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George Cantor's Reality Check column will return next week

A Frightful Libel

The Detroit Jewish News took this editorial position in
advance of the U.N. vote on Nov. 29, 1947, a vote that
partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Greater
Jerusalem (including Bethlehem) would be under interna-
tional control. The vote set the British Mandate to end in
May 1948. The Arab League rejected the plan, but Israel
declared itself an independent state on May 14, 1948.
During the subsequent War for Independence, Israel gained
a bit more territory than it was supposed to get under the
partition plan, including the new city of Jerusalem (but not
the Old City).

D

estructive forces have been at work trying
to undermine the Jewish position before the
United Nations.
An article by Homer Metz in a recent issue of the
Christian Science Monitor refers to "an unconfirmed
report" circulated at Lake Success that "Russia decided

to favor the division of the Holy Land because it is wait-
ing to put into operation a detailed and subtle plot to
make Palestine a strategic center of Communist influ-
ence." According to this report, Russia has given refuge to
large numbers of "Zionists" in Constanza and other ports
along the Black Sea whence they could move quickly into
Palestine as soon as the immigration bars are lifted."
This is a frightful libel. It seems to undermine every
human spark which is inherent in the dire need of a
Jewish home in Palestine for the survivors from Nazism.
The circulation of this libelous report indicates to what
extent the intolerant and reactionary forces will go in
order to harm the Jewish people and to destroy their
hopes of ending the homelessness of the victims of
Nazism.
Such reports should serve as a challenge to humani-
tarians everywhere to battle for a speedy solution to the
problem, to insist upon the immediate implementation

of the majority UNSCOP report and to defy bigotry by
insisting upon the enforcement of the just claims pre-
sented by our people before the U.N.
A battle is waging within the U.N. over the size of the
territory which is to be set aside as a Jewish state. If the
United States' delegation will allow it, the Jewish com-
monwealth can be modeled to include Western Galilee
and the New Jerusalem. Inclusion of these portions of
Eretz Israel would be an act of justice by virtue of the
vital importance of these areas for a Jewish state. We
pray that justice may be enacted speedily, and we hope
that the American U.N. delegations will be listed among
those who helped pave the way for the reestablishment
of Jewish nationhood and the end of Jewish homeless-
ness. I

This editorial was originally printed in the Detroit Jewish News

on Nov. 7,1947.

Cycling To Help Kids

Steven Dunn
Special to the Jewish News

T

he socks were black. The Latin and Hebrew read:
"I came, I rode, I conquered."
This time, it was not the Romans, but the rid-
ers of Metro Detroit's Team Alex, riding in Alyn Hospital's
Wheels of Love International Charity Bicycle Ride, that
conquered the mountains of the Golan, Galilee and
central Israel on their serpentine way from Tiberius to
Jerusalem.
The Wheels of Love bicycle ride has become a major
fundraising event for Jerusalem's Alyn Hospital. Alyn
is one of the world's leading institutions specializing in
the active and intensive rehabilitation of children with a
broad range of physical disabilities. Congenital and inher-
ited orthopedic, neurologic and neuromuscular disorders
as well as acquired injuries associated with terrorist
attacks and car accidents make up a large portion of the
caseload. The dedicated staff at Alyn treats hundreds of
youths annually — both Jew and Arab alike.
After touring the hospital, a pediatrician from Team
Alex commented that the combination of intensive, long-
term rehabilitation using novel approaches and treatment
techniques, a sensitivity to the social issues that will face
the children on their return to their home environment,
and the in-depth integration of the family into the pro-
cess is a formula that truly maximizes the rehabilitative
benefits.
Alyn's programs and prolonged therapy are costly. The
number of children needing help is constantly growing.
The funds raised by the ride, expected to be over $3 mil-
lion this year, help to fill the gap between what the Israeli
health care system pays and the real cost of this in-depth,

Eddy and Dorothy Barak of West Bloomfield in Israel

long-term care. Seeing the children at Alyn and the prog-
ress that they have made makes one realize how very
important and wonderful the programs at the hospital
are.
Members of Team Alex have been involved with the
Wheels of Love International Charity Ride for five of
its eight years. This year's team consisted of Johanna
Abramson, Dorothy and Eddy Barak, Beth Brandvain,
David Contorer, Amy and Steve Dunn, Mark Konvisser,
DeDe and Warren Robinson, Michelle Tuckel and Jay
Brown and Warren Tessler. They rode singles, tandems
and foldable bicycles on touring, road and off-road routes
through northern Israel.
Roughly half of the Alyn ride's cyclists are Israelis. The
others come from Europe, North and South America, Asia
and Australia. The ride is one of those rare opportunities
that combines fundraising for a terrific cause, a wonder-
ful cycling experience, the opportunity to see parts of

Israel (on or off road) in a way that most tourists are
never able to do and the chance to renew and expand
acquaintances from years past.
This five-day ride alternates between the Golan, Galilee
and central Israel one year and south to the Negev and
Arava the next. From a rider's perspective — and par-
ticularly one coming from Michigan — Israel is surpris-
ingly mountainous. It is a significant challenge, even for
those in good shape, but one no less than that confronting
the children of Alyn every day. Each of us rode with an
awareness that we could choose which mountains we were
going to climb and to what extent we were going to physi-
cally and psychologically challenge ourselves.
The children of Alyn do not get to choose their chal-
lenges. On the steepest of climbs, with heart pounding,
legs burning and sweat dripping, thoughts of how hard
the children of Alyn work to achieve their small tri-
umphs gives one that extra spurt of energy to get to the
top. It is the care, training, and support of Alyn Hospital
and its wonderful staff that helps to prepare the children
of Alyn for the many hills and mountains that they must
learn to climb.
It is a wonderful feeling to be part of this endeavor and
to be able to work with Alyn Hospital in its efforts to help
the children reach their utmost potential.!!

Steven Dunn is a Bloomfield Hills resident.

Team Alex is named for Alex Graham, daughter
of Susie and Bill Graham, who died in 1999 from
a childhood form of boiie- cancer at the age of 17
while a senior at West Bloomfield High School. She
was a graduate of Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
Detroit.

November 29 2007

A37

