opponents of this
peace process are
getting much more
desperate because the
process is working.

4. Will the agreement precipitate a
major schism in the Jewish world?
That's the fear of many Jew-
ish leaders.
Lerner, the Young Israel fire-
brand, predicted that polariza-
tion will inevitably increase as
Israel begins withdrawal from
the West Bank.
"People will have to make a President Clinton watches as Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat sign.
decision," he said. "People can't
sit on the sides any more."
The widening rift is "a source of enor- Larry Rubin, executive director of the Na-
mous concern," said Rabbi David Saper- tional Jewish Community Relations Ad-
stein, director of the Religious Action visory Council. 'There is a threat of violent
Center of Reform Judaism and a leading civil conflict there. That would be painful,
wrenching and tragic for our own com-
peace process supporter.
"People have the right to have different munity."
But civil disorder like the rampage last
positions. But the stridency and anger with
which these concerns are being expressed weekend of some Hebron settlers is un-
is a source of growing anxiety to main- likely to spill over into the American Jew-
stream Jewish leaders, who see it as lead- ish community.
"There is a lunatic fringe in the Amer-
ing to a kind of sectarian divisiveness that
we in America have been spared from, so ican Jewish community that is engaged in
verbal violence," he said. "But we don't see
far."
As the implementation of Oslo II accel- any indications that they are likely to turn
erates, he said, that stridency — and the that into physical violence."
Others aren't so sure.
denominational conflict — are likely to in-
"I can't rule out the possibility," said
crease as well.
Gary Rubin, executive director of Ameri-
5. What about support for the peace process in cans for Peace Now. "There was a bomb

8. What about Jerusalem?
It gives negotiators on both sides mi-
graines.
Yassir Arafat, for all his moderate words
at the White House last week, took the op-
portunity to stake yet another verbal claim
to the city.
"I would say that the sanctity of Jeru-
salem for us all dictates that we make it
the joint cornerstone and the capital of
peace between the Palestinian and the Is-
raeli peoples," he said.
Right-wing Jews predict that Rabin is
prepared to make concessions that would
subvert Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its
undivided capital.
But most experts expect the tough-
minded Israeli leader to search for a com-
promise that would retain Israeli
sovereignty over the city while paying lip
service to the Palestinian desire for a pres-
ence.
"You can fudge Jerusalem," said BHU's
Robert 0. Freedman. "It will remain Is-
rael's capital, and the United States will

Other challenges include the extent and
nature of the Palestinian police force,
which many critics argue is being trans-
formed into an army, and the inevitable
trappings of a "real" state that will ac-
company the transition from Israeli to
Palestinian rule.
And the Palestinian Authority must
remove language in the PLO covenant call-
ing for Israel's destruction, the longest de-
ferred issue in the Israeli-Palestinian
agenda.
`That will be a very important factor for
American Jews in the next few months,"
said Robert 0. Freedman, acting president
of Baltimore Hebrew University and a
leading Mideast expert. "It's essential that
Arafat follow through and make these
changes."

PHOTOS BY AP/RNS

placed in front of our office in January,
the rest of the Jewish community?
It remains high, according to the recent 1994; I get hate mail in my office every
American Jewish Committee survey, al- week. And the opponents of this peace
though is has declined in the past two process are getting much more desperate,
years. And a majority of Jews have deep because the process is working. So we can't
reservations about Yassir Arafat's trans- rule out the possibility of a violent re-
sponse, in Israel or here."
formation from terrorist to statesman.
Those statistics suggest that support for
7. What significant issues lie ahead in Israel's
the peace process is volatile.
Rabin enjoys considerable latitude with negotiations with the Palestinians?
Terrorism and the Palestinian Author-
most American Jews, which is likely to in-
ity's response will be
crease with the signing of
pivotal. The original De-
Oslo II. But that support
claration of Principles
could falter if the Pales-
was a largely abstract
tinian Authority begins
document. Oslo II is
to lose in its battle against
real, with consequences
terrorism.
that will quickly be-
come apparent on the
6. Could the civil disorder in
ground. Many Jews
Israel, and the possibility of
here believe that Arafat
violence spill over into the
must now be held to a
American Jewish communi-
higher standard when
3. Why is there a growing split between Ortho- tY?
it comes to the PA's re-
Gary Rubin
"It's
a
terribly
serious
dox Jews and the rest of the Jewish commu-
sponse to terrorism.
problem for Israel," said
nity?
It was no accident that the
demonstrations protesting last
week's signing were organized
by Orthodox groups.
Some of that opposition is
based on the religious belief in a
"greater Israel," and a deeply
rooted opposition to giving up
land occupied by Jews, based on
religious principles.
Even more importantly, a
large proportion of the 140,000
settlers in the West Bank are for-
mer — primarily Orthodox —
Americans.
"For us it's personal," said
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive
director of the National Council
of Young Israel and an organiz-
er of last week's demonstrations.
"Our children are there, our par-
ents, our money. That's different
from Jews who have been to Aca-
pulco, but not to Israel. What do
you do when there are 100,000
settlers, and a good number of
them are Young Israelites?"

sions over the peace process will grow even
deeper and more bitter as large tracts of
West Bank land are turned over to Pales-
tinian control. Afafat's behavior will, to a
great extent, shape the American Jew-
ish response.
"If he shows the kind of new sensitivi-
ty he showed in his formal speeches in
Washington, we'll see the pattern we've
seen in the past year — very vocal oppo-
sition from a small minority, quiet support
from a majority," said a former official with
a major Jewish group in Washington.
"If he immediately resumes his talk
about 'jihad,' or if he is irresolute in re-
sisting new terrorism, the opposition will
gain."
Divisions will deepen further if there
are tragedies in places like Hebron, where
Jews will be on the front lines of the chang-
ing Middle East.

move its embassy there. But you can have
a Palestinian borough in East Jerusalem
that would be headquarters for whatever
Palestinian entity emerges. That's not an
impossible solution."
American Jews, he said, would probably
support such a compromise — if it seemed
like the last element in a comprehensive
structure for peace, and if Arafat and com-
pany proved themselves during the inter-
im period.

9. Despite State Department hopes, there were
no high-level Syrian representatives at last
week's signing. What's in store for the Syri-
an-Israeli negotiations in the wake of Oslo II?
Not much. And the Israelis, distracted
by the recent Taba negotiations and by the
upcoming implementation ordeal, don't

