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March 12, 2004/Adar 19 5764, Vol. 56, No. 25
Dershowitz visits Valley
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor and prominent criminal and civil rights attorney, drew 1,020 women to the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix's Challenges 2004 on March 5 at the Arizona Biltmore. Challenges is the culminating fund-raising event for the Women's Department.
Dershowitz, the author of "A Case for Israel" (Wiley, $19.95 hardcover), is outspoken in his defense of Israel's right to exist.
"The time has come for a proactive defense of Israel to be offered in the court of public opinion," Dershowitz said in "A Case for Israel." "In this book, I offer such a defense - not of every Israeli policy or action, but of its basic right to exist, to protect its citizens from terrorism, and to defend its borders from hostile enemies."
At the March 5 luncheon, Dershowitz addressed issues such as the challenges Israel faces on the international front, terrorism and Israel's right to protect itself, as well as support for Israel on college campuses.
Dershowitz recently served as a formal advisor to the Israeli government regarding Israel's security fence. His proposal to the Israeli government included the idea of a moveable fence.
"What I had proposed to the Israelis is that what is within or close to the Green Line be a permanent fence, but the other parts that are more contro-versial literally be on wheels, making it very, very obvious that this is a moveable fence - this is a security boundary and not a land grab in any way," he told Jewish News in a March 5 interview.
The fence should not be located on the Green Line, the border between pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank, he said.
"We know one thing for sure - that the Green Line will not be the border. To put it on the Green Line would be a political decision by Israel. That would be the worst political decision," he said.
His belief is that the security fence should "parallel the last offer the Palestinians got and rejected - the Barak-Clinton offer of 2000-2001."
Dershowitz also feels strongly about Israel pulling out of the West Bank and Gaza, which he said he has advocated in writing since 1967. He does, however, have concerns about a unilateral withdrawal.
"I would rather see Israel leave in response to an agreement rather than unilaterally. Israel's decision to leave Lebanon unilaterally strengthened Hezbollah. ... Israel should not do anything that strengthens Hezbollah, Hamas (or) Islamic Jihad, and I think unilaterally leaving the Gaza Strip may increase the influence of Hamas," he explained.
His concern on the American front is the lack of knowledge of American Jews about the history and politics of Israel.
"A lot of Jews think since they're in the right, they don't have to know. Increasing information is crucially important - knowing the facts, knowing the history, going to Israel, seeing it on the ground, understanding this is not an abstract issue."
Of course, Dershowitz does not limit his opinions to matters relating to Israel.
While he said he has only seen a portion of the movie "The Passion of the Christ," he believes that the danger of the film is not the backlash of anti-Semitism in the United States, but rather in South America, Eastern Europe and Arab countries.
"Suddenly, I predict, Jesus is going to become a hero among Moslem radicals. They'll remember that he was one of their prophets and they'll say, 'See, the Jews killed him, too,'" he said.
Dershowitz does not, however, believe that it was director Mel Gibson's intent to incite anti-Semitism.
"Gibson is an extraordinarily ignorant, limited and narrow person, who grew up at his father's feet. He has no sense of the world. He's not somebody you or I would find it interesting to have a conversation with about anything," he said. "I don't attribute malice to him, I attribute ignorance."
Turning to another high profile issue, Dershowitz said he was a law school classmate of Andy Stewart, former husband of Martha Stewart, convicted March 5 of four counts of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about a well-timed stock sale.
Dershowitz said he knows and likes Martha Stewart.
"I feel very compassionate and sympathetic toward her. She never stood there and said, ... 'Today I decide to be a felon,'" Dershowitz said. "To me, to send somebody to jail for years for something like that is just overkill."
In fact, Dershowitz stopped mid-speech at the Challenges event to answer a cell phone call from his office regarding the Martha Stewart verdict, which he promptly reported to the surprised crowd.
Dershowitz said he has friends in the Valley and he and his wife are considering the area for a potential winter home as they get older.
"What is gratifying is in a community like Phoenix/Scottsdale you can live a terrific Jewish life, culturally, religiously and in every other way and still get all the benefits of Western weather and other virtues," he said. "It used to be that if you wanted to move West, you had to really give up a lot of Jewish identity. Now you don't - you can have everything."
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