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August 2, 2002/Av 24 5762, Vol. 54, No. 46
Another missed opportunity
BARRY COHEN
Editor
More than a year ago, Jewish News published a story on the Multicultural Yellow Pages - a 96-page self-described "resource guide for multicultural living in Arizona."
The guide's omissions made it newsworthy: An alphabetical listing of International Area Codes listed Palestine, not Israel, under "I"; a map of the Middle East renamed Israel "Palestine"; neither was Hebrew included as a world language, nor El Al as a world airline; a list of international restaurants in the Valley omitted Israeli establishments; and a list of cultural attractions ignored the Arizona Jewish Historical Society and the Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum.
The 2002 Multicultural Yellow Pages includes one notable difference: The International Area Codes includes Palestine under "P." Israel again is omitted.
In a letter from the publisher printed in the MYP, Marwan Ahmad defended the publication's selective cultural focus: "First, not all communities respond to our communications at the same level. Second, it is noticeable that some communities have stronger presence than others due to the fact that we have been working with them for many years."
Ahmad's words - rationalizing the exclusion of a people's nation, language and culture - reveal the MYP as much polemic as publication.
This should not be a surprise. Ahmad - who publishes the monthly Arizona Muslim Voice - is also a local point person for Friends of Palestine, a group that organizes counter-demonstrations at pro-Israel events on the Arizona State University campus. Last spring, Friends of Palestine demonstrators paraded in front of a Scottsdale hotel during a local American Israel Public Affairs Committee forum, carrying signs equating Ariel Sharon with Adolf Hitler and the Israeli flag with the flag of Nazi Germany.
The MYP serves to further polarize the Valley's Muslim and Jewish communities. How can we trust those connected with a publication that denies the cultural contributions of Judaism that have enriched the fabric of the world's civilizations and ignores Jewish culture in the Valley - dating to the late 1800s?
Moreover, the MYP's choices of politically motivated content invite the Balkanization of America - in defiance of the civic discourse our Founding Fathers envisioned, a tradition that requires Americans representing our rich tapestry of cultures to communicate constructively through methodical relationship building.
In Ahmad's MYP introduction, he wrote: "not all communities respond to our communications at the same level." I left a message for him this week, in an attempt to talk with him for this article. He failed to return my call.
Unfortunately, the MYP has moved the potential for effective Jewish-Muslim communication several steps backward instead of creating an opportunity to move it one step forward.
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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