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February 16, 2001/Shevet 23, 5761, Vol. 53, No.20
Relations cool among valley Jews, Arabs
BARRY COHEN
Community Editor
Muslim-Arabs, Christian-Arabs and Jews, through business dealings and one-on-one breakfast and lunch meetings, enjoy warm, positive contact in the Valley.
"From a business point of view, I have great relations with everybody," said Joseph Najjar, a Muslim-Arab and owner of Yusef's in Phoenix.
But relationships among groups officially representing Arabs and Jews are virtually nonexistent. However, many Valley leaders agree that the ongoing violence in the Middle East is not exclusively to blame.
"I don't think there is an inter-relationship between synagogues and churches and mosques because they are so busy with what they are doing in their own lives," said John Karadsheh, owner of Middle Eastern Bakery and Deli in Phoenix and member of St. George Eastern Orthodox Church in Phoenix. His parents' families are from Jordan.
Vatican II, which concluded under Pope Paul VI in 1965, provided modern guidance and counsel by the Roman Catholic Church; its teachings condemned anti-Semitism and called for open dialogue between Catholics and Jews to achieve mutual understanding, synagogue leaders embraced interfaith activities, said Rabbi Andrew Straus of Temple Emanuel of Tempe. But over the past decade, time and energy spent on interfaith relations have decreased.
"Now we are focusing more on ourselves," Straus said.
"One group has to reach out to the other. That's the trick," said Sami Assadi, a Muslim-Arab, of Assadi Associates, a public relations company in Scottsdale.
Assadi was born in pre-state Israel and fled with his family in 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence. He said he understands the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian history because his wife Susan is Jewish.
He said Arabs and Jews in the Valley need to open their minds to each other and get to know each other.
"We need to get closer to each other and talk to each other and try to understand each other more and more," said Ahmad Al-Shqeirat, imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe, located near Arizona State University.
However, Muslim-Arab and Jewish leaders agree that the renewed violence in the Middle East has lessened the likelihood that representatives of the communities will take the initiative.
"I believe there is a kind of gap between the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities in America. ... We have been affected by what is going on in the Middle East," said Al-Shqeirat.
"There has been no contact between Hillel and the Muslim Student Union," said Rabbi Barton Lee, executive director of Hillel at Arizona State University, an organization for Jewish students. "I do not see a Muslim-Jewish dialogue as a particularly high priority of Hillel programming because I think the political atmosphere makes it difficult to concentrate on abstract religious issues."
One event, on Oct. 24, nearly a month after Israel's Likud party chairman - now prime minister-elect - Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was meant to focus on the historical background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to foster mutual understanding. Instead, the forum - sponsored by the Phoenix College liberal arts department - was overshadowed by discussions of how Israelis and Palestinians could end violence through negotiations.
It was a "spirited" dialogue, said Tami Schultz, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. "I thought it was a good exchange."
Assadi was also a participant, along with Marwan Ahmad, publisher of the newspaper, "Arizona Muslim Voice."
Ahmad said he was not aware of any current organized communication between Muslim-Arabs, Christian-Arab and Jewish groups. "Maybe everybody is apprehensive," he said.
Rabbi Robert Kravitz, area director of the American Jewish Committee, is not aware of any programming involving Muslim-Arab, Christian-Arab and AJC representatives.
"We have been cautioned by our terrorism experts in New York to be careful with whom we talk," said Kravitz. "Some groups can be fronts for Hamas or the Palestine Liberation Organization. Sometimes they appear to be what they are not."
One of a handful of recent interfaith events was a service in the East Valley Nov. 22, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Leaders from mainstream Protestant churches, Temple Emanuel, Cook Theological Seminary, Hillel at ASU and the Islamic Cultural Center of Tempe participated.
Straus, Lee and Al-Shqeirat all said there has been no more recent contact between the Muslim and Jewish groups in the East Valley.
In October, Al-Shqeirat visited Temple Beth Sholom in Chandler to offer a prayer for peace and share some personal words, said Rabbi Bonnie Koppell.
"I am anxious to get the youth groups together," she said. "If we are going to create understanding, we need to start with the youngest generation."
"America is the melting pot of the world, and once we melt together, we live together," said Najjar, who came to the United States after the Israeli Six-Day War in 1967.
Najjar was local chairman of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee for five years, until 1994.
We may have a difference of opinion, but that does not mean we will necessarily cut off relations, he said. "We can still sit down, talk, discuss."
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