policies by any public agency in
Michigan, including state univer-
sities.
MCRI supporters say there
is no rationale for a policy that
amounts to reverse discrimi-
nation and embraces quotas,
even though they are illegal. Its
opponents claim that it is rac-
ist in intent and will also harm
women, who may be excluded
from admissions to some univer-
sity programs and employment
opportunities.
I have been writing about
affirmative action for many
years. I was the first Detroit
journalist to interview Dr. Carl
Cohen, the professor who man-
aged to extricate data from a
reluctant University of Michigan,
showing how the school was run-
ning an admissions system that
favored far-less-qualified minor-
ity applicants. Those numbers
were the basis for subsequent
lawsuits that reached the U.S.
Supreme Court.
I believe that quotas are
almost inevitable under affir-
mative action plans. Every one
of them contains goals and
timetables. When the goals are
not met within the specified
time frame, administrators
and hiring officers come under
tremendous pressure to explain
why. So they take the path of
least resistance and set up a
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com .
Jurie 22 2006
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