I NEWS 1 From All Of Us At Audette Cadillac We Wish You A Happy and Healthy New Year SEE THE 1990 CADILLAC 6/eVetie 7100 ORCHARD LAKE RD. at the end of Northwestern Highwa ■ WEST BLOOMFIELD /Riff) 851-7200 OPEN MON. & THURS. 'til 9 P.M. GM QUALITY SERVICE PARTS GENEPAL MOTORS CORPORATION Terry Rotenberg and The Staff of Gemini Travel Jane Bergman Ruth Isca Joani Lesser Jean Levy Patty Ratliff Kristen Reynolds Sharon Remick Lynn Rose Agi Rubin Heidi Rushford Marlene Oleshansky Want to-Wish Our Friends, Our Families and Our Valued Clients A Healthy Peaceful I Joyous and Prosperous New Year mr•GEMINI TRAVEL 855-3600 "WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS" Palestinians Express Despair, Indifference GIL SEDAN Special to The Jewish News D espair and indif- ference. They seemed to sum up the at- titude of Palestinians in the ancient town of Hebron while talks that could direct- ly affect their lives were taking place in Cairo. The talks Monday were between Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the second ranking Labor Party member of the government, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. They met to discuss the Israeli proposal for Palesti- nian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Egypt is prepared to play a key role in bringing Israelis and Palestinians together. But the elderly men loung- ing on straw chairs in an alley near the Tomb of the Patriarchs saw nothing new under the sun. "Forget about Sadat, Mubarak or any other Arab leader. None of them will bring about peace because Israel does not want peace," one of them said. Another agreed that "as long as Shamir does not want peace, there will be no peace." "Rabin cannot do much," a third man observed. "Shamir and Likud run the government," referring to Israeli Prime Minister Yit- zhak Shamir and his Likud bloc, the senior partner in the coalition government. A younger man, clean shaven in his early 40s, foreswore political solutions. "It says in our Koran that peace on earth will only prevail once the state of Islam is erected. Therefore, as long as this does not ma- terialize, forget about peace," he said. If Hebron is a political backwater, it is in the center of the intifada. Right now the town is quiet, the streets almost deserted by the general strike called to observe the seventh anniversary of the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refu- gee camps in West Beirut. In Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, Jamal Tarifi, a successful Arab busi- nessman, analyzed the situation differently than his Hebron fellows, but whether he did so with more political realism is doubtful. "If Rabin is clever, he should use the opportunity and declare that he is ready to sit with (Palestine Libera- tion Organization chairman Yasir) Arafat and reach a deal," Tarifi said. He predicted "an im- mediate breakthrough" from such scenario. Perhaps the clearest thinker in the West Bank is one of its oldest politicians, Elias Freij, who has been mayor of Bethlehem since 1967. He has just returned from Tunis, where he urged the If Hebron is a political backwater, it is in the center of the intifada. PLO leadership to accept the Israeli election plan with Mubarak's conditions and toy- give local residents the green light to negotiate with Israelis over the elections. Freij said it was too early to tell whether he had suc- ceeded. "The PLO is looking into the idea of the elections in the territories," he said. "As far as Mubarak's 10- point plan, Arafat had told me that this subject is being discussed with Egypt, and so far there is no definite deci- sion." Jewish Telegraphic Agency Health Plan For Boston Boston — A two-year study of the financial and physical risks facing elderly persons who need long-term care ser- vices — conducted by the Combined Jewish Philan- thropies of Greater Boston (CJP) — has resulted in a uni- que nursing home and home health care contract option for the area's Jewish community. John Hancock Financial Services has been selected to market, underwrite and ad- minister the group long-term care plan, which will be of- fered to members of CJP bet- ween the ages of 40 and 79. A "care management" ser- vice will be set up through CJP's Jewish Family and Children's Service. Available at no additional cost, it pro- vides counselling and support to individuals receiving long- term care benefits and their families, and assists plan par- ticipants in devising and monitoring the best plan of care and coping with family crises.