The day before Ramadan began, the Islamic Cultural Center of Southern California buzzed with the cadences of prayer and the exhortations of lecturers answering questions about the month-long fast.
\”You can\’t afford to sign up to a peace agreement that is all one-sided, meaning Israel takes all the risks,\” observed retired U.S. Admiral Leon A. Edney to small groups of Jewish leaders in Beverly Hills last week. \”We need to find a way to live in peace with the Arab world, but it\’s not done with appeasement.\”
In a speech that was the centerpiece of the North American Jewish federation system\’s gathering in Chicago this week, Israel\’s prime minister recalled being a small child when he heard of the United Nations\’ 1947 vote to partition Palestine.
Since the latest spasm of Mideast violence began almost a month ago, American Jewish leaders have been getting together for almost daily conference calls.
From the start, Martin Indyk\’s career as a U.S. official has been filled with intrigue.As the first Jewish ambassador to Israel and later the top State Department official in charge of Middle East policy, Indyk\’s words and actions have been scrutinized by Jews and Arabs, by proponents and opponents of the peace process.
The latest round in the battle for Jerusalem is being waged not in the Middle East but in the Magic Kingdom.
Our July 16 cover story, \”Tense Relations,\” detailed the friction among local Jewish and Arab groups.
For the first time ever, an Arab citizen of Israel is running for prime minister. He is first-term Knesset member Azmi Bishara, one of the leading intellectuals in the Arab world, and one of the most provocative politicians of any ethnicity in Israel.
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