Photos by the Associated Press and David Joseph Clockwise from top center, two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop in Tel Aviv with images of Netanyahu and Shas Party leader Rabbi Caduri; two boys wrapped themselves in images of Mordechai; before it was defaced, the poster read "Barak, Mordecai, Begin, Horchana, A Goat, You, Me: JUST NOT NETAIVYAHU!"; banners at the outdoor Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem hailed Netayahu; "There is no hope with Barak" said a sign in Jerusalem; Pnina Rosenblum's new image didn't seize voter attention; an ad for Netayahu is pasted over the face of Barak. Washington Braces JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent Washington linton administration offi- cials — for whom the Mideast peace process is a cornerstone of their foreign policy efforts — are straining to keep up their public facade of impartiality as the election campaign in Israel moves into its final hours. But, according to academics and opponents of the administration poli- cies, concerns are lurking just below the surface about the impact of a victory by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the promised U.S. effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian talks, and a grow- ing realization that a win by Labor leader Ehud Barak is no guarantee of a quick end to the dangerous stalemate. Regardless of who wins on Monday — or in a June 1 runoff— the Israeli- Palestinian standoff will not end quick- ly, despite the one-year target date for completion of permanent status talks recently set by the administration, said Yossi Alpher, director of the American Jewish Committee's Israel office and a noted Israeli political analyst. "The notion you can complete final status talks a year from now is pretty unrealistic," he said. "Those talks were initially allotted three years — and even Then, many of us felt that while there could be substantial progress, you couldn't clear up everything." And a Barak victory, he said, will not jump-start the stalled talks. "It's going to take a month to put a gov- ernment together, another to begin to function," he said. "By then you're into August, when everybody in Israel is on vacation. September is the High Holidays. Realistically, nothing will really start before October." If Barak decides to implement the provisions of last year's Wye Accords, he said, the right will likely try to hold up peace talks even longer through parliamentary maneuvers. The administration, Alpher suggest- ed, would have little option but to sup- port Barak, even though it would miss the one-year goal set fora final deal. If there is a Netanyahu victory, Washington will anxiously wait to see what coalition he puts together. Another right-wing/religious govern- ment would quickly put U.S.-Israel WASHINGTON on page 25 The Americans Cometh Washington's most famous spinmeisters have changed Israeli electioneering. T Jerusalem he Americanization of Israeli politics — so prominent in . this race — was certified in . the 1996 election when Likud challenger Binyamin Netanyahu hired Republican Parry gunslinger Arthur Finkelstein as an adviser. Finkelstein, who had coached Republicans Jesse Helms and Alfonse D'Amato in their Senate campaigns, was known as a master of the negative campaign. So he had Netanyahu tie incumbent Prime Minister Shimon Peres to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, hammering away at the upsurge in ter- ror since the Rabin-Peres regime came to office four years earlier. Over and over, Netanyahu repeated the devastat- ing slogan, "Peres w ill divide Jerusalem." It worked. Ehud Barak, the 1999 Labor party ,, (( challenger, decided to out-Finkelstein Finkelstein. He brought in James Carville, the man who steered Bill Clinton to the White House. Under his tutelage, Barak has reminded Israeli voters of what they'd seemed to have forgotten: that he, the most decorated military man in the country's history, is no slouch when it comes to security. Night after night on the TV campaign ads, viewers see archive photos of Barak dressed not in a suit, but in a uniform; not seated, hands clasped, for a talk show, but standing, gun in his hand, over a Palestinian terrorist he'd just shot. This is a macho country, and Carville, an ex-Marine from Louisiana, knows macho talk. He, too, believes in repeating sim- ple, effective messages until they lodge deep in voters' brains. He's had Barak drive home the accusation that the Netanyahu government "is mired down on every front" — especially concerning the economy and educa- tion. Barak has filled the TV screen with Israelis struggling to feed their families, Israelis who voted for Netanyahu in 1996 and have had enough of him. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, again under Finkelstein's wing, seems to be waging the last campaign all over again. His commercials show scenes of past bus bombings and remind Israelis — correctly — that under his rule, terror has dropped. Once again, he boasts that only he can keep Jerusalem undivided. But with terror subsided, Netanyahu is offering to solve a prob- lem that many voters see as already solved. Besides, Barak, with a nearly matchless record as a scourge of ter- rorists, was in the army most of the time the buses were exploding. As for Netanyahu's Jerusalem gambit, Barak has neutralized this by repeatedly showing Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert declaring that Barak is "dedi- cated" to maintaining Israeli sover- eignty over the entire capital. As it happens, rumors swirl that Netanyahu blames Finkelstein for a recent drop in the polls. And Carville? He's enhancing a global rep- utation as the mildly liberal politi- cian's best friend. P1 — Larry Derfner 5/14 1999 Detroit Jewish News 23