INSIDE WASHINGTON GROUP FOR PEOPLE COPING WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS OR PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS I Learn assertiveness training and attitudes to help you cope with illness. Led by Shirley Berman, M.S.W. and Seth Warschausky, M.A. from the Wayne State University Psychology Clinic Weekly group meetings beginning April 4, 1988, 5.7 p.m. at 3535 W 13 Mile Rd., Royal Oak. Fees based on ability to pay. Call 577-2840. People with multiple sclerosis, asthma, back problems, blind- ness, spinal cord injuries, cancer, epilepsy, and migraines have benefited from previous groups. PLO Closure Measure May Provoke Crisis With The U.N. JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent T Save 50-75% 3 DAYS ONLY! MARCH 3, 4, 5 Thurs. & Fri. 9:30-8:30 & Sat. 9:30-5:30 Winter may be ending, but there's still plenty of time to enjoy the luxury of fur ... now at incredible savings! Ceresnie & Often have marked down their entire collection of magnificent fur fashions for men and women from 50%-75%. A Partial List of Our Fantastic Sale Values: Regular Sale Embossed Leather Jackets, Opossum Zip-Out Lining $700 $299 Natural Raccoon Sections Jackets $1000 $450 Ranch Mink Sections Coats, Dye-Added $2500 $899 Natural Tanuki Coats $3200 $1499 Natural Beaver Coats $3600 $1699 Silver Raccoon Coats, Brightener Added $4600 $1999 Natural Mahogany or Dye-Added Ranch Mink Coats $5500 $2499 All furs labeled to show country of origin. Hundreds of Other Furs at Comparable Savings! Financing Available. Major Credit Cards Honored. he pyrotechnics result- ing from the effort to close the New York offices of the Palestine Libera- tion Organization continue to blaze in Washington. Last Friday, according to sources close to the issue, a meeting of the White House's national security staff endors- ed a decision by Attorney General Edwin Meese to shut down the PLO's U.N. observ- er office. Legislation passed in December requires the Jus- tice Department to close down the PLO by the middle of this month. But an official announce- ment of the decision will be withheld until Secretary of State George Shultz returns from his peacemaking quest in the Middle East. The White House meeting apparently flattened the last obstacle to the controversial measure, which faced strong opposition from the State Department. Officials at the Foggy Bottom, led by the department's legal advisor, Abraham Sofaer, argued that the action could drag the United States into a messy legal battle before the World Court. Despite the White House meeting, the issue is far from dead. At an emergency ses- sion on Monday, a succession of speakers at the U.N. Gen- eral Assembly denounced the expected American move as violating the 1947 U.N. head- quarters agreement. According to several sources, some factions at the Reagan White House expect the PLO issue to precipitate a major crisis in this country's troubled relationships with the UN. Is Israel Anti-Caribou? The question of the U.S.- Israel relationship came up last week in the least likely of forums — the hotly con- tested congressional debate over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Big oil companies seek to open vast tracts of northeast- ern Alaska to oil exploration and development. They are staunchly opposed by en- vironmental groups. What does Israel have to do with the caribou of Alaska? One argument of the pro- Edwin Meese: State Dept. opposition. development position has been that new oil from Alaska would be a big step towards U.S. energy independence. This, in turn, would help in- sulate the U.S.-Israel relation- ship from oil blackmail by Persian Gulf states. In recent weeks, a bill to open 1.5 million acres on Alaska's coastal plain to oil exploration squeaked through the Senate Energy Committee. One factor in this vote, say angry environmen- talists, was the widespread assumption that the bill to allow exploration in the wildlife refuge was favored by the pro-Israel community. "We've been hearing a lot of this talk," said Tim Mahoney of the Sierra Club. "The argu- ment about Middle East pol- icy is a superficially charm- ing one, but it's flawed. We can't out-produce OPEC." He said he has been assured by major pro-Israel groups that they have taken no part in the debate. Mahoney attributes the widespread reports of involve- ment by the pro-Israel com- munity to two factors: • The effort by pro-develop- ment forces to tie the need for new domestic production to Israel's security. • The primary lobbyist for the pro-development forces is Morris Amitay, dean of pro- Israel lobbyists. Amitay has not represented himself as a pro-Israel lobbyist in the Alaska controversy, but en- vironmentalists state that most people perceive a con- nection — and one that car- ries a potent punch in an elec- tion year. Anti-Anti-PLO Lampoonery Some anonymous political satirist has been at work on the PLO closing issue. Elab- orately engraved invitations have turned up at several con- gressional offices, including that of Rep. Jack Kemp (R- N.Y.), who spearheaded the anti-PLO bill in the House. The "invitations" are signed by the "International Committee to Save the PLO Offices in the United States." Listed as honorary chairmen of the fictitious group are State Department legal ad- visor Abraham Sofaer and U.N. Ambassador Vernon Walters. The front of the invitation is emblazoned with a picture of Yasser Arafat. Battle Over Another Judge Last week, several Jewish groups plunged into the fray in a battle over a judicial nominee. The man in the hot seat is Bernard Siegan, ap- pointed by President Reagan to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California. "There are a lot of problems with this nomination," said Mark Pelavin, Washington representative of the Amer- ican Jewish Congress. Jewish groups that will testify against the Siegan nomina- tion include the AJCongress, the Union of American He- brew Congregations and the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NACRAC). Chief among Pelavin's res- ervations of Siegan's nomina- tion is his interpretation of the "establishment clause" in the First Amendment. Siegan has maintained that the clause does not apply to state governments. Conceivably, said Pelavin, Siegan's interpretation could allow a state to declare a cer- tain religion as its official faith. Siegan is also under fire for his stands on several social justice and environmental issues. According to most observ- ers, Siegan's extreme views, and the breadth of the opposi- tion, will make for tough go- ing in the Senate. Hearings are now underway in the Ju- diciary Committee. "This is a man whose opin- ions are far more extreme than those of Robert Bork," said a representative of the Alliance for Justice, the group leading the charge against Siegan.