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Bathroom Jewelry is stocked in polished brass with lucite trim, polished chrome with lucite trim and the split finished combination of polished brass and polished chrome. And receive savings of 20% and more., HOURS: 9-5:30 MON/FRI, 9-3 SAT OR CALL FOR A SPECIAL APPOINTMENT ANYTIME 46 FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1987 Damascus Continued from preceding page army into the suburbs of south Beirut, where the fun- damentalists are entrenched with their hostages — a move that would almost certainly constitute a death sentence for the hostages — the Syrian leader appears incapable of taming the kidnappers. Observers believe that the recent kidnapping of American journalist Charles Glass — an operation con- ducted virtually under the noses of Syrian troops in Beirut — was specifically ordered by the Iranians to demonstrate to the West that Assad's control in Lebanon is tenuous at best. But the diplomatic dances that have been performed by United States and the Euro- pean emissaries in Syria over the past few weeks have not been aimed solely at achiev- ing measurable gains; they have also been designed to prevent an expensive loss. Textbooks in modern diplomacy all contain at least one chapter on the Soviet debacle in the Middle East over the past 20 years. And the lesson has been well learned in the West. By breaking diplomatic relations with Israel following the Six Day War of 1967 — and then by unexpectedly losing its foothold in Egypt six years later Moscow found itself shunted to the sidelines of Middle East affairs. The great strength of the United States and the Euro- pean nations in their pursuit of diplomatic goals in the region is that they have never closed off channels of com- munication unless it became absolutely unavoidable (the United States with Iran after the hostage crisis; Britain with Syria in the wake of the attempted airline bombing). Moreover, close ally that it is of Israel, the United States has worked hard to retain a credible voice in most Arab capitals, giving it the status of mediator rather than ad- vocate of one particular side or another in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The meeting between Am- bassador Walters and Presi- dent Assad in Damascus is widely viewed in this context; a sign of Washington's deter- mination to keep its options — and its links — open in the face of considerable Soviet diplomatic gains in the region. Indeed, the Soviets themselves appear to have taken the point: last week, a Soviet consular delegation ar- rived in Israel, the first diplomatic mission to visit Israel since Moscow closed its embassy 20 years ago. The ostensible purpose of the delegation is to spend three months inspecting the extensive property holdings of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land and dealing with the routine consular matters affecting Soviet citizens in Israel. In fact, though, the delegation is like- ly to be quietly upgraded and to stay on indefinitely, form- ing the nucleus of a conven- tional diplomatic mission when full-blown relations are officially restored between Israel and the Soviet Union. What, in sum, will be the results of the flurry of recent activity in the Middle East by the Europeans, the United States and the Soviet Union? Very little in tangible terms, say Israeli observers. But, they hasten to add, it all con- tributes to "momentum." Whatever that may mean and wherever that may lead. '"'""i NEWS Smith Criticizes Judaism Again New York — The American Jewish Committee condemn- ed Rev. Bailey Smith for once again denigrating Jews and Judaism. Rev. Smith, a past president of the Southern Baptist Con- vention, first gained notorie- ty in 1980 when he said that "God Almighty doesn't hear the prayer of a Jew!' After considerable uproar from both Christians and Jews, he apologized for the statement; but in a meeting held last week in St. Louis, he in effect expressed the same sentiments. Speaking June 17 before the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, Rev. Smith said that "unless (the Jewish people) repent and get born again, they don't have a prayer,' adding that he didn't "care what trouble (his remark) causes!' Commenting on Reverend Smith's St. Louis statement, Rabbi A. James Rudin, American Jewish Committee director of interreligious af- fairs, said: "The Rev. Bailey Smith's re- cent statement clearly reveals that he remains where he was seven years ago: a self impos- ed prisoner in a theological swamp of narrow trium- phalism and religious im- perialism. However, his negative views and limited understanding of Jews and Judaism are daily being repudiated by an increasing number of Christian bodies and leaders."