Rotarians Travel to Israel

The Rev. Susan Mozena, left, and the Rev. Peter Henry, right, with Past President Bill Scott, who ran the Feb. 29 luncheon meeting of Grosse Pointe Rotary, told Rotarians about their recent trip to Israel, including stops in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Jerusalem is important to two-thirds of the world’s population (Muslims, Christians, and Jews), Henry said. It is the crossroads of civilization and has been disputed land for a series of empires.

After WWII, the Zionist Movement sought the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the area that is now Israel. This caused the land owned by Palestinians at that time to become greatly diminished. Jerusalem was all Arab before the war.

Mozena noted the irony between the plights of the Jews and Palestinians, especially when the group visited Yad Vashem (The World Holocaust Remembrance Center). Pre WWII in Europe, the Jews were transformed from equal citizens to outcast subjects. The same is true for the Palestinians post-war. A quote by Kurt Tucholsky, a German-Jewish journalist, that “A country is not only what it does but what it tolerates” can be found at the Center but has also been written on the wall that has been built to separate the West Bank. (Photo by George R. McMullen Jr.)