October 1989, Page 29

Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

"From Beirut to Jerusalem"-the new book by New York Times Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman-has become a hot topic for debate in the Jewish community. The liberal American Jewish Committee (AJC) thought enough of the book to present its annual "Mass Media Award" to Friedman, who is Jewish. But other members of the community have criticized the AJC for honoring Friedman and called him a "veteran Israel-basher" who wrote a "pro-Arab book."

Hyman Bookbinder, the AJC's former Washington representative, responded that on the contrary, Friedman has actually had a "long-time virtual love affair with Israel." Friedman first visited the Jewish state shortly after the 1967 war, then spent three summers living and working on a kibbutz.

In a book review written for the Washington Jewish Week, editorial page editor Aaron Rosenbaum praised the chapter "Hama Rules." In it Friedman described how the brutal regime of Syrian President Hafaz al-Assad mowed down some 20,000 Sunni Muslim fundamentalists who challenged his rule. Rosenbaum praised what he called Friedman's "devastating" portrait of "the petite-bourgeois leaders of the PLO, with their token Persian rugs and cafe revolution." By contrast, Rosenbaum criticized Friedman for ignoring the "pro-Israeli activism and the realities of American Jewish life."

Friedman is not afraid to acknowledge that he has strong feelings about some of the events he writes about-such as the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre. But this emotional involvement just makes him a better reporter, he argues. Neither does Friedman shy away from offering his opinions on a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Either Israel can unilaterally withdraw from most of the West Bank and Gaza, he says, or it can "offer" the Palestinians a demilitarized mini-state in most of the territories. An unusual solution for an unusual problem.

And what would Friedman tell PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to do if Israel were ever to make such an offer? "I'd say 'Go for it,'" Friedman said. "Time is not on your side. It may not be on the Israeli side either, but it's not on your side."

Andrea Barron is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC.