Shaping An Identity Sizing Up Barak "In the long run, if you were to gauge the reac- tion of the Arab and Palestinian community, it would be cautiously optimistic. This week's opening of a safe passage through the Gaza Strip was a real step forward. "There's a lot of work ahead of (Barak) to be done in the peace process, and he's building up a lot of credibility with the Arab people. The time seems to be coming ripe in the region for them to make peace with each other. They are arriving at a time when this is going to happen." — Robert Ghannam, coordinator, Arab-American and Chaldean Council; president, Michigan Chapter American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee L r Smil e s "As expected, Prime Minister Barak has taken a middle course, one that combines a genuine desire to move forward in the peace negotiations with the Palestinians, with asserting Israel's pre rogatives regarding Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements. "Through his pragmatic approach, he has made considerable progress in restoring good relations between the U.S. administration and the Israeli government, bringing together many of the various reli- gious and ethnic factions in Israel, and increasing the level of trust among Arab leaders." — David Gad-Harf, executive director, Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit "Mr. Barak is momentarily popular with the myriad of Israel's enemies and so-called 'friends' as a result of the following: He has released 350 Arab terrorists with another 250 killers to fol low. He has created huge lethal swaths of 'safe, passage' territory through the heart of Israel for Arabs to travel. He has agreed to give away the remainder of the 11 percent of additional land under the Wye Accord. For these unbelievably huge and self-destruc- tive concessions, Barak has received from the Arabs absolutely nothing other than the oft- repeated promises to grant the Israelis 'security and to stop teaching their children to say bad things about them. "It is enough to make a grown man or woman cry — and many of us do." — Jerome S. Kaufman, president, Zionist Organization of America/Michigan Region, national ZOA secretary "The initial accomplishments of the Barak administration: completed successfully the complex negotiations leading to a multiparty coalition government to advance the Oslo and 10/15 •orpfp4„ .a President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak confer at the White House. Israel's new leader quickly made friends in Washington, but American Jews have some concerns. JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent here was no mistaking official ashington's sigh of relief in May when Ehud Barak deposed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Israel's national elections. The Clinton administration saw that out- come as a necessary turning point in the moribund peace process. Despite warnings that Washington's euphoria would be quickly punctured by harsh Mideast realities, the new prime minister has spurred a restoration of the "special relationship" between the two allies. Barak has won considerable latitude from his American partners as he launches into contentious permanent-status negotiations with the Palestinians on Jerusalem, water, refugees, settlements and the nature and extent of a Palestinian state. But there could be rough water ahead. "The tensions could re-emerge, especially if Israel is seen as not moving quickly enough on the Syrian front," said Robert 0. Freedman, president of Baltimore Hebrew University and an expert on the Middle East. "And if some of the reports on Israel's construction of new housing on the West Bank are true, it could be a red flag for the administration. There is a reservoir of good feeling right now, but its not bottomless." Barak has been helped by the often-inept perfor- mance of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has not matched the Israeli's strong confidence-building measures, and by the erratic Syrian President Hafez Assad, who has angered and disappointed officials here with his peace-process foot dragging.