Domestic Partnership from page 26
swimming, crafts, etc.;
• Development of a business plan and assistance in con-
verting the large (formerly kosher) kitchen at the Northwest
Activities Center into a supplier of low-cost meals to neigh-
borhood seniors and children.
Commentary
Palestinians Aren't Invented •
They Are Real People.
Additional Ideas For Interaction
eople are not invented. They either exist
• Deeper and fuller partnerships among synagogues whose
or they do not exist. People who hap-
former Northwest Detroit sanctuaries are now churches (e.g.
pen to exist are the roughly 4 million
Adat Shalom and Bailey Cathedral; Temple Israel and St. Paul
people on the West Bank who call themselves
Life & Praise Center; Beth Alma and Messiah Baptist Church);
Palestinian.
• Expansion of tutoring programs in Northwest Detroit
Republican presidential candidate
public schools, leveraging the successful model alumni vol-
(and former House Speaker) Newt
unteers have implemented at Pasteur Elementary School to
Gingrich referred to the Palestinians
include Bagley and Mumford;
as "an invented people." At best,
• Speaking of Mumford, creation of a Jewish "alumni
this is an invented argument ... and a
association" with a focus on assisting its students to gradu-
crude remark as well (along the lines
ate from high school and attend college and including a
of Jimmy Carter comparing Zionism
significant scholarship fund;
to apartheid).
• Business mentoring, perhaps in collaboration with the
But let's extend Newt Gingrich the
University of Detroit-Mercy and its business school, to help
benefit of the doubt and accept that
local merchants strengthen their operations while also
he meant to say Palestinian is an
sprucing up the McNichols, Livernois and Seven Mile corn-
invented nationality. Still, Gingrich's
merce corridors;
remark is an example of a little knowl-
• Health/wellness and nutrition initiatives, with the
edge being a dangerous thing.
Jewish Fund a key player. Proceeds from the sale of Sinai
To be sure, as a term of national identity,
Hospital, which was the main service provider to Northwest
Palestinian has an ironic history. For instance,
Detroit residents, are at the core of the Fund's $50 million-
prior to the rebirth of Israel in 1948, those in the
plus financial portfolio;
area who called themselves Palestinians until
• One-on-one interactions. These suggested initiatives,
that time in the 20th century were not only Jews
and others, require intensive interaction between Northwest
but were also Zionists. And there is no doubt
Detroiters and individuals within our Jewish coimnunity. Just
many national identities in the Middle East region
like the Israel Partnership 2000, the connective tissue of this
are rooted more in Western mapmaking than in a
initiative is the trust and respect created by these people-to-
unity of culture within and apart from the rest of
people engagements;
the Arab world.
• The recently created Black-Jewish Forum, a collaboration
Jordanian and Iraqi are relatively recent terms
between the Michigan Chronicle (the state's largest African-
of national identity. Moreover, Palestinian Arab
American media outlet) and the Jewish News, focuses its col-
national identity happens to be one of the nation-
lective editorial influence to hi gh-
alities of the
light and showcase these initiatives.
region that has
Based on recent meetings with
a centuries-old
Northwest Detroit leaders, there is
history.
interest in having the Detroit area
Indeed,
Jewish community rconnect and
aside from
AFGHANSTAN
re-invest, emotionally and finan-
the Egyptians,
BECAME MAMA'S
cially, in this area. Lee Gaddies, the
Palestinian
WAR
dynamic and youthful leader of the
national identity
Bagley Neighborhood Association,
is possibly the
believes this area is the last hope
oldest in the
for the city retaining a middle-class
Arab world. And
population... and a future.
though Golda
He envisions this as the place
Meir was right to
where young Jews committed to
say Jordan is a
Detroit will want to raise their
Palestinian state
families and return to the neighbor-
(60 percent of its
hoods of their parents and grand-
population being
AND IRAN WILCS
parents.
Palestinian), this
MONO TO
With Federation and its affiliated
declaration itself
YOU THINK
WHOEVER WINS THE
agencies, synagogues, the Jewish
was an admission
IT'LL WAIT
Us POUVENCY
Community Relations Council, the
of a Palestinian
THAT LOW
American Jewish Committee, the
existence more
NOVEMBER.
ADL, philanthropists, foundations
concrete than an
and media outlets working togeth-
invented people.
er, an exciting new opportunity for
Moreover, the
focused, meaningful and endur-
Palestinians are
ing engagement — a domestic
not the only peo-
Partnership 2000 -- is within our
ple whose nation-
grasp. 0
al identity goes by a name once embraced by
their rivals. The first people in North America to
call themselves Canadian were Quebec national-
ists. Yet today, no one in either French or English
Canada would argue that Canadian national iden-
tity is of the movement toward Quebec
independence.
By the same token, Palestinian has
ceased to be of a Zionist identity and
has been restored as a legitimate Arab
nationality. Modern history shows
Palestinian existence has not translated
into Palestinian statehood, a tragic real-
ity for which the Palestinians have them-
selves to blame more than anyone.
But people being the operative word,
the Palestinians are a real and not an
invented people. And what is their fault
is just as much Israel's responsibility.
Notwithstanding Newt Gingrich's invented argu-
ment, the Palestinians cannot be wished away as
an issue or a people.
Freelance writer John O'Neill of Allen Park visited the Holy
Land in 1989 and 1990. He was a delegate to the Detroit
Zionist Federation from 1992 to 1999.
Dry Bones
For Israel
And Our Jewish
Community
After House approval, the U.S. Senate
authorized and President Obama then signed
a defense authorization bill last month, which
allocates more than $200 million for U.S.-Israel
cooperative missile defense programs.
The final bill included funding for development
of the David's Sling, Arrow system improvement,
and the Arrow-3 interceptor, all vital to Israel's
future missile defense.
Please thank Michigan's U.S. Sens. Carl Levin
and Debbie Stabenow for their 'yea' votes on the
measure by writing them, (levin.senate.gov and
stabenow.senate.gov).
- Prepared by Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit
0 January 19, 2012 Jewish Renaissance Media
January 19 • 2012
27