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Essay
Editorial
Time To Talk?
Dershowitz presents case for Israeli-Palestinian negotiation.
Boca Raton. Fla.
A
"It's the perfect
time for the Israeli
government to
offer a really, really
generous peace
proposal to the Palestinians as
long as it doesn't, in any way,
compromise security."
cclaimed law professor and author Alan
Dershowitz, a passionate defender of Israel,
says he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu "the time has never been better for Israel to
make a deal with the Palestinians!'
"It will be hard politically, but the time has come for
the government of Israel to move forward and resolve the
Palestinian issue, which would be in Israel's best inter-
est!' the Felix Frankfurter professor of law at Harvard
University suggested to an audience of 600 on Dec. 17
as part of Congregation B'nai Israel's inaugural Speaker
Series in south Florida.
The renowned criminal and constitutional lawyer was
in the Atlantic seaboard city of Boca Raton chiefly to
tout his new autobiography, Taking the Stand: My Life in
the Law. But having just returned from the Middle East
gave him fresh fodder to restate his case for resolving the
- Alan Dershowitz
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
That's provided a deal with the Palestine Liberation
society. There are only terrorist organizations that com-
Organization (PLO) is possible — and that's a big "if"
pete for power and turf. And to the extent there are mod-
For starters, Dershowitz said, a majority of Israelis and
erates in Palestinian society, they are empowered when
Palestinians want peace though they don't believe it's like-
Israel is in control, and weakened when Israel transfers
ly, accentuating the pressure on both Netanyahu and PLO
power to the PLO."
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Dershowitz met
No matter how aligned the negotiating stars
with both during his trip.
may seem, it's hard to picture a sellable pact
Furthermore, the Cambridge, Mass.-based
arising under the PLO leadership of Abbas, the
professor said, Hamas, the terrorist group rul-
Palestinian Authority president who imagines
ing the Gaza Strip, was weakened when the
the West Bank Jew-free, namely, without any
Muslim Brotherhood fell in Egypt. Hezbollah,
settlements, the 1.6 million Arabs living peace-
a terror-monger that preys from Lebanon,
fully in Israel notwithstanding.
also is weaker, having lost credibility on the
Arab street over its ties with tyrannical Syrian
Those Settlements
President Bashar Assad.
As expected, Dershowitz railed against Israeli
Rober t Sklar
"Syria certainly is not a player at this point
settlements, which he has opposed since 1973.
Contri buting
in time Dershowitz added. "And Jordan is
He admitted it would be difficult relocating
Ed i for
struggling.
70,000 "zealots" living beyond the presumed
"The very fact there's so much instability in
eventual border, but argued for the move.
the area makes this a very propitious time to
He said a partial West Bank pullout, mindful
make an extremely generous offer to the Palestinians!"
of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's abrupt departure
In reality, a weaker Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria still
from Gaza in 2005, "would allow Israel to make alliances
send rockets into Israel.
with the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates and other con-
servative Arab and Muslim regimes."
Peace Offerings
It also, he said, would strengthen Israel's hand against
Dershowitz, a political liberal, built his case around the
Iran, help unite Europe, and slow the boycott, divestment
belief that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been
and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the Jewish state.
dogged in his pursuit of peace and won't cave in to slight-
"It would take courage, it would take guts, even a will-
ing Israel's right to safe, secure borders.
ingness to see the Israeli government far the professor
A few days later in the Jerusalem
said. "It's not clear the current coalition would support the
Post, however, Caroline Glick, an astute
kind of deal Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered in 2008
Israeli-based columnist, asserted Kerry's
or Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered in 2001."
security plan is rife "with several seri-
Dershowitz harkened to what Joseph
ous problems!' not the least of which is
Soloveitchik, the esteemed American
the notion that a deal would prompt the
Orthodox rabbi, propounded during the
Six-Day War in 1967 — "not a single
Palestinians to lay down their arms.
"The Palestinians don't give us peace
Jewish life is worth capturing the Kotel,
Caroline Glick
for land!' she wrote incisively. "They give
the Western Wall, the holiest place in
us war for land. Whether they support
Jerusalem."
the PLO, Hamas or anything in between,
Said Dershowitz: "You don't sacrifice
Rabbi
the Palestinians have used every centimeter of land that
lives for places. Jewish values are not
Soloveitchik
Israel has given them as launching bases for terrorist and
about places, settlements or areas; they
political attacks against Israel."
She continued, "There is no peace camp in Palestinian
Time To Talk? on page 19
18
January 9 • 2014
Fisher Angling For
Better Brightmoor
M
arjorie Fisher imagines
brighter times in one of
Detroit's most-distressed
neighborhoods - Brightmoor, near
the northwest border. To that end,
she's putting her family's fortune to
work there in the unassuming way
she has lived her richly fulfilling life.
She and her late
husband, Max, a
business titan,
mega-philanthropist
and Jewish com-
munal colossus,
raised their family
in Detroit. And the
At t ro
city, reeling as much Marjorie
of it is, remains dear Fisher
to her.
The Max M. & Marjorie Fisher
Foundation, whose legacy is to
strengthen and empower the down-
trodden, especially kids, homed in
on Brightmoor, near Telegraph and
Puritan, a few years ago, drawn by
the danger confronting kids walking
to school and the lack of gratifying
jobs for youth and adults.
This year, the Southfield-based
foundation designated $1 mil-
lion - $750,000 of which requires
matching funds - to remove blight,
provide training and create jobs. The
formula aligned with Detroit Future
City, a massive, strategic framework
plan to help rebuild and reshape
what once had been an American
urban behemoth.
Marjorie Fisher's passion for our
central city says a lot about how
wealth hasn't shunted her spirits
at age 90. She has other interests
in Detroit and around the world,
but it's truly touching how she has
taken to the upstanding people of
Brightmoor, a roughly 4-square-mile
area ravaged as residents and busi-
nesses fled as crime swelled in the
1990s. Only the hardiest and poor-
est remain.
"I would do anything to help those
people," Fisher told Crain's Detroit
Business in a front-page story on
Dec. 2.
And she's not kidding.
With tzedakah (righteousness)
at the core of Max M. & Marjorie
Fisher Foundation work, it's no
wonder Brightmoor, as challeng-
ing as Detroit neighborhoods come,
has drawn the big heart of Marjorie
Fisher. P