/Welcome To Palestine 4460 Gcllard Lake Road West Floomfielcl, MI 48323 phone: 248.683.1010 Worries In Washington gent (Sired ofquesi 'Bloomfield Assisted living, in Studios and suites with private baths Three well planned daily meals Emergency call systems with catered services Housekeeping and linen services Round the clock staffing Nurse manager beautiful surroundings Personal care assistance Medical supervision Spa with pool and exercise room created especially Scheduled activities Game room Library for older aclulis. Hair salon Sundries shop Transportation Valet parking for residents TOURS AVAILABLE DAILY call 248.683.1010 As we enter our 20th year Robert Stewart Photography we'd like to acknowledge you - our clients - who collaborated with us to make your homes such special places. We thank you for your enthusiasm, for your many referrals of family and friends and we thank you for helping us grow. 32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills, MI • (248) 851-7540 Advertise in our Arts & Entertainment Section! find 1/8 1999 JNArts & Entertainment 24 netrnit lewich NP1/C • Call The Sales Department (248) 354.7123 Ext. 209 DETROIT SEWISII NEWS 'TN Potential administration shit on statehood has political perils. JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent I ncreasingly, analysts here believe that only the prospect of statehood can give Yassir Arafat the political capital he needs to hold on to power and to make the difficult concessions Israel demands. But hints of an administration shift on the issue have ratcheted up pressure from powerful pro-Israel groups that continue to regard a Palestinian state of any kind as a mortal danger to Israel. The administration heard that message loud and clear in May, when First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's offhanded expression of support for statehood ignited a storm of protest and forced an embarrassed White House to disavow her comments. At the same time, Arafat's recur- ring threat to unilaterally declare statehood in May, when the Oslo interim period ends, has alarmed even doves who regard statehood as a necessary goal of the peace process. "There should be no unilateral declaration," said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA). "That could bring the Middle East and the entire world into armed conflict." According to right-of-center ana- lysts, administration policy has shift- ed to favor, at least implicitly, cre- ation of the kind of Palestinian state that would threaten Israel's security. At the same time, they say, the Clinton administration has exploited Arafat's threat, thereby multiplying the risks. "The administration has to be concerned that a unilateral declara- tion runs the risk of provoking a war," said Douglas Feith, a national security staffer during the Reagan administration and a leading Oslo critic. "On the other hand, [the Clinton administration] looks at Arafat's threat as useful in spurring the Israelis to make concessions. So while they look at the execution of threat as a great danger, they look at the voicing of the threat as something that's diplomatically useful." But threats can become reality, Feith argues — a reality that guaran- tees new eruptions of violence. And the failure of the U.S. government to react strongly to Arafat's bellicose threats, according to the hard-line analysis, brings into focus the admin- istration's determination to force a deal no matter what the cost to Israel. "The unilateral nature of the threat is significant," Feith said. "If a state comes into being that way, and not through negotiations, it . will have unconstrained sovereignty. That means it will have rights that would create mortal dangers to Israel." Just before Congress adjourned in October, pro-Israel groups, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), promoted a res- olution formally stating U.S. opposi- tion to a unilateral declaration. According to critics, the measure would also have limited the adminis- tration's options in using statehood as another bargaining tool. The lobbying effort was put on hold because pro-Israel leaders did not want to be seen as sabotaging the Wye peace talks, then underway. But they say the fight will resume with the new Congress convening this month. There are also questions about what kind of state the Palestinians will be prepared to accept. Most observers agree it must be demilitarized, with limited powers to create alliances with other countries. The current Israeli government, to the extent that it will allow a state at all, insists it must be a highly frag- mented one, pocked with Jewish set- tlements and Israeli security posi- tions, bisected by access roads. Supporters and opponents alike wonder if Arafat will have the politi- cal backbone to accept such a piece- meal state — indeed, whether he will even want to. Analysts on the left insist that clos- ing the door on Palestinian statehood — and quashing every public men- tion of the goal — ultimately will be just as destructive of the peace process. "Arafat can't back down from his promise to create a state," said Judith Kipper, co-director of the Mideast program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. As we move toward final status, the United States has to say that at the end of the road there will be some kind of Palestinian state.