Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry • Since 1925
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Voi. I,XII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, January 17, 1986
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MKs’ return visit sparks
melee on Temple Mount
by Gil Sedan
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A return
visit to the Temple Mount by right-
wing Knesset members Tuesday
touched off a stone-throwing melee
which ended with the arrest of 17
suspects after police used tear gas
to disperse an angry Arab crowd.
The visit also triggered acrimonious
exchanges in the Knesset where
rightists and leftwing M Ks accused
each other of the incitement.
The Temple Mount in East
Jerusalem is the site of the A1 Aksa
mosque and the Dome of the Rock
(Mosque of Omar), two of the
holiest shrines of the Moslem faith.
A visit there last week by members
of the Knesset Interior Committee
headed by its- chairman, Dov
Shilansky of Likud, provoked a
confrontation with the Moslem
religious authorities in charge of
the site where Moslems alone are
permitted to worship.
The MKs, threatened by a crowd,
were safely evacuated by police but
Shilansky vowed to return to com
plete what he said was his committee’s
legitimate business- to investigate
allegations that the Moslem religious
authorities were allowing illegal
construction at the site.
The return visit passed almost
without incident until a Moslem
leader barred the M Ks from entering
a building known as Solomon’s
Stables, the scene of last week’s
altercation. He warned them “blood
would be spilled” if they tried to
enter. The Knesset members caucused
on the spot and decided, prudently,
to leave. The Moslem official was
incensed because one of the visitors,
Tehiya MK Eliezer Waldman,
demonstratively chanted prayers
on the site reserved only for Moslem
prayer.
Meanwhile, Arab youngsters out
side the area threw rocks at police
and chanted Palestinian nationalist
slogans. The police fired tear gas
and temporarily sealed off the
entrances to the Temple Mount.
The Ministerial Committee on
Jerusalem convened later Tuesday
to discuss the situation. Prime
M inister Shimon Peres stressed that
Israel’s sovereignty over all parts
of Jerusalem, including the Temple
Mount, was an undisputable fact.
At the same time he insisted that
the regulations imposed by all Israeli
governments, past, and present, must
be observed. Those regulations,
aimed at preserving order, allow
the Moslem religious authority,
the Waqf, autonomy over the Islamic
shrines. Jews arfc permitted to pray
only at the Western Wall, a situation
that rankles ultra-nationalist Israelis.
Peres decried the incitement of
the Arab public which, he said,
“was intended to destroy the atmos
phere of coexistence between the
communities.” Tehiya MK Geula
Cohen charged in the Knesset that
the latest incidents made clear that
“on the Temple Mount there is a
Palestinian state.” Cohen, though
not a member of the Interior
Committee, had been invited by
Shilansky to accompany it to the
Temple Mount last week and
See Temple, page 16.
The Mosque of El Aksa on the Temple Mount.
—Operation Moses—
One year later
by Wendy Elliman
I'JA Press Service
The difficult and dangerous march
through the desert. . .disease and
death in the refugee camps. . .the
tense clandestine airlift and the
dramatic homecoming—they are
alia year ago now. Fifteen thousand
Ethiopian Jews have reached Israel;
thousands of others remain in
Ethiopia.
One year later, how are Israel’s
Ethiopian Jews faring? The first
year has been a success, according
to both the Absorption Ministry
and the Jewish Agency. The Agency
receives most of its funds from the
United Jewish Ap^eal/Federation
Campaigns including Operation
Moses. It received $60 million from
American Jews to aid in Ethiopian
Jewry’s initial absorption through
Operation Moses—funds put to
good use.
“These 12 months were designed
to equip Ethiopian Jews for life in
Israel," says a representative of the
Jewish Agency. “The majority of
Ethiopian Jews are now comfortable
in Hebrew, the children are in
school, and the adults working or
retraining. And the community is
learning to use communal, com
mercial and municipal services.”
