Abcare's HomeHealth Exchange • NURSING Registered Nurses (RN) licensed Practical Nurses (UN) Accredited By • PERSONAL CARE Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) Hon! Health Aide (HHA) Companion/Sitter `Stumbling At Every Step' By abandoning plans to confiscate east Jerusalem land, the Rabin government emerged indecisive and vulnerable. ERIC SILVER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Joint Commission •24 Hour/7 Day Acaeclicfa of Halve Orgcrtota PER WEEK SERVICE 1-810-423-9600 1-800-70-NURSE THE PARTY'S JUST BEGUN IT'S TIME TO GET BACK YOUR International Physique Champion he Israeli government's de- cision to rescind its confis- cation policy of Arab-owned land in east Jerusalem was a victory for the Middle East peace process and for Arab diplomacy. But in the Israeli political are- na, it left more losers than win- ners. Facing the prospect of defeat on a motion of no confidence, Is- raeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Ra- bin bit the bullet. Mr. Rabin's announcement that the confis- T ministration's leadership of be- ing slapdash. "The most screwed-up thing in this government is its decision- making apparatus," he said. 'The government is going in the right direction but insists on stumbling at almost every step." Instead of reluctant acquies- cence, the government's confis- cation order provoked several problems: threats of•a renewed' intifada uprising from main- stream Palestinian leaders; omi- TV Celebrity Anchor PERSONALIZED TRAINING • Likud's most vociferous champi- ons, condemned the party's lead- ers for "rank opportunism." In an editorial, which also scorned Mr. Rabin for his aban- donment of the expropriation pol- icy, the English-language daily stated, "Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu ... must learn that while the opposition's goal is to replace the government, it should never consider doing so at any price. Nor will such moves add to his popularity. What the public wants above all else is not an alternative plan for the conduct of foreign policy, but a leadership of in- tegrity, principle and competence. In yes- terday's Knesset ses- sion, such leadership Will Jerusalem remain undivided? 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No one expects that Jewish housing will now be built on the contentious 134 acres of east Jerusalem land while the Rabin government remains in office. (The first casualties are the 1,000 Orthodox families for whom the homes were slated.) Mr. Rabin's supporters main- tain that he acted to save the peace process — on which his prospects of re-election in late 1996 hinge. Yet for all the blus- ter, the prime minister has emerged looking weak and inde- cisive. His initial mistake was to un- derestimate the Palestinian, gen- eral Arab and international reactions to the expropriation or- der. Mr. Rabin was a victim of his own rhetoric — Jerusalem as the "eternal, undivided capital" of the Jewish state, a claim the Arabs have never accepted — and of his own complacency. The Arabs, he thought, had bent before and they would bend again. Yossi Sarid, who serves as Mr. Rabin's environmental minister and represents the left-wing Meretz party, accused the ad- nous warnings from King Hussein that the Jordanian pub- lic was turning against the peace agreement that he signed with Israel last autumn; the conven- ing of an emergency Arab sum- mit by King Hassan of Morocco, another of Israel's friends in the Arab world; and a 14-to-1 vote against Israel in the United Na- tions Security Council. Domestically, Mr. Rabin left himself open to charges from his political opponents that he had put himself in hock to the two "non-Zionist" parties that spon- sored the no-confidence motions — the Arab Democratic Party and the Communists, whose five votes he needs to secure his ma- jority. Opponents also charged that he had sacrificed the Jewish fu- ture of Jerusalem for the survival of his government. The right-wing opposition fared no better. Enthusiastically led by the Likud, the right wing announced that it would support the no-confidence motions, even though its position on Jewish ex- pansion in Jerusalem was dia- metrically opposed to that of the Arabs and the Communists. The Jerusalem Post, one of the was sorely missing on both sides of the aisle." If Mr. Rabin is to retrieve his credibility, he needs an early breakthrough in the peace nego- tiations with the Palestine Lib- eration Organization. After a meeting Monday with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reiterat- ed Israel's commitment to reach- ing an agreement on Palestinian elections and a second Israeli pullback from occupied territory by July 1. It will take all the ingenuity both sides can muster to meet that deadline. And a lot more wis- dom and goodwill. ❑ Eric Silver is a Jerusalem-based journalist who has covered Israel for more than two decades. - ti