The Jewish Community Center with Nancy Gurwin
Productions presents
A Classy Evening of

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Christopher Climbs
Out On A Limb

Opening Performance:
Saturday, March 20 - 8:00 P.M.
Subsequent performances:
Sunday, March 21 - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 27 - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 28 - 2:00 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by
Saturday, April 3 - 8:00 p.m.
Stephen Sondheim
Sunday, April 4 - 2:00 p.m.
Tony Award -
Saturday, April 10 - 8:00 p.m.
Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book
Drama Critics' Circle Award

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Jewish Community Center/6600 West Maple/W. Bloomfield
661-1000 ext: 342 or 354-0545

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J

ecretary of State
Warren Christopher's
recent visit to Israel
left behind a trail of
optimism or pessimism —
depending on which com-
mentators you read.
But when all is said and
done, the Middle East has a
rhythm of its own and so it
was that two days after he
left, Hezbollah, the Iranian-
backed Palestinian guerrilla
movement based in Leb-
anon, dozens of Katyusha
rockets into northern Israel.
In addition, a week to the
day of Mr. Christopher's ar-
rival, two Israelis were
stabbed to death and nine
others were wounded in
downtown Tel Aviv by a Pa-
lestinian from Gaza, leading
the government to announce
that the Strip would be clos-
ed off until further notice.
Appearances notwith-
standing, however, Warren
Christopher has been the
catalyst of changes — albeit
subtle ones — in the
character of the Israeli-Arab
dispute. Journalist Ziyad
Abu Zayyed, a senior adviser
for the Palestinian delega-
tion to the peace talks,
summed up the situation
when he said: "When the
Israeli government deported
the 415 members of Hamas
it climbed up a tall tree and
dragged us along with it.
Christopher gave Rabin a
ladder to climb down upon
when he agreed to a com-
promise on the return of 100
deportees. Now he's got to
provide us with a ladder,
too."
The State Department is
still working on that point.
Yet the fact that it is rela-
ting to the Palestinians'
need for a "ladder" marks a
change not only in the odd
balance of power in the area
but in the way the new ad-
ministration is doing busi-
ness.
All of the parties, without
exception, expressed their
desire to see the peace talks
resumed. The problem is
that the Lebanese can't see
their way back to the
bargaining table without the
Syrians; the Syrians can't go
back without the Jorda-
nians; the Jordanians can't
return without the Palestin-
ians, and the Palestinians
can't resume the talks
without some face-saving
device that will staunch the

hemorrhage in support for
negotiations among their
constituents.
And hemorrhage is no ex-
aggeration. For according to
a survey done by the
Jerusalem Media and Com-
munications Center,
directed by Palestinian
delegation member Ghassan
al-Khatib, a full 84 percent
of the population in the oc-
cupied territories opposes
the resumption of negotia-
tions with Israel before the
return of the Hamas
deportees. Thirty-five per-
cent are against renewing
talks even if the deportees
are brought back.
That leaves the PLO-
appointed negotiators in the
unenviable position of defy-
ing the wishes of their con-
stituents if they capitulate
to compromise agreed to by
the American and Israeli
governments — and endors-
ed by the U.N. Security
Council — and open to
charges of sabotaging the
entire peace process if they
don't.
Hence the need for the
"ladder" to extricate the
weakest party in the Middle

Rabin believes any
U.S. role
approximating a
"mediator" or
"arbitrator" would
only harden the
Arab position.

East from the ironic situa-
tion from a domino situation
in which all the other parties
have a stake.
Slowly and without fan-
fare — an indication of Mr.
Christopher's style —the
elements that will comprise
that ladder have begun to
fall into place. Of the six
points the Palestinians pre-
sented to Mr. Christopher as
their price for returning to
the talks (not including the
request that the United
States resume its direct dia-
logue with the PLO), three
have already been addressed
in one form or another.
The U.S. has provided the
Palestinians with an official
statement of policy that it
regards the deportation of