I BACKGROUND I THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the METROPOLITAN DETROIT MACCABI CLUB Wishes its Coaches and Chaperones a Healthy and Happy New Year and a Heartfelt THANKS for their efforts prior to and during this year's Baltimore Games. HOWARD GOLDING MARK JEROSS BOBBY GAMER LARRY HARWIN GABE ATTAR GARY LEVITT LISA SLOVIS KAREN SKLAR LARRY MILLER LINDA OKUN JANICE BLOOM MARK CARNEY STUART GOTTESIVIAN JAY ROBINSON ESTHER TUCHLAPER BARBARA ROBINSON HERB BERNSTEIN BETH ROBINSON JOEL KASHDAN CANDY BOUSQUET DON RUDICK MICHAEL KOBERNICK GOLDIE MANTEL TONY SPOKOJNY MATTHEW LESTER JILL SPOKOJNY KEN BERTIN ALAN HOROWITZ SAM SKEEGAN • COLORWORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIGN Join us for cappuccino & croissants during our special OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY OCTOBER 10th, 1 1 a 5p. Featuring a display of the city's most unique accessory pieces. Call for further information Back Door Continued from preceding page Ashrawi, according to Dr. Mark Heller, senior lec- turer on Palestinian af- fairs at Tel Aviv Univer- sity's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies. Faxes and telephone calls move continually between the delegation and PLO headquarters in Tunis. "Anything that has the slightest political significance cannot be decided on (by the delega- tion) without the PLO's approval," said Professor Heller. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Min- ister Shimon Peres sort of wink at the arrangement, insisting that Israel does not — and will not —negotiate with the PLO. But they add that Israel will not make an issue over whom the Palestin- ian delegates talk to once they leave the negotiating room. Until Madrid, talking with the PLO seemed to be one of the most forbid- ding taboos in Israeli poli- tics. One poll indicated that up to 85 percent of Israelis favored freezing the PLO out of the talks. Since Madrid, the ques- tion of whether Israel should negotiate with the PLO is more or less moot. Israelis either don't notice that the PLO is calling the shots for the Palestin- ians, or they don't care. The PLO's hovering presence at the peace talks has not changed American Jews' views regarding negotiating with the organization. Since U.S. Jews, said Harry Wall, head of the Anti-Defamation League's office in Irsael, "don't see PLO leaders on TV getting out of lim- ousines and going into the negotiations," they believe that nothing has changed. This perception, however, is shared by 4. ps, 14. Yasir Arafat: The power behind the team. very few other close observers of the peace talks. The press knows that Ms. Ashrawi is giv- ing them the PLO line, and that the Palestinian delegates can say nothing of substance that isn't cleared by Yassir Arafat. The Israeli left sees the organization's role as a victory, confirming what they always said - that talking to the Palestin- ians meant talking to the PLO. For the Israeli hard right, it is a disaster. Elyakim Ha'etzni, a West Bank settler and former Knesset member, said the Rabin and Shamir governments' formal re- jection — but effective ac- ceptance — of the PLO was a matter of "eating pork and calling it fish." If Mr. Arafat himself was sitting at the negotiating table, Ha'etzni said, "it would make no difference whatsoever." Asked if the average Pa- lestinian in the West Bank and Gaza realize that the PLO was his real representative at the peace talks, Professor Heller immediately an- swered, "Yes." Asked if the average Israeli also realize it, the professor laughingly replied, "Only the ones who have their eyes open." 0 - Barbi Krass, Linda Bruder allied member ASID Linda Hudson The Courtyard 36 32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills • 851-7540 I NEWS I Romanian Ilieasure Jerusalem (JTA) — A treasure trove of Jewish ritual objects and family heirlooms, buried for safety during the Holocaust, was restored, briefly, to its rightful owner this week. Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam, 90, the Chasidic rebbe of Klausenberg (Cluj), Romania, who now lives in Israel, was able to touch the Torah crowns, candlesticks and inscribed cutlery that were hidden underground by cc: