September 1990, Page 60, 61

Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

Jewish Anti-Apartheid Fight "Has No Strings"

Seymour Reich, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said his community was "disappointed" when Nelson Mandela described PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat as a "comrade in arms." But he made it clear that the "Jewish community will continue to support the struggle against racism at home and apartheid in South Africa" because "our fight against apartheid has no strings." Mandela, deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC), said on ABC-TV's "Nightline" news program that the ANC's "attitude toward any country is determined by the attitude of that country toward our struggle." Arafat, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and Cuba's Fidel Castro all support the anti-apartheid struggle "to the hilt," he said. The ANC leader stressed that while he supports the Palestinians' right to self-determination and Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he also believes Israel has the right to exist "within secure borders." When asked his views on the 1975 U.N. Resolution equating Zionism with racism, Mandela responded: "It depends what is meant by Zionism. If Zionism means the right of Israel to occupy lands of other countries like the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza Strip, then I condemn that. But if Zionism means the desire of the Jewish community to have their own state, then I support it."

AIPAC Doesn't Speak for All Jews

"AIPAC doesn't speak for all U.S. Jews," Israeli peace activist Yael Dayan told a crowd of over 200 Jews assembled in a Washington, DC synagogue in June. Dayan was referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the principal pro-Israel lobby in the United States. She said some American Jews are angry with the U.S. government for refusing to grant a visa to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and for vetoing a U.N. Security Council Resolution that would have sent a mission to investigate Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "These Jews should make their views known to Congress," she said. Dayan, daughter of the late Israeli Defense Minister and war hero Moshe Dayan, is a leader in Israel's "Peace Now" movement and a member of the opposition Labor Party's Central Committee. She appeared along with prominent East Jerusalem Palestinian leader Faisal Husseini, who was imprisoned by Israeli authorities in July 1988, three days after he spoke at a "Peace Now" rally in Jerusalem in favor of "mutual recognition" between Israelis and Palestinians. Dayan and Husseini agreed that Israel must begin talks with the PLO but differed on the question of U.S. aid to Israel. "I oppose a reduction in U.S. aid not because it is immoral but because it won't change anything," Dayan said. She argued that an aid cut would never make Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir change his policies because he'd never want to be "accused of selling Israel off" for any amount of money. Husseini, on the other hand, said there should be some linkage between U.S. aid and Israeli policies, although he stopped short of calling for a complete cut-off in aid.

AIPAC Newsletter Reports Growing Support for Hamas in Gaza Strip

The Islamic fundamentalist movement Hamas is gaining strength in the Gaza Strip, according to an article in the Near East Report, the weekly newsletter sponsored by AIPAC. The article pointed to Hamas's victory in a recent election conducted among the 4,500 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza. Hamas won 15 of the 27 seats on the council, which represents UNRWA teachers, laborers and other workers in Gaza. "Apologists for the PLO repeat the mantra that the PLO is the 'sole legitimate representative' of the Palestinian people," said the Near East Report. It cited the UNRWA election results as the "latest evidence of the lack of support for the PLO among Palestinians."

The article went on to state that UNRWA employees who opposed Hamas split their vote, with some voting for PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and others supporting "leftist candidates." The Near East Report used the Hamas victory to argue against claims by "Arab-American propagandists" that a Palestinian state would be a "secular democracy" and to emphasize the legitimacy of Israeli fears that such a state would be "committed to (Israel's) destruction." The newsletter cited a quote from the Jerusalem Post, where Jamil Hamami, a "senior activist" from Hamas, challenged Arafat's recognition of Israel. "Jews have no historical or political roots in Palestine," said Hamami. "Palestine is Islamic land in its entirety, and it is impossible to concede any part of it. Neither the PLO nor any Arab state has the authority to make concessions with regard to Palestinian soil."

According to the Near East Report, Hamas believes the solution to the Palestinian question is the creation of an Islamic state in Palestine which would then become part of a greater Islamic entity. Jews born in Palestine would have "full civil rights" in this Islamic state, but no national rights.

Andrea Barron is a member of the Jewish Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.