Let the campaign begin
There is no shelter from the political fallout after Grapes of Wrath
ERIC SILVER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Tel Aviv
As soon as the guns and the i-ocket-launchers fell silent over southern Lebanon and northern Israel last weekend, Operation Grapes of Wrath became a football in the Israeli election campaigii.
Prime Minister Shimon Peres hailed the ceasefire agreement, brokered by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, as "a completely new chapter" in the Middle East, the first time Israel had Syria and Lebanon as partners. "This is an agreement of the first magnitude," he bragged. "To a great extent, it exceeds our expectations."
Which was not, of course, how the opposition saw it. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyaliu accused the government of losing its nerve.
"Despite the enormous sacrifice and suffering by the residents of the north and despite the loyal backing of the opposition," he complained, "the government failed to achieve any of its goals.... The sad fact is that Hezbollah is still capable of launching rockets into Israel."
The gloves are oflf. The hiatus is over. The campaign, delayed by suicide bombers, an international summit and a mini-war, is up and running. Mr. Peres and Mr. Netanyahu are left with four weeks — short by Israeli standards, but long enough in most coimtries — to convince the electorate that they, and only they, can deliver "peace with securi-
ty."
As he showed during his bonus Washington visit last week, Mr. Peres will exploit the advantages of incumbency to the hilt. And both President Bill Clinton and the PLC's Yasser Arafat are doing their best for the Labor leader.
The U.S. administration, as Israeli reporters noted, not only announced new defence cooperation goodies, but timed the joint news conferences to play live on the main Israeli television news shows. Mr. Arafat, for his part, bullied the Palestine National Council to annul the anti-Israel clauses in its national charter — on Israel's Independence Day, no less.
Yet the impact of Grapes of
Wrath remains uncertain. The 80-85 percent of the voters who had long ago made up their minds were reinforced in their respective commitments.
For the floating 15-20 percent (mostly first-time voters and new immigrants), the 72-year-old Peres demonstrated rare authority and resilience. He controlled both the war and the diplomacy.
Netanyahu projected the same statesman-like responsibility he had shown at the time of the Hamas bombings and the Sharm al-Sheikh summit. He drove to Kiryat Shmona to flaunt his solidarity with the people under fire, but so long as the Katyushas were winging in, he did not second-guess the government or the army.
Much will depend on what people expected of Grapes of Wrath.
Ministers and generals said repeatedly that they were not trying to eradicate the Hezbollah militia. The declared objective was to stop Hezbollah from rocketing the towns and villages of northern Israel and sheltering behind Lebanese civilians. Whether that was indeed achieved will be judged by events.
During liis Anerican trip, Mr. Peres told Israeli reporters he expected the ceasefire to hold "at least through the elections." After that, everything would hinge on the peace negotiations with Syria.
Inevitably, however, many Israelis hoped for more. One resident of Metulla, a supporter of the wider Middle East peace process, confided that she was
An Israeli policeman removes a long tube ol Katyusha rocket as he leaves a bulliling anil passes under the hole In
the roof caused when the rocket crashed into this apartment building early April 27.
"underwhelmed" by the agreement. Hezbollah was still on her doorstep.
Under the ceasefire, breaches of the agreement will be referred to an international monitoring team, comprising the United States, France, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. This may inhibit Israel and Hezbollah from instant retaliation, but it does mean that local or unintentional breaches will not lead automatically to an escalation of the kind that occurred last month.
Israelis will also be watching to see whether Damascus uses its leverage, as the dominant power in Lebanon, to ensure that Hezbollah honors the ceasefire agreement. If, as some fear, it continues to exploit the militia as an instrument to extract concessions in tlie peace talks, Israel may be forced to reconsider its commitment to restraint, ill
Jcwi.sli Federation of Greater Vancouver #200-950 West 41 st Avenue, Vancouver, V5Z 2N7 _Tel: (604)257-5100 • Fax: (604) 257-5110_
Taking Care of Tomorrow...Today
On Wednesday, April 24, twenty of Federation's Endowment Fund leadership met witli endowment professionals from Montreal and Ottawa.
At the luncheon meeting (ho.stcd by Michael Mihman ofDeloitte & Touche), Robert Kleinman, Executive L^irector of the .lewish Community Foundation of Montreal, and Orly Buzelan, Executive Director of the Ottawa .lewish Community Foundation, provided an overview of endowment fund initiatives that their communities are pursuing. Both professionals stressed the need to develop strong endowment funds for the on-going support of our communities.
They noted that there arc tax-effective vehicles availal^le so that each of us may consider how to provide on-going funding for the projects and programs that arc important to us. Montreal's Fund now holds $38 million and Ottawa's holds $7 million. Greater Vancouver's Endowment Fund, which was established just over six years ago, now holds over $4 million in investments and has an additional $5 million pledged through cash payments, arrangements in wills and assigned life insurance policies.
Illll
L-R: Ted Zacks (Endowment Fund Chair), Orly Ihizelan (Otiawa), Robert Kleinman (Montreal) and Michael Millman (Endowment Fund Professional Advisory Committee member).
Check It Out
JFGV now has a home page on the Web. You can reach us at:
littp://www/ucs.ubc.ca/jfgv
B'Hatzlacha Kefiada '96
Our best wishes for a successful summer to four of our community's young people who will be heading to Vancouver's sister city in Israel, Kfar Yona, as counsellors on the Kcfiada program. Adam Strasbcrg, Shani Danzig, Michael Livan and Alexis Pavlich will spend five weeks teaching English to Israeli youth.
Watch for a full report on their summer of a lifetime in an upcoming edition of the magazine.
KKiaisKiKiKiiaKKis
Community Walk With Israel Sunday, May 26, 9:15 a.m. Jewish Community Centre