Motorola Flip
Cellular Telephone PCH

♦ Small Size Fits in Coat Pocket Or Purse
♦ 32 Number Speed Dialing Memory
♦ 16 Hours Standby Time Before Recharging
♦ Includes: Phone, Car Adapter, Case and Tax!

$29.95*

OUT THE DOOR ,

Ending Pragmatic
P ostponements

JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

No additional hidden costs

During our "Free For All" promotion, activate a new Ameritech
cellular line with a 3-year service plan, and sna a portable phone for
just $29.95*. And with our new Straight Talk Plan, the monthly service
rate is just $19.95/mo.! If you have wanted a cellular phone to stay in
touch or for an added sense of security this is the right phone, the right
plan, and the right price!

If you already have a phone and sign a new contract with
Ameritech you qualify for Free air time, up to 2500 minutes with a
1-year contract. Just give us a call and we will do a customized cost
analysis for you, no charge or commitment. Ask us about special
corporate discounts available to many employees and organizations.

FREE!

♦ 100 Minutes of air time
♦ Detail Billing or
Voice Mail.
♦ Activation ($35 Value)

Contract, restrictions apply. Offer good through October 31, 1995.

&efitech

MIDWEST AUTOTEL SERVICES

Cellular and Paging Dealer

(810) 960-3737

3160 Haggerty Road. Suite M
West Bloomfield

wo dramas unfolded on op- government and the Palestinian
posite sides of the Atlantic Authority seek to create facts "on
last week that point to the the ground" that will bolster their
political and cultural up- claims to the city.
heaval the Middle East peace
And the settlements issue is
process is about to unleash.
becoming a ticking bomb on the
One involved the negotiations negotiating table.
in Taba, Egypt, where exhaust-
The extension of Palestinian
ed Israeli and Palestinian nego- self-rule inevitably conflicts with
tiators worked frantically to nail the desire of Jewish settlers,
down the final details of their many of whom were enticed to
agreement to extend Palestinian their precarious strongholds by
self-rule, despite the daunting the Israeli government, to remain
task of finding an acceptable so- where they are.
lution to the problem of Hebron.
Hebron, with its 400 Jewish
The sense of urgency among settlers surrounded by more than
Israeli leaders — desperation, ac- 125,000 hostile Palestinians, pro-
cording to peace process critics — vides the most graphic and com-
reflected their growing realiza- pelling example of this dilemma.
tion that the most explosive is-
The urgent negotiations in
sues in the peace process cannot Taba are the first of many tests
be postponed much longer.
of the ability of Israel's leaders to
The second event was last hold the nation together in the
week's hearing of the House In- face of what could be violent op-
ternational Relations Committee position.
in Washington, convened pri-
For American Jews, all of this
marily to relieve the pressure on has been a profound shock.
key legislators, not to evaluate
Many find it difficult to un-
pending legislation.
derstand why the government is
But the hearing produced rushing toward territorial com-
something approaching hysteria promise with Yassir Arafat, who
among both peace process back- continues to promote "jihad"
ers and opponents. The intensi- against Israel.
ty pointed to a qualitative change
It is hard for them to see pic-
in the peace process debate in this tures of Jews in their West Bank
country — a change reflecting the
same mounting pressures and
the same raw nerves driving the
Taba talks.
Since the beginning of the
Madrid peace process, Israel's
leaders have pursued a policy of
pragmatic postponement. Nego-
tiators have focused on the least
controversial issues — the return
of Gaza, limited self-rule in se- ghettos, surrounded by Pales-
lected areas of the West Bank, tinians who seem anything but
the turning over of administra- peaceable — images that play to
tive functions to the Palestinian a finely honed sensitivity to Jews
Authority — and put off tougher in danger.
questions until a solid foundation
But on the other side of the
for peace could be constructed.
widening divide, many American
That foundation, it was be- Jews see the settlers as danger-
lieved, would invest both Israelis ous fanatics whose stubbornness
and Palestinians in the peace and rage threatens to destroy Is-
process so there could be no turn- rael's best chance for a peaceful
ing back when the bottom-line is- future.
sues — the future of Jerusalem,
There is no middle ground,
the fate of thousands of Jewish here or in Israel, on settlements.
settlers, the question of water
But the Jerusalem conundrum
rights — were broached.
is even trickier.
That policy has sustained the
For years, Israeli governments
negotiations even through crises sought to reinforce support from
touched off by Hamas terrorists American Jews by focusing on
and Israeli extremists. But as the the central symbol of Jerusalem
Palestinian-Israeli talks edge for- — the "undivided, eternal" capi-
ward, the time of reckoning is tal of both Israel and the Jewish
drawing near.
people, in their parlance.
Jerusalem, although scheduled
The very idea of discussing the
to be part of the "final status" city's future with another people
talks, is being pulled inexorably who lay claim to its streets is pro-
into the process as nearby terri- foundly disturbing to an Ameri-
tory is readied for Palestinian
control, and as both the Israeli ENDING page 122

The most explosive
issues cannot be
postponed.

120