Special Report ON THE COVER Long Arm Of War from page 13 Brenda Rosenberg Roger Strelow 1 A protester shows his support for Lebanon and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nazrallah at a Dearborn rally last year. TV and radio news staffs, brought in Israeli experts to meet with Hispanic com- munity leaders and others, and is expand- ing its speakers bureau to reach churches. Mendel says the results have been encouraging. "The feedback we get from those and other efforts tells us that Israel continues to be seen as America's best friend and ally in the Middle East:' he says. "Last summer's rallies impacted me greatly," says Sharona Shapiro, director of the Michigan office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Bloomfield Township. She made national news last year with her personal account of last summer's pro-Hezbollah rallies in Dearborn. "These days, I rarely go into Dearborn, and I have far fewer encounters with Arab-American leaders who either are or who work with the leaders of the Dearborn-based sponsoring agencies and mosques of last summer's rallies." Instead, Shapiro says she has greatly increased her personal and institutional interactions with the diverse Oakland County Muslim-American community and Lebanese-American Christians. "These two communities have reached out to the AJC leadership and have enthu- siastically become engaged in relationship building," she says. Separate dialogue programs have begun with both groups, which have shared meals and discussions on issues of common interest. Shapiro says the sessions with Lebanese Christians, a direct outgrowth of last summer, has been especially enlightening. "The exchanges have made me more sensitive and knowledgeable of how the Lebanese Christian communities here and in Lebanon are vulnerable," Shapiro says. "The leaders warn us that the civil war is brewing so much that they seriously worry about the survival of the Christian 14 July 19 • 2007 Sharona Shapiro Betsy Kellman communities in Lebanon." She said most in this group wish to remain pri- vate because "many feel that being identi- fied makes either their families or businesses targets for retribution:' Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Michigan Region Director Betsy Kellman in Bloomfield Township says outreach efforts with the local Arab community are definitely on hold. "As much as ADL would like to consider outreach, we will not reach out to people that sympathize or work with a terrorist organization:' Kellman says. "We cannot work with the Arab community that sup- ports Hezbollah and the same goes for sympathizers of Hamas." Kellman says there is a frustration in the Jewish community "fueled by the intense fear of Islamic extremism being played out on the world stage' She says local Muslim groups have done little to allay these fears. "We need to hear moderate Muslims in this community speak out against terror- ism. It hasn't happened. We need to hear them condemn the planned bombings in Great Britain and Scotland. They have not. We need them to be proud Americans and support this country and condemn all Islamic extremism. It has not happened. Until that time, the majority of the Jewish community will continue to be careful and remain aloof from the Arab community." Hard Feelings Remain Imad Hamad, director of the Dearborn- based Michigan Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), says the feeling between the com- munities is more relaxed, though they continue to see things quite differently. "We're not over with the challenge," says Hamad. "We haven't reached the stage where things are back to normal. Things were too hot last summer, and there are still some hard feelings." Hamad credits both communities with not crossing the line into advocating or committing violence. "It's a tribute to the maturity of both communities and the good moral character of both," he said. Like the Jewish community, he says the Arab community is monitoring Mideast developments closely and "crossing the fingers and truly praying that there will be no war this summer." He says that people have changed their summer plans to visit their families or take vacations in Lebanon. "People are worried that, God forbid, something would happen again." If war does break out again, he says the Arab community will mobilize to promote its interests "in a very constructive politi- cal process without fear." "We believe as strongly, if not even more strongly, that Hezbollah was on the right side, and that it is not a terrorist organiza- tion," Hamad says. "U.S. laws and regula- tions on Hezbollah are seen as unfair. Nothing has changed in that regard. We feel free to talk about it in America and not deal with taboos." Saying that the American position on Hezbollah is a minority position among nations, he called for "debate in this corn- munity as there is around the world." Hamad agrees with Jewish leaders that organizational relationships are cool and will likely remain that way. "There is less formal communication, and there is not a real organized systemic strategy," he says of organizational ties. Like others, he says relations are cordial. Strides Taken Brenda Rosenberg, founder of the Children of Abraham program that seeks to create understanding between Jews, Muslims and Christians, works closely with Hamad — not simply in spite of their political differences, but because of them. Hamad calls her "an angel of peace." "I believe so strongly in the dialogue process," Rosenberg says. "The most important thing is to get at the root of the problems. It all starts with hate. It goes from hate speech, to demonizing to dehu- manizing," she says. "Unless Jews have Christian and Muslim partners, we can't stop that teaching of hate. Hate is respon- sible for every genocide and massacre." Rosenberg, of Bloomfield Hills, is an active AJC member in interfaith efforts, though she doesn't represent AJC in her dealings with Hamad. She says the AJC dialogues and its project to put Jewish books in mosque libraries are very helpful. "There are those who feel we have to do Anna Hoffman, 11 , of Farmington Hills at a rally last summer for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. absolutely everything here to not let what happens over there affect our relation- ship and others who feel what we can do here can be a model for peace over there Rosenberg said. "The tensions that arose during the con- flict definitely have abated, although the memories have not fader agrees Roger Strelow, chairman of Interfaith Partners of the Detroit-based Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, which has worked to bring faith communities togeth- er and ease tensions. "But we are certainly seeing the positive, healing effects that arise from neighbors working and living together in cordial relations here in the Detroit area and cooperating in matters of mutual interest." Strelow, a Christian, says feelings run high because of the personal and fam- ily relationships that many Jews and Muslims have with people in the Mideast, and because of perceived injustices and threats. But he is optimistic. "What has been overcome, at least in many minds, I believe, is the fallacy that people living here, and who have family or other roots or connections to either Israel or Lebanon, are somehow responsible, or to be blamed, for past conflicts ... or potential future ones:' he says. Strelow believes that the conflict is political or ethnic rather than religious because Jews, Muslims and Christians can all work together in the United States. Referring to the groups as "the three Abrahamic faiths:' he believes working together and standing up for each other when attacked is crucial and healing. "When we stand together like this, I believe we all see so much more clearly that division among faiths or people of faith is unnatural and certainly not God's will."