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December 21 . 2006
Since 1972
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200
we would like to see a truce of this
[Palestinian-Israeli] conflict"
Najah Bazzy, a Dearborn Oakwood
Hospital nurse who worked for many
years at Sinai Hospital of Detroit with
Jewish physicians and patients, is a
Muslim community leader affiliated
with the Islamic Center of America
in Dearborn. She spoke of the Jewish
community's responsibility.
Muslims beliefs, because of the
prophets Moses and Jesus, have a great
responsibility to stretch the hand, she
said. "If you are the chosen people
at the time, then you are the chosen
people for all the time. You have a huge
responsibility to extend your hand,
too."
Victor Begg, chairman of the
Council of Islamic Organizations of
America and co-founder of the Unity
Center, a Bloomfield Hills mosque,
said the Muslim community is not
a monolith, "but there is consen-
sus on one issue: the treatment of
Palestinians and their human rights."
He said Muslims are disappointed
when they see blind support for all
Israeli actions. "That is what our corn-
munity thinks," he said.
"There is an enormous amount of
pressure from the Jewish community
to apologize or condemn every single
act of terrorism or extremism that
happens around the world. These acts
have no relationship with our Islamic
faith," he said.
"We agree that there are those who
say they follow Islamic faith who need
to change their behavior, but the col-
lective calls by non-Muslims to reform
Islam is not acceptable or practical.
Promoting individuals who you think
should represent Muslims is a waste
of your time and is counter-produc-
tive. There should be no litmus test for
dialogue."
A First Step
Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Adat Shalom
thanked the crowd for coming.
"We come from different perspec-
tives:' he said. "Our hearts hurt over
different issues. And we came to hear
one another."
Ezra Drissman of Farmington Hills
disliked the event's closed format and
took offense with Khan, "who basically
summed up Darfur as a tribal situa-
tion where you have two people living
in close proximity, so therefore, obvi-
ously, you're going to kill each other.
"Well, maybe, but not by raping
and slaughtering," he said. "That is the
most negligent, the most gross com-
parison I've ever heard."
Phyllis Loewenstein of Farmington
Hills also disliked the format.
"I haven't learned one thing:' she
said. "They skirted the issues."
Andrew Doctoroff, AJC chapter
president, called the event a positive
first step.
"A lot of people will disagree with
a lot that was said tonight:' said
Doctoroff of Huntington Woods. "But
at the same time, in order to create
a real dialogue, you have to listen to
people who have different perspec-
tives."
Sharona Shapiro, AJC Michigan area
director, said it was a positive "baby
step," allowing the Jewish community
to hear from local Muslim leaders and
a proper format to help bring dialogue.
A "Jewish Voices in Detroit: Message
to the Muslim Community" program
is in the works, she said.
"For the very first encounter, we did
not want to have a situation that we
would not be able to respectfully con-
tain through our audience participa-
tion," Shapiro said.
"Sometimes, it's important for the
Jewish community to listen. It doesn't
mean that we won't urge the NIuslims
to participate in future programs that
will include open forums and allow
the audience members to express their
personal beliefs, to ask questions and
to offer exchanges of thinking:'