points of view
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
Interim Editor: Alan Hitsky
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar
>> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com
Contributing Editor
Editorial
Fatah-Hamas Dangers Lurk
S
o the Palestinians believe
the Hamas-Fatah recon-
ciliation will be the gate-
way to an independent, sovereign
Palestinian state sanctioned by the
United Nations this September.
Time will tell how gullible the
U.N. General Assembly is to this
clearly political ploy designed to
bypass direct negotiations with
Israel on all final-status issues,
including borders, security, refu-
gees, Jerusalem and previous pacts.
The intent: Admission of "Palestine"
to the Assembly as a member state.
You can bet Hamas and Fatah
soon would split, once more, even
with statehood; their ideological
differences are that extreme. As
Matthew RJ Brodsky of the
Washington-based Jewish Policy
Center put it in a thoughtful essay:
"This temporary marriage of conve-
nience is about elections and gain-
ing statehood — without
negotiating with Israel!"
Consider what Fatah,
the party of Palestinian
Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas, who
governs the West Bank,
teamed up with when a
unity government was
formed on May 4; team-
mate Hamas is consid-
ered a terrorist group
by America, Israel and
the European Union. (An interim
Palestinian government will be
named until parliamentary and
presidential elections are held.)
Abbas, of course, is branded a
moderate among Palestinian lead-
ers and his corrupt, chameleon-like
government draws an average of
$400 million a year in U.S. aid.
No Moderation
In 2007, Hamas ousted Fatah —
which was its political and military
crony at least twice before — from
governing the Gaza Strip.
Formally the Islamic Resistance
Movement, Hamas has no inten-
tion of renouncing violence, rec-
ognizing Israel, agreeing to direct
negotiations and abiding by past
agreements. It will never reform
what it is, nor does it have to; the
Palestinian National Initiative
settled on in Cairo in April makes
no demands on Hamas. Fatah is
112
May 19 c 2011
iN
"This temporary marriage
of convenience is about
elections and gaining
statehood without
negotiating with Israel."
— Matthew RJ Brodsky, Jewish Policy Center
no better: It's folly to think Fatah
accepts the right of Israel to exist
as a Jewish state, wants to end anti-
Jewish incitement and cares about
talking with Israel.
It wasn't just Hamas that con-
demned the May 1 killing of Al
Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by
U.S. forces; Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades did, too.
Message
Matters
The Hamas Charter,
as analyzed by the
Zionist Organization
of America, reveals a
lot — all bad — about
Fatah's sudden partner
toward statehood.
In the 1988 cov-
enant, Hamas calls for
the murder of Jews
(Article 7) and destruction of Israel
(Preamble). It describes Jews as
Nazis, claims Palestine encompass-
es Gaza, Israel and the West Bank,
and asserts a conspiracy against
Muslims led by Jews, citing the
delusional anti-Semitic forgery, The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The Charter declares that Hamas
is at war with all non-Muslims as
part of a global campaign of jihad.
Christian missionaries and oth-
ers are reviled for corrupting the
Islamic world, while both the non-
Muslim East and West are described
as enemies united in "unbelief."
Especially notable in the wake
of Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak's February resignation is
Article 2, which states that Hamas
is one of the wings of Muslim
Brotherhood, a potential successor
to Mubarak and an organization
with terrorist tendencies.
We've heard the theme of
Article 22 before: Their "wealth"
has enabled Jews to take control of
the world news media and to create
"clandestine" Zionist groups that
spy for the Zionist enemy (namely,
Israel). This article goes on to make
the outlandish claim that the Jews
stood behind World War I to wipe
out the Islamic Caliphate and stood
behind World War II to prepare for
a Jewish state. The article states Jews
inspired creation of the U.N. and
its Security Council to replace the
League of Nations "in order to rule
the world by their intermediary."
The Consequence?
The Hamas Charter isn't resigned to
the dustbin of history. Hamas lead-
ers breathe its words. The reality
is that Hamas has murdered more
than 500 Israelis in terrorist attacks
over the last decade.
President Obama must rethink
our substantial aid to the P.A. Since
1994, America has given $3.5 billion
to the P.A., with improved gover-
nance and security expected in
return under Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad. With Hamas part of the
official government, a Palestinian
state would be moored to terrorism,
but the recipient of U.S. assistance.
The Jewish Policy Center's
Matthew RJ Brodsky is a former
member of the Global Diplomacy
Initiative in Israel. He gets it:
"Fatah's decision to embrace
Hamas, abandon negotiations and
pursue an international recognition
of statehood represents a major set-
back for Palestinian-Israeli peace."
Obama is obligated to reiter-
ate that the only legitimate way to
achieve Palestinian statehood is
through a negotiated settlement
with Israel — not through a briar
patch infested by hate. I I
Assuring Our
Jewish Future
W
ill the decline in dollars raised by
Federation's Annual Campaign ulti-
mately have a serious impact on meet-
ing the communal needs of Jewish Detroit?
Time will tell.
Scott Kaufman, CEO of the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, certainly has it right: "We
need to meet the current needs while building a
vibrant future. And we have to be great at both,"
he told the JN in an interview ("Counting The
Money," April 14, page 16).
Federation can proudly cite that the $29 mil-
lion it raised in 2010 makes ours the fifth-largest
federation campaign in the U.S. And ours remains
first in per-capita giving among the 18 North
American federations in the "large city" category.
Factor in the $4.45 million from the Jennifer and
Dan Gilbert Challenge Fund and the 2010 total
achievement rings in at $33.45 million.
So we continue a tradition as a community gen-
erous to Federation's campaign, the largest funder
of communal services. The dollar achievements
in the face of an aging population and a declin-
ing population are all the more laudable. They are
reflective of the year-round hard work of a profes-
sional staff, dedicated volunteers and wise use of
technology.
Federation's Young Adult Division drove up the
number of its donors, which is a big plus.
It's a good sign that total Annual Campaign
donors rose by 253 in 2010 after dropping by 338
the year before. Federation cut staff and alloca-
tions last year to compensate for fewer dollars to
operate with and allocate from.
Still, the campaign is slipping, but our needs
aren't. The challenge will continue to be how to
broaden the base of Annual Campaign givers in a
sustainable way. We have a largely older popula-
tion given the departure of so many of our young
people. And eldercare is expensive.
Federation has been the central address for the
Detroit Jewish community's planning and fundrais-
ing. Now, it needs to strive to develop the same
prowess with its big-picture strategic planning to
fulfill our most compelling and urgent needs relat-
ing to senior care, Jewish education and other
human services. The plan must encompass a crys-
tal-ball approach to our aging and declining popu-
lation as well as to how our community interfaces
with Detroit and Southeast Michigan and allocates
dollars locally and overseas.
This is where strategy and prioritizing come
into play. Is further consolidation of certain ser-
vices necessary? Everything can't be a priority.
Kaufman told the JN last year that cuts would
continue to be surgical, as opposed to merely
across the board. That's prudent. Priority setting,
via a multiyear strategic visioning plan widely
shared with the public, is a necessary process.
Not being wide eyed and not making tough calls
would spell significant Federation spending and
allocation woes. Li