Page 2-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, October 13. 1988
M-T
Rabbi Plant
for trees in 45
RABBI W. GUNTHER PLAUT
Trees planted a generation agOi The recent burning of trees in Israel was answered by a spirited campaign to replace them, and officials of the Jewish National Fund tell me that Jews have responded quickly and generously. This response was not a surprise; we have always made the forestation ot Eretz Yisrael an important part of our vision ot -rebuilding the land.
By a strange coincidence. 1 received a letter , that not only touches on ~ the very-subject of trees ; but does so by recalling something that happened 43 years ago. the letter came from a man in.Peoria. III., who had once been a soldier in the 104th Infantry Division of the United Slates Army, and whose chaplain I had been during the campaign in Gcmiany. He wanted to know how I was. and then included in the letter photocopies of a little Jewish newspaper that 1 had published during the campaign;:
Jewish soldiers
The 4-page paper was called Forward (Kadimah), and issue number 4. published Feb. 25. 1945.. was written while we were still on the left bank of the Rhine, but already well inside Ger-iiiany. 1 reported onmy effort to have the Jewish soldiers at the front remember TuB'Shevat by planting trees in Eretz Yisrael. The campaign, however; went beyond our Jewish ranks. Here's what Kadimah reported.
'/Our tree-totaler counted 150 planted; which represented S225 forwarded to the Jewish Nation-, al Fund in.New York. The 104th tree was planted by Chaplain Aloys Schweitzer, kindly gun padre. That's Christian spli-it; American style, on: German soil. ;. :
The paper goes on to record our finding the vestiges of Nazism in a tojA;n_we had occupied.
■'We visited the town.library and asked for Bibles., books on theology and: religion in .general. 'Sorry.' was the answer, 'we don't carry the subject. Why don't you go to the archives; maybethey have them;' That.wasn't meant as a joke either;
es
■'Gestapo headquarters in the town of X. The whole rogues' gallery of Himmler [Hitler's Gestapo chief] and company beautifying the walls. On the shelves are volumes on the Catholic church, on the Jesuit (Trder and [Lazarus) Goldschniidt's famous translation of the Babylonian Talmud. Proper rescue action was initiated at once.
'•Among the books considered inimical to the Nazi state was also a beautiful iset of [Gotthold EphraimJLessing's works, confiscated from an abbey library. Lessing, you will remember, lived during the 18th century, was a friend of Moses Mendelssohn and the author of Nathan the_ Wise, the first drama in German literature showing a Jew as a human being of highest qualities.
Ziamenhof. Some months ago I had written a column on Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, founder of Esperanto, on the occasion of the hundredthanniver-sary of hi s i h vent ion of the language. A Toronto lawyer; David Greenspan, isubsequently wrote me: ;
'"You probably know this, "but just on the off chance that you don't, Dr. Zamenhofs stone still stands in ^e Warsaw Jewish cemetery. I paid trib^ :^te to him and taoh so many others (Peretz, Ansky, Esther Kaminska, Balaban, Rabbi Sonnenberg)-when r^as there; on a pilgrirriage with my mother and three-cousins in September.
"Mpnika Krajeska leads a wonderful group in ; Warsaw of young Jews and many Polish Catholr ics who dedica^themselves to restoring selective Gemeteries. I have a picture of their crew of artisans and workmen beavering away in the Warsaw cemetiery, and we also saw the results of their work in the Lublin cemeteryV She (and her husband) are the authors of the extraordinary book, Time of Silence.
r are still hobe
By
DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM (JTA)—
• 'It's not over'' was the instinctive, defiant, wistful reacuon in some IsraelV /quarters at the neWs that an international panel of arbitrators had favored Egypt in its ruling on the Taba border dispute (GJN, Oct. ;:6).- ■
These insistently hopeful Israelis clung to the fact that the .five arbitrators had determined the location of only the boi'der pillars, with the last pillar being .some 99G feet from the sea.
The arbitrators, theirt-selves ruled that they were not authorized under their terms of referetice to decide on the borderline beyond pillar 91. the last marker.
Rearguarders seized on this as indicating there was still .some"leeway, namely the area between the last pillar and the seii. TheTT-, nal line niight yet be moved around, they argued fondly.
Coupled with these fond and ultimately vain hopes came a slew of recriminations, mainly focused oh Foreign. Minister: Shimon■ Peres and his Labor Party, as though they had conspired \vith Egypt to rob Israel of the tranquil beach site.
The 'Mt's not over" camp incorporated a number of electioneering, politicians from the parties of the right, a number of illrinfprmed journalists and even one advisor to the Israeli team at the arbitration. Prof, Yehuda Blum, a former ambassador to the United Nations.
Significantly, though. Prime Minister Yizhak Shamir himself and his top /aide; Yiosef Ben-Aharon, were cautious and reserved in their comments.
Shamii^ did blast Labor for forcing the cabinet to agree to arbitration back in 1986. But, he added pointedly, "Taba will not cau.se a deterioration in the relations between Ls-rael 4nd Egypt."
And Ben-Aharon, who has led the fight in Israel against any concession to Egypt over Taba, made it clear in hi.s comments to V the news media that he . regards the area aslost, as far as isovereignty is concerned' a ,.
He and other Israeli policy makers would like now to obtain as favorable conditions as possible for future tourism from Israel to Taba, and for the hotel and other* Israeli-owned property on the site.
■ On the Egyptian side; tpo, there Has been' a distinct and well-orchestrated effort not to exacerbate tension/ but rather to assume, in public statements, that _^ the arbitrfTors' ruling-would now--be smoothly and__^ amicably ^implemented,^., —
This was the thru.st of comments by Foreign Minister EsmatAbdel Meguid after a meeting/^ with Peres in New York.
In Cairo, the Egyptian minister of state for foreign affairs, Butros Gha-li, termed the decision "riot a victory for either
side, but a consolidation of the peace process."
Privately, indeed, Egypr has indicated that it would be ready to suspend the implementation process until after the Israeli election, if this would contribute to cooling the atmosphere.
The clarifications and negotiations in the weeks ahead, therefore, will focus pn the nuts and bolts of the transfer of sovereignty to Egypt. There will be no serious attempt to challenge that transfer itself.
To ensure that this will indeed be the way the last act unfolds — and that
there will belit) renewed tensions between the two countries — the United' Stales issued a carefully worded statement welcoming the fact that the Taba dispute had now been ■'■amicably resolved." It urged the parties to implement the decision of the arbitrators ftilly, quickly and in good faith.
In their written decision, while conceding that they have no authority to decide the line beyond pillar 91, they nevertheless riecord their own view that the line should drop perpendicular-: ly to the .sea, meeting the coast at a point known as
Parkex, Point.
This would give Egypt a tiny sliver less than it demands. Egypt argues that the borderline should continue in a straight line from pillar 90 to pillar 91 to the sea.
That line is far wide of the Sonesta Hotel, meaning the hotel and 98% of the Taba site would go to Egypt. Only the tiny sliver of land to the north of Parker Point would remain in Israeli hands — thereby exactly duplicating the situation that existed on the ground before June 5, 1967.
Apart from the award of
the bulk of taba to Egypt. __and the finding regarding Parker Point, the panel of five jurists made the following additional adjudications: , :
• Five small. disputed points along the Sinai-Israel borderline were decided in favor of Egypt.
• Four such points were decided in favor of Israel.
• The larger disputed area of Ras en-Nakeb.-which overlooks the Taba-Eilat' region, was decided in favor of Egypt.
The Israeli member of the panel. Prof.. Ruth Lapidpt, entereddi.ssenting judgments.
in U.S. election campaign
• Bv ■ RICHARD COHEN
WASHINGTON -
: Let's say housing starts have declined. This is important econoinic news — a so-called barometer of the entire economy — and the nightly television news is sure to have the story. How will it, do it? Think. A hou.se not being built cannot be filmed. So what: does television do? It shows a house under Construction.
Once you grasp the essential inanity of using a house being built to illu.strate a story that .says that houses are hot being built, you will understand why: the current presidential campaign amounts to one staged event after another. Television, the medium by which most Aniericans get their news, is wedded to pictures. The campaigns of George Bush and Michael Dukakis know that. Thai's vyhy they Supply the setnngs for the pictures.
