I
World
Interfaith Partners
Religions stand
together to condemn
vandalism.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
A
rash of vandalism at mosques
and Muslim-owned businesses
— wherever they come from
and for whatever reason — are wrong and
must stop. This message was delivered
by Interfaith Partners (IFP) on Jan. 25 as
30 hardy and committed souls gathered
in single-digit weather at the old Detroit
home of the Islamic Center of America,
which had been defaced with anti-Muslim
graffiti the previous day.
"As a community, we come together
today to support in spirit the cleansing
of this site from brutality and to move
ahead with our efforts to strengthen inter-
faith understanding," the IFP statement
said. The IFP is a project of the Michigan
Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion
(MRDI).
Jewish participants among the reli-
gious, civic and law enforcement leader-
ship included IFP executive committee
members Robert Cohen, executive direc-
tor of the Jewish Community Council
of Metro Detroit, and Jewish co-chair
Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel in
West Bloomfield. Also participating were
Betsy Kellman, executive director of the
Michigan office of the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), JCCouncil vice-president
Gail Katz and Dave Henig, director of the
Michigan Board of Rabbis.
"It would have been unconscionable for
us not to stand with the Muslim commu-
nity, after Interfaith Partners, at the urging
of their Muslim co-chair [Eide Alawan of
the Islamic Center of America], stood with
us last month at the Holocaust Memorial
Center to condemn Holocaust denial;'
Cohen said. "We want to stand up and say
this kind of behavior is unacceptable'
"If you really believe in civil rights, you
have to believe in civil rights even when
its uncomfortable' said Kellrnan, alluding
to continuing divisions with elements of
the local Muslim community. "After all, it's
civil rights for everybody"
Part of the 30-person chain symbolically protecting the former home of the Islamic
Center of America in Detroit are, Robert Cohen, Jewish Community Council; Dave
Henig, Michigan Board of Rabbis; Gail Katz, JCCouncil; Rev. Felix Lorenz, St. Paul's
United Church of Christ, Dearborn Heights; Rev. Barbara Clevenger, Church of Today
West, Farmington Hills; Rev. June Smith, Mt. Olivet, Dearborn Heights; and Ramaz
Bazzi, member of the Islamic Center of America.
Blaming The Occupation
Combatants for Peace search for a non-violent solution.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
S
madar Elhanan, 14, was shop-
ping for school supplies when
three suicide bombers struck
Jerusalem's Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall
on Sept. 4, 1997, killing five and wounding
181. Smadar and her best friend were killed
instantly, and another friend was critically
wounded.
Elik Elhanan is certain he knows what
killed his little sister: The culprit was the
"Occupation:"
Elhanan, 29, and Sulaiman Al Hamri,
42, leaders of the Palestinian/Israeli dia-
logue and anti-occupation activist group
Combatants for Peace, spoke Jan. 22 at
Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park
before an audience of 100 as part of a
22-city speaking tour sponsored by the
Chicago-based Brit Tzedek V'Shalom
(Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace),
which works to bring American support for
a two-state solution in Israel.
Struggling to make sense of the situa-
Sulaiman Al Hamri and Elik Elhanan of
Combatants for Peace
tion took much time and tears, but Elik
came to the conclusion that "it was not a
clash of civilizations, historic conflict or
a clash of religions that caused her death.
She died, very simply, because there is
an occupation and there are 3 1/2 million
people living without any human rights. I
decided that if I want to save the children, I
should fight the occupation rather than the
Palestinians:'
Elhanan was already rethink-
ing his Israeli Defense Forces
(IDF) service when his sister
was murdered. He went from
thinking his army service was
"not only was a responsibility,
but also a privilege" to believing
"it is a vicious circle we can't
break out of. Every attack was
simply an excuse for the next
attack. Everyone we arrested
or killed, somebody took their
place. Violence only leads to
violence and blood only leads to
blood.
"The abstract questions
became very concrete: no more violence,
no revenge. It won't save any other children,
just give them another excuse to come after
us again."
He decided that the occupation was
"immoral, illegal, and more than anything,
it doesn't protect Israelis and puts them in
harm's way:"
He joined the newly formed Courage to
Refuse, comprised of Israeli soldiers who
refused to serve in the IDE The new group
began with 52 members and eventually
grew to 700.
Now a student at Tel Aviv University,
Elhanan, together with Al Hamri and oth-
ers, helped found Combatants for Peace last
April. He is its Israeli coordinator.
Group members travel Israel and the ter-
ritories talking about their experiences and
urging non-violence, an end to the territo-
rial occupation and a negotiated two-state
settlement based on the 1967 borders.
On A Mission
Al Hamri, the Palestinian coordinator of
the group, told the audience, "We are not
politicians; we will not deceive anybody;
we will tell it as it is. We will talk to you
from our hearts."
He joined Fatah, the PLO faction headed
by Yasser Arafat and now led by Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, when he was
16 years old in the mid-1980s.
"It was a privilege to join the movement
Blaming on page 24
February 1. 2007
23