Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 15, 1990 Page: 15 of 24
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IN OUR44TH YEAR! —DALLAS, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1990, TEXAS JEWISH POST
15 Entertainment
Israelis and Palestinians
Must Develop Trust
Committee Formed to Negotiate with East Germany
BY MORRIS J. AMITAY
If any accommodation
is to be reached between
Israelis and Palestinian
Arabs in the near future,
there must be a modicum
of trust established as to
ultimate intentions. When
President Sadat of Egypt
made his historic trip to
Jerusalem, the overwhelm-
ing majority of Israelis
and their leadership in-
stinctively sensed that
here was someone who
would be a tough nego-
tiator — but someone
who was sincere and could
be trusted. This, unfor-
tunately, is not the case
with attitudes toward the
PLO’s Yasir Arafat —
hence the continuing
refusal by the Government
of Israel to negotiate
directly with him and the
PLO elements under his
control.
As a fail-back, many
Israelis feel that the in-
digenous Palestinian
leadership living in the so-
called West Bank might
be suitable negotiating
partners. At present, how-
ever, it is highly doubtful
that any leadership in-
dependent from the PLO
can emerge. Through
threat, intimidation and
physical violence, in-
dependent thought and
action are stifled. But it is
also problematic whether
the demands of the home-
grown leadership would
be much different from
those of the PLO. This
rather pessimistic view
was reinforced in a recent
meeting between a num-
ber of “moderate”
Palestinian Arabs holding
responsible positions, and
a group of American
Jewish supporters of
Israel.
Each Palestinian par-
ticipant felt it incumbent
from the start, during the
middle, and all the way to
the end of their remarks
to make it crystal clear
that they were represented
by the PLO and expressing
PLO policies. In fact, one
of the more prominent
“moderates” expressed
complete disdain for the
Shamir elections proposal,
since, as he put it “We
don’t need elections, we
know who our leaders are
— the PLO!”, and adding
that the elections were
“just a waste of time”. So
much for “free and fair
elections”! But since
nowhere in the Arab
world are there fully free
and fair elections, why
should the Palestinian
Arabs be any different?
Another Arab “mod-
erate”, an elected muni-
cipal official, took an
historical approach in ad-
dressing the group, citing
among other “facts” —
“We were here first as
Canaanites”, and adding
that “Palestinians have
the right to return more
than the Jews who once
lived here two thousand
years ago”.
Coming closer to mod-
ern times in recounting
recent history, an Arab
academic stated that
before 1967 (i.e. when
Jordan controlled the
West Bank), “We weren’t
occupied by Jordan — it
was like one family”. One
wonders whether it was
the Arab Legion or mutual
goodwill that kept
Palestinian unrest under
control during the 1948-
1967 period.
Among the complaints
aired against Israeli
policies was the allegation
that the West Bank was
actually supporting Israel
with its taxes — getting
back in services and in-
frastructure only one
seventh of the annual
payments made to Israel.
Also, the closing of West
Bank Universities for
another three months was
cited as an “infringement
on our rights”. No matter
that these universities did
not even exist under Jor-
danian rule. While one
might argue the merits of
the complaints, it was two
other statements made by
the “moderates” which
were indicative of basic
attitudes. From a Deputy
Mayor we heard —
“Palestine for the
Palestinians”, and from a
leading businessman —
“The war is still on”.
Assuming that the Arab
panelists were on their
best behavior and striving
to be more diplomatic
given their audience, the
only positive sign coming
from this session was that
the Palestinians showed
up at all — and agreed to
exchange views. Even
when the Palestinian
leaders spoke of their
support for a two-state
solution, their rhetoric
was much closer to a two
stage solution, viz. — a
West Bank state first, and
second, the rest of Israel.
It is small wonder that the
conclusion reached by
most of the American par-
ticipants was that with
moderates such as these,
who needs extremists?
By Elena Neuman
NEW YORK, (JTA) —
The Israeli government and
the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims Against
Germany have set up a
joint committee to coordi-
nate future negotiations
with East Germany on the
payment of war repara-
tions.
The move follows East
Germany’s announcement
on Feb. 8 formally ac-
knowledging its share of
responsibility for Jewish
victims of Nazi persecu-
tion.
The committee, whose
Beaumont Police
Search for Robber
Who Carved KKK
In Victim's Back
Beaumont police have
been searching for a rob-
ber who cut the initials
“KKK” into a man’s back
after robbing the flower
shop where he worked.
The Associated Press
reported that police an-
swered a call in Beaumont
after Mohammed Sareh,
38, was assaulted at the
24-Hour Fresh Flower
Shop, where he worked.
Sareh told police that
his assailant pretended to
shop and that a second at-
tacker stepped from
behind a cooler and struck
Sareh several times in the
back of the head with a
shotgun.
The two men cut off
Sareh’s pants and cut five
inch letters “KKK” into
his back.
The robbers took an
undetermined amount of
money from the store and
also took money from
'Sareh’s wallet.
Beaumont Police Chief
George Schuldt said that
although there have been
isolated incidents of hate
crimes in the Beaumont
area, there is no trend of
such crimes.
The Texas Jewish Post
attempted to reach Sareh
for further comment with-
out success.
activities got under* way
Feb. 19 in Jerusalem, is
composed of officials of
Israel’s Finance and
Foreign Affairs ministries,
and representatives of the
claims conference, which
is based in New York.
They will devise a plat-
form to serve as the basis
for negotiations with
representatives of the
German Democratic Re-
public.
The decision to establish
the coordinating commit-
tee followed a series of
meetings Dr. Israel Miller,
president of the claims
conference, had with
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir, Vice Premier
Shimon Peres and Foreign
Minister Moshe Arens.
“We’re at the stage of
getting ready for negoti-
ations,” said a spokes-
person for the claims con-
ference. “We’re not there
yet. It’s all very new. We
have created a coordina-
ting mechanism, because
that’s what we had before
we entered negotiations
with the German Federal
Republic in 1952.”
That was the year of the
Luxembourg Agreement,
which became the foun-
dation of West Germany’s
massive indemnification
program. It has amounted
to billions of dollars in
reparations in the form of
goods and services to the
State of Israel, Jewish
organizations and the
nearly destroyed Jewish
communities of Europe.
It also has awarded
millions of dollars to in-
dividual survivors of the
Nazi Holocaust, which
are distributed by the
claims conference, an
organization established
in 1951 by 22 Jewish
national and international
organizations to represent
the interests of the Jewish
victims of Nazi persecution.
East Germany’s acknowl-
edgement of responsibility,
announced by Prime Min-
ister Hans Modrow, dra-
matically reversed a 40-
year policy of denying any
government connection
with Nazi atrocities.
The GDR position had
been that it was formed in
1949, years after the end of
the Holocaust, and
the Holocaust, and there-
fore bore no responsibility
for the crimes of the Third
Reich.
The extent of the GDR
indemnity remains to be
seen. The relative
economic backwardness
of East Germany, com-
pared with its Western
counterpart, has become
evident in recent months.
But as observers have
pointed out, West Ger-
many, too, was not in
great economic straits in
1952, following its defeat
in World War II.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 15, 1990, newspaper, March 15, 1990; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753850/m1/15/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .