voice
a success!

Business & Professional Women's

Women s Campaign and Education Department leadership greeted guest speaker
event. With
Andrea Mitchell. center. of the recent Business &Professional Women's
her are Sally Krugel. advisor: Beverly Liss. Women s Campaign and Education Department
chair: Nancy Glass. Busi-
president: Linda Lee. Business & Professional Women s .

ness & Professional vice-president: Marcy Gottesman. Business & Professional Women s
associate chair. and Paula Glazier. Women s Campaign chair.
•

Members of the Palestine National Council vote to abolish the resolutions of the
Palestinian charter that called for the destruction of the state of Israel in Gaza City
Monday, in the presence of President Bill Clinton.

CLINTON IN GAZA from page 28

the Labor-led opposition in Monday's
Knesset vote.
But many Israeli observers are
interpreting these successes as short-
lived tactical triumphs. Taking a
longer view, they say the Clinton visit
has resulted in serious and lasting set-
backs, both for Netanyahu and for
Israel. Granted, they add, members of
the Palestine National Council and
other Palestinian groups did indeed
revoke their charter during a historic
meeting Monday in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has made a point of
claiming credit for the move, saying it
only came about as a result of his
unflinching stance during months of
frustrating negotiations. But in legal
substance, these observers point out,
the step taken at the Gaza meeting
was a duplication of the PNC's origi-
nal act of annulling the charter in
April 1996, a step that Netanyahu has
repeatedly dismissed. More significant-
ly, the latest act of annulment is being
seen in the Palestinian territories —
and indeed around the world — as a
giant step toward the very Palestinian
independence that the Israeli leader so
strongly opposes. Clinton's presence ar
Monday's vote, his quasi-stare visit to
the Gaza Strip and his statements
6 aimed at recognizing Palestinian sensi-
1 bilities as much as Israeli concerns —
these were all seen as huge successes
for Arafat and for the Palestinian
cause. In time, they will dwarf
I Netanyahu's ostensible achievement in
getting the charter re-annulled.
The Israeli media, describing
Clinton's visit to Gaza as a milestone

in the annals of Palestinian national-
ism, made comparisons with momen-
tous events in the history of Zionism
— the First Zionist Congress and the
Balfour Declaration among them.
In terms of relations between lead-
ers and governments, the president
and his aides stopped even the
attempt of concealing their profound
differences with Netanyahu.
This was starkly apparent in
Clinton's repeated assertion to the
assembled Palestinian representatives
in Gaza that their action on the char-
ter would speak to the hearts of the
people of Israel — rather than to their
government.
On the domestic level, too,..
Netanyahu's lurch to the right may
prove a success of short-lived duration.
It may carry him through next
Monday's Knesset vote, but rumblings
among the more moderate elements
in his coalition are already discernible.
Defense Minister Yitzhak
Mordechai, who finds himself increas-
ingly outflanked by the tough-talking
Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, is say-
ing he will "reconsider" the state of
the government.
Mordechai's top generals and
senior officials of the Shin Bet domes-
tic security agency are known to favor
a softer line on the issue of prisoner
release than that advocated by
Netanyahu and Sharon.
The prisoner issue, more than any
ocher item of dispute, has soured the
atmosphere and ignited the
in the weeks
Palestinian streets
since the Wye agreement was signed
in late October.
Clinton, throughout his visit,

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs
Correspondent Andrea Mitchell
spoke to 600 women at the re-
cent Business and Professional
Women's VOICES event.

Ms. Mitchell, who grew up in
the Jewish community of New
Rochelle, NY., and became
one of the nation's best

Isn't that... ? Jackie Smith. Scree 1 -1antler and
Linda Levy (from left) find a familiar face in

the crowd of b00 at the VOICES event.

known television journalists,
spoke on behalf of the 1999
Women's Allied Jewish
Campaign. Dollars pledged
at the event help Jews in
need in Detroit, in Israel and
58 countries around
the world.

Looking over the printed program are.
from left: Susie Pappas. Janice Steinhardt

and Sharon Lipton.

The Jewish Federation Women's
Campaign and Education Department
wishes to thank

Northern Trust Bank

The Private Bank

Transportation provided by

NORTHWEST

AIRLINES

For their support in making
Business & Professional Women's

Vo icL,3

an outstanding success!

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T his is -eciercLion

Allied Jewish Campaign

12/1

1995

Detroit Jewish News

29