As the initial year ends, however,
the real absorption of Ethiopia’s
Jews begins. “Until now, they’ve
been sheltered in the absorption
center,” says a Jewish Agency field
worker. “Gas, water, electricity,
food and even pocket money have
been regularly provided. Advice
and support have been on hand.
Now, they’re going to be on their
own."
Some 750 families (3,000 people)
have already left the absorption
centers and have been allocated
permanent housing in towns through
out Israel. The housing plan places
groups of 20 families in 40 to 50
neighborhoods. Availability of
housing, however, is inevitably the
determining factor.
A major concern, as Ethiopian
Jews move out of the absorption
centers, is to ensure that they enter
into the mainstream of local life.
Israel’s 160 community centers,
developed largely by the Joint
Distribution Committee (funded
by UJA/Federation Campaigns),
are to be the main vehicles. Veteran
Israeli and newcomer Ethiopian
families are being paired.
“This pairing is to bring Ethiopian
Jews into the neighborhood social
framework, and to help them use
local facilities. We want to prevent
a build-up of frustration within the
Ethiopian community, or tension
between Ethiopians and others in
the neighborhood," says a community
center worker.
Over half the Ethiopian Jewish
community in Israel (54 percent) is
See Moses, page 16.
Groups denounce Kahane
Statement from Jewish organizations
The following statement was
issued by Atlanta's organized
Jewish community in conjunction
with the visit of Rabbi Meir
Kahane to Atlanta this week.
Atlanta Jewish Federation
president Gerald H. Cohen said,
“It is important that the major
organizations in the Jewish com
munity publicly disavow the
policies and message of Rabbi
Kahane as an affront to Jewish
teachings and to human rights. ”
Statement from
National Conference
of Christians, Jews
The following statement was
issued this week by the Georgia
Region, National Conference
of Christians and Jews:
The presence of Meir Kahane
in Atlanta is of concern to the
National Conference of Christians
and Jews.
Mr. Kahane has resorted to
the language of racism and
religious bigotry in his anti-
Arab statements.
This is tragic and counter
productive. Neither dignity nor
liberty is well served by the
tactics and rhetoric of prejudice.
The Georgia Region of the
National Conference of Christians
and Jews promotes serious reli
gious trialogue among Jews,
Christians, Muslims and others.
Such conversations respect the
integrity of each faith.
The Georgia Region of the
National Conference of Christians
and Jews appeals to the steady
voices in our area not to allow
intemperate remarks by Mr.
Kahane to produce divisiveness
or distrust.
The presence of Meir Kahane in the United States presents the
organized Jewish community of Metropolitan Atlanta with the
opportunity to condemn and repudiate, emphatically and publicly,
the anti-Arab racist statements of Meir Kahane and his Kach
political party. In issuing this release, we join not only with Jewish
communities across the U nited States, but also with the overwhelming
majority of Israelis who find Kahane’s views to be a mockery of
Jewish law and tradition and a scourge of common decency and
human rights.
Kahane and Kahanism have been rejected by Israel’s governmental
leaders and the Knesset (Israel’s parliament). Israel’s president,
Chaim Herzog, pointedly refused to meet with Kahane, whose
ideology he considered repugnant to the democratic principles
upon which Israel is based. The Knesset has limited the parliamentary
immunity of Kahane and has legally barred him from entering
Arab villages. This past summer, the Knesset passed a bill banning
from parliamentary elections any party that incites people to
racism or negates Israel’s democratic character.
Kahane is not representative of Israelis. He is not representative
of American Jewry. His words and actions are alien to Judaism;
they are anathema to traditional Torah teachings. We reject this
affront to our people, to our tradition and beliefs, and to our
abiding commitment to brotherhood and peace.
Atlanta Jewish Federation B’nai B'rith Women
American Jewish Committee Hadassah
National Council of Jewish Women Jewish War Veterans
Ann-Defamation League of B’nai B'rith Women's American ORT
B’nai B'rith Grassroots Action Setwork American Jewish Congress
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