1942 - 2023

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 
FOUNDATION
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The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) 

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Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical 

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News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish 
people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel.

VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater 
Detroit Jewish community, reflecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the 
morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205,
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-354-6060
thejewishnews.com

 
 
Publisher
The Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation

| Board of Directors:
 Chair: Gary Torgow
 Vice President: David Kramer 
 Secretary: Robin Axelrod
 Treasurer: Max Berlin
 Board members: Michael J. Eizelman 
 Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel, 
 Mark Zausmer
 
 
 Executive Director:
 Marni Raitt 
 Senior Advisor to the Board: 
 Mark Davidoff
 Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: 
 Mike Smith
 Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: 
 Arthur Horwitz
 Founding Publisher 
 Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory

 

 Editorial 
 Director of Editorial: 
 Jackie Headapohl
jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com
Contributing Editors: 
David Sachs, Keri Guten Cohen
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Editorial Assistant: 
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Digital Manager:
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Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, 
Suzanne Chessler, Shari S. Cohen, 
Louis Finkelman, Samantha Foon, 
Yevgeniya Gazman, Stacy Gittleman, 
Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, 
Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, 
Alan Muskovitz, Karen Schwartz, 
Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, 
Nathaniel Warshay, Julie Smith Yolles, 
Ashley Zlatopolsky 

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| Production By 
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6 | AUGUST 24 • 2023 

PURELY COMMENTARY

opinion

Where Conflict is News, Stories of Israeli-
Palestinian Cooperation Go Missing
I

n January 2001, 
I was working at 
the Arava Institute for 
Environmental Studies, 
located on Kibbutz Ketura 
along the Israeli-Jordanian 
border. Since 1996, the 
institute has 
included Israeli, 
Palestinian, 
Jordanian, 
Moroccan, 
American and 
other college-
age students 
from around 
the world. It also has several 
transboundary research 
centers, including our 
recently established Center 
for Climate Change Policy 
and Research and our Center 

for Applied Environmental 
Diplomacy. 
From Jan. 21-27, 2001, 
Israeli and Palestinian 

negotiators at Taba, Egypt, 
came as close as they 
ever have to reaching an 
agreement. I thought the 

work of the Arava Institute 
would make a perfect story — 
with the Institute modeling 
what the negotiators were 
trying to achieve some 
45 miles south of us, just 
across the Egyptian border. I 
gathered materials in Arabic, 
Hebrew and English about 
the institute and headed 
there. The Israelis were very 
suspicious but let me through, 
while the Egyptians took 
my materials and put me in 
a room with a soldier and 
his machine gun outside the 
door. Eventually, a military 
official made a call to Cairo, 
and I was given permission to 
proceed. 
In Taba, I found a group of 
reporters sitting at a round 

Members of USAID’s Partnership for Peace Fund Advisory Board, on 
a three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank in February 2023, visited 
the workshops of Making Peace, where Israelis and Palestinians 
create affordable solutions for the elderly and disabled. 

FABIAN KOLDORFF/REUT VIA JTA

Michael M. 
Cohen
JTA.org