The tliche is that one picture is \Vorth a thousand words. In the television age, that might be an understatement. The picture, like winnihg for Vince Lonibardi, may be the only thing that matters — a message so powerful, so compelling, that/words don't count at all. Certainly, the career of Ronald Reagan proves that point.
Recently, a new hook (LancJsluie) revealed that one White House aide. James Cannon, was so disturbed, by, Reagan's zoinbie-likebeheviP;r during Iran-Contra. that he suggested the possibility of declaring the President incapacitated! That revelation was: widely reported — arid, of course, instantly denied by the White House; Cannon himself said that a subsequent observation: of Reagan calmed his fears. The President was in control — soil .of;' ,. ;• /.
A.s news; this was not/news. Ever since; Reagan's daiys as California gpvemor; we have been told that he':s disengaged, matlenliye." lazy, ill-informed;and often uninformed. These revelations have often cPmc fqim the people closest to him.; Most recently, DPnald Regati reported a pres^ency in disar^-ray. As Treasury sect-etary. he said, he had hot once-had aTCohversation with Reagan/about ectv-nomic policy. If you are inclined to attribute Regan's reports to sour grapes (he was fired, after. all) consider that the Tower Commission report said pretty much the same thing.: h attributed the Iran-Contra affair to Reagan's lackadaisical management-st^e-.-
Yet each: time someone repprts that the Presir dent is disengaged we react with shock. What can accpunt fpr our seemingly limitless ability to be surprised about sPiTiething we are told time and niTie again? Pictures. Specifically, television pic-
turps of Reagan performing—and that's the right = word — as President. What we cannot see-—.such ••■.• | as declining housing starts — does not exist. The . h
power of the picture of a Reagan functioning over- e
/whelms complerely the written reports that he hard- e
ly ftinclions at^all. . •/ , =
What's remi^rkahle l.s (hat television itself can- =
not seem to come to grips with the Frainkenstein e
it has created. Presidential (Candidates know full e
well the power of the picture. It accounts for =
why they traipse from one photo opportunity to e another — the network.s dutifully following. It, =
accounts for why the candidates hardly ever =
meet with the press and why the press confer- e
ence has almost become a thing of the past. It e
aLso accounts for how a candidate, .such as Bush, e
can seemingly do ah about-face on environmen- e
tal issues, becoming a virtuai Smokey the Bear e
putt-putting around polluted Boston harbor. =
The pictures were wonderful. His environmen- e
tai record may be at odds with that picture but e
his record, alas, is unphotpgraphable. e
Recently. Lisa Myers of NBC News did aTCport e
on how the Bush campaign has become one staged: e
event after another — with nary a news conference e
thrown in. The script was solid jourrialism — Pb- e
jective and fair. But mpst of it consisted pf Bush " e
doing precisely what Myers seemed to becriticiz- e ing — Wonderful pictures of the vice-president, sur- ; .e
rounded by .fiagj;..looking like the' proverbial e
million bucks, Without- the .sound, Myers' piece e
could have passed for a Bush cariipaign commer- ;e ciail;/Even with the sound it probably amounted to"/ ';e
that. Studies show that in television, the picture e
is pverythhing. .e
-During the heyday of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. e
ihepress was criticized for reporting every/accu- e.
sation the Red-baitirig .senator made, no matter how e
preposterous or unfounded it: was. The press e
responded that when a United States senat'or says e
something, it must be reported ■— even if it's.a lie. e
^ Since the l95Qs. the press has learned todo-beiter e
— not to be wedded entirely to the qujote. no mat- : e
ler how sensational/it is.' , / =
/Television must do something similar. Its e
almost total reliance on pictures is irresponsi- =
ble — an abdication of its (Obligation to tell the e
American people what's happening. In some e
sense, it has abdicated its role as a reporting =
medium and become an adjunct of the two cam- e
paign organizations. / e
The old cliche is not always right. Sometimes, e a picture is not worth a thousand words. Some- - e
fimes, in fact, it's not worth a damn. e
(Copyright Washington Post Writers Group) e
TriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiMliiiiiiMiininiMiiiMiiiMiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiin
vol. xxix, no. 22 (2,424V /
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