BACKGROUND FOOTSTEPS PODIATRY CLINIC Daniel S. Lazar, D.P.M., P.C. Podiatrist - Foot Surgeon 13740 West Nine Mile Rd. Oak Park, MI 48237 548-6633 i Office Hours: 9 Mile Rd. Mon. 10:00 AM-7:30 PM Tues.-Fri. 9:30 AM-5:00 PM 1.: 6 Oak Park Post Office Footsteps Podiatry For Your Convenience OPEN SATURDAYS Foreign Correspondent -gwor, Most Insurance Plans Accepted '1 Specializing in the Treatment of: r 1 1 FREE TAXI SERVICE •Arthritis, Bursitis •Athletic Injuries • Bunions •Arch Pain, Heel Pain • Children's Feet •Skin Problems of the Foot •Vascular Problems OUR GIFT TO YOU FREE (With This Coupon) CONSULTATION Transportation Provided for Local Residents Excludes X-Rays and Treatment No Expiration Date No Expiration Date (A $35.00 Value) GORNBEIN'S t°1 r• GORNBEIN• Fidelity Bank Building 24901 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield 357-1056 to, JEWELERS 111111011, TV tr ctsk p t y po New Low Interest Rates Available ‘14°1 WHO YOU GOAINA.,_- CALL? : 1 /-4 GREAT DEALS — STRAIGHT TALK - MARK WISEMAN Ford Grand Master — 24 Years Experience New Ford Cars & Trucks Avis O, RD 355-1800 or 1.800-848-1500 38 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989 A nation under siege, Israel continues to struggle with the Palestinian uprising, a sagging economy and divisiveness. HELEN DAVIS 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. •Orthotics •Corns, Callouses • Diabetic Foot Care • Fungal Infections, Nails •Warts (Hands & Feet) • Ulcers • Hammer Toes A Not-So-Sweet Year For the People of Israel Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year S hana Tova! The traditional greeting will have a hollow ring for Israelis as they embark on 5750. The Jewish New Year is a time of reflection and renewal; of national and personal stock-taking; of regrets for things past and hopes for a better future. This year, however, the honey on Israel's Rosh Hashanah apples will have lost some of its former sweetness. True, Israel has faced tough times in the past, ex- ternal enemies whose une- quivocal intention was the liquidation of both the Jews and their State. For many complex reasons, that danger — for the moment, at least — has receded. Yet while the threat of na- tional extinction is further removed than ever, neither the scope nor the intensity of Israel's collective dilemmas has ever been so wide, so deep, so immediate, so in- tractable. Israel today is a state under siege. Peering out into a new year, Israelis are beset by political uncertainty and military insecurity, by the specter of a fresh economic catastrophe, the highest recorded levels of unemployment and by the same old crippling political divisiveness and bitterness that have come to characterize their national unity government. All these problems, of course, are compounded by the numbing, daily routine of the Palestinian uprising, which has added the word "intifada" to the interna- tional political lexicon and dominated the political landscape for the past 22 months. While the uprising con- tinues to exact a high price in terms of casualties and social dislocation at home, it is also continuing to take its toll on Israel's prestige abroad, threatening to fur- ther destabilize the balance of Israel's fragile social structure and, not least, its relations with the United States. Facing a barrage of diplo- matic initiatives — illusory or not — Israel remains in the grip of a bizarre political paralysis. It is unable to provide a clear, coherent response to the incessant appeals for some kind of movement; unable to ad- vance even its own initiative for elections among Palesti- nians in the occupied ter- ritories. Instead of exploiting the opportunities for peace that Shamir: A dreamer in the Holy City. appear to have opened up over the past year, Official Israel reflexively perceives fresh initiatives, whether of style or substance, with trepidation, suspicion and hostility. Instead of exercising ra- tional, creative, flexible judgment, Israel's national unity partners, locked into their unhappy alliance, opt for short-term, short-sighted expedients. Instead of confronting the challenges, they retreat into obsolescent postures and clutch tenaciously at the umbilical cord of Masada rhetoric. Instead of addressing the new reality, they focus their energies and waste their strength on the pursuit of personal vendettas and po- litical rivalries. Nor does culpability for the stalemate rest with only one of the major political blocs. While Likud leader Yit- zhak Shamir is constrained by party dogma from any se- rious attempt to break the impasse, Labor leader Shimon Peres appears to have been terminally dev- astated by King Hussein's decision to disengage from the process and deprive him of his much-vaunted "Jordanian Option." Both Shamir and Peres, approaching the end of their political roads, are feeling the hot breath of ambitious successors on their necks. Both appear determined to hang on, whatever the cost, until the bitter end. In their anxiety to fill the very large shoes of their predecessors — and to leave their own distinctive mark on Israel's historical tableau — they sometimes appear to lose sight of the larger goal, devoting themselves instead to scoring cheap shots off each other. Yet despite the morbidity of the national unity government and its inability to take one step forward without taking two back, the unnatural coalition between Israel's major power blocs is likely to remain intact — at least while Shamir and Peres remain at the helm of their respective parties. For Shamir, a break-up of the national unity coalition would mean transferring a disproportionate share of power to the small religious parties on whose support the Likud would then depend for its survival in office. It would also render him a vir- tual prisoner of Likud's mili- tant hard-line elements, such as Trade Minister Ariel Sharon and Housing Min- ister David Levy. For Peres, it would simply be the end of a long, underachieving political ca- reer. He would be swiftly swept aside by any one of a cluster of ambitious challengers — Defense Min- ister Yitzhak Rabin foremost among them — who see in his lackluster leader- ship the main obstacle to Labor's return to its glory days. The story of Israel's predicament is not, however, confined to bitter in- ternecine domestic rivalries. The constellation of prob- lems that now face Israel has had a devastating effect, tearing at the very fabric of Israeli society and polarizing the divisions between left