Israel and American Jewish groups are again sending aid to the beseiged Sudanese in Darfur. The Jerusalem Post reports on the response:

Muhammad Yahya, a native of Darfur and founder of a group called Representatives of the Massaleit Community in Exile, said his countrymen are grateful for the assistance and astonished by its source.

"We have been taught for all our lives, from the primary school to the university, that you are the top enemy for Muslims and Arabs all over the world," Yahya said of the Jews and Israelis behind the $100,000 effort. Now, he said, "we realized that what we have been taught all our lives is a kind of a rumor. When we have been killed, you are protecting us; when we are displaced, you are trying to save us; when our people are murdered and raped, you are there trying to help us."

Yahya said he is grateful for the American Jewish support and the aid from Israel, which Arye Mekel, Israel's consul—general in New York, called Israel's first humanitarian support to residents of an Arab country with which it has no diplomatic ties.

"You are the voice of the voiceless," Yahya said. "We need to support each other and stand by you and support you forever."

"I tell my people in Sudan and in Darfur: Please forget about the rumors that the Israeli people are our enemy," he said. "They are not enemies anymore."

Jewish groups collectively have sent more than $1 million in aid to humanitarian causes in Sudan since the violence in Darfur took a turn for the worse in early 2003, according to the American Jewish World Service, which supports humanitarian and economic projects in the developing world.

Earlier this year, the organization helped create the Jewish Coalition for Sudan Relief, a collection of some 15 groups. The groups involved in the new $100,000 aid package are the Union for Reform Judaism, the New Jersey MetroWest Federation and UJA—Federation of New York, in addition to the 15—member coalition, AJWS and Israel.

Ed Lasky   12 19 04