thousands of right-wingers protested that Barak was preparing to "redivide" the capital, a charge that drove one of Barak's predecessors, Shimon Peres, from office. munities — Barak will have pulled off a historic coup. If, however, the withdrawal blows up in Israel's face, Barak will be left without a political leg to stand on. Crawling Talks Assad's Role Meanwhile, peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians continued at their tortoise's pace. A final-status accord is scheduled to be reached by Sept. 13, the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accord. But the two sides are so far apart that they're not even bothering to dis- cuss the pressing issues — Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, borders and water. What's the point, when Barak is having such a hard time coming to terms with his right wing on such miniscule matters as Abu Dis? On the same day as the Knesset vote and the big protest demonstration in Jerusalem, the Palestinians held demonstrations of