Leased
lightning.

After Ten Rounds, Will
The Talks Collapse?

INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

M

but how lithe it goes for. Just $289 per month
With its gutsy V6 engine, ABS brakes and
during our limited-time Special Value Lease
special traction control system, our 1993
(with as little as $2,000 down). Few bona fide
Passat GLX inspires a driving experience that
German touring sedans are that easy to
can only be called electrifying.
handle.
One hundred and seventy-two
See us for a test
horses, harnessed precisely as
drive. And hurry.
the driver desires.
Opportunities like
And you'll not only be im-
a month*
this don't strike twice.
pressed by how Passat goes,

$289

Suburban

TROY MOTOR MALL 649-2300

*$2,000 DOWN PAYMENT, $288.77 FIRST MONTH'S PAYMENT AND $300 REFUNDABLE SECURITY DEPOSIT DUE AT LEASE INCEPTION.

Offered to qualified customers by VW Credit, Inc. through participating retailers until September 30, 1993.48-month closed-end lease. Price based
on $21,690 Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of a Passat GLX sedan with metallic paint and destination charge less a customer capitalized cost
reduction of $2,000. Other options, retailer prep., taxes, registration extra. Lessee responsible for insurance. Monthly payments total $13,860.96. At
lease end, lessee responsible for $.10/mile over 60,000 miles and for damage and excessive wear. Option to purchase at lease end for $8,242 in
example shown.

I

©1993 Volkswagen

Seat belts save lives. Don't drink and drive.

VALERIE MYLON "-

FASHION RESALE

Exclusively Women's Clothing
and Accessories
Current Fashions Sizes 2-14

1844 W. Woodward
Birmingham

1 block North of 14 Mile Rd.

540-9548

"We Pay Cash for Fine
Clothing and
Accessories"

1

HOURS:
Mon.-Sat. '12-6

When Clothes
Make The Difference,
We Make The Clothes.

Mon.-Fri. 10-4
Sat. 10-3

358-4085
Franklin Plaza
29107 Northwestern Hwy.
Southfield (2nd entrance from 12 Mile in rear)

ore than 20 months
into the Middle East
peace negotiations —
tenth round of which
again ended in stalemate last
week — those who closely fol-
low the talks generally agree
that the process has reached
some sort of turning point, and
not necessarily the "point of no
return" that Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin has suggested.
Though still couched in cau-
tious, diplomatic language, the
signals coming from all direc-
tions bespeak a crisis: frustra-
tion, weariness, and, above all,
a deep sense of chagrin about
how to proceed.
Secretary of State Warren
Christopher has already issued
a blunt warning that the Unit-
ed States will withdraw from
its role as an active mediator
unless the negotiating parties
more forcefully exhibit their de-
sire for peace.
That message was actually
preceded by a no-less dramatic
declaration in Israel, by Com-
munications Minister Shulamit
Aloni, that the party she repre-
sents, Meretz, would leave (and
thus topple) the government
"unless we attain real accom-
plishments in making peace
with the Palestinians and the
Syrians in the coming year."
What's more, at the last Cab-
inet meeting the Meretz minis-
ters proposed that the key to
such progress is to promptly rec-
ognize and enter into direct ne-
gotiations with the PLO.
A year ago, when Yitzhak
Rabin's government took office,
that notion was still unthink-
able. Today it's a matter for de-
bate, not because ideological
convictions have altered radi-
cally in the interim, but because
the delegation of local Pales-
tinians has at any rate proved
to be no more than the
spokesman for the PLO execu-
tive leadership in Tunis.
"Everyone agrees that the
Palestinians won't make any
move that's not strictly accord-
ing to the PLO's decisions,"
Meretz Absorption Minister
Ya'ir Tsaban said.
Even Housing Minister
Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, who has
loyally toed the Labor Party's
line against recognizing the
PLO and has been a reliable
gauge of the prime minister's
thinking, confided that "after
21 months I've reached the con-
clusion that the only source of
authority [for the Palestinians]
is Yassir Arafat. It's he who

puts the brakes on and he
who sets the gears turning?'
Not even Prime Minister Ra-
bin could conjure up much good
to say for the "Madrid format."
Questioned about it at news
conference, the prime minister
allowed that the present frame-
work — which he inherited
from the previous Likud gov-
ernment — does not bode well
for meaningful progress.
In thepast, he pointed out,
talks with the Arabs concluded
in formal agreements only
when Israel negotiated with one
partner at a time.
Still, Prime Minister Rabin
dismissed the notion of altering
the structure of the peace
process on the grounds that pre-
cious time would again be lost
in debating questions of proce-
dure, whereas Israel was al-
ready into discussing "matters
of substance" with the Arabs.
Later, in summing up the
Cabinet's discussion on opening
channels to the PLO, he also
cautioned his ministers against
"creating the impression that
there are differences of opinion

Palestinians have
concluded that the
Clinton White
House cannot be
trusted.

among us," for it would only
"spur the Palestinians to de-
mand more concessions and
adamantly stand their ground."
They seem to be doing that
anyway, even though wherev-
er one looks the Palestinians
seemed either incensed or crest-
fallen. After failing to extract
from Israel any more than a
"wait-and-see" position on the
future of the territories, they
hoped at least to get Washing-
ton to reiterate the traditional
American position that West
Bank and Gaza Strip are occu-
pied territory subject to the
terms of U.N. Resolutions 242
and 338 and that both Israel's
annexation of east Jerusalem
and the Israeli settlements in
the occupied areas are illegal.
Instead, when the latest
American "bridging proposal"
showed that the Clinton Ad-
ministration had effectively
adopted Israel's approach of
avoiding questions of "principle"
about the future in favor of a
"functional" approach to the
present — the transfer of pow-

,—\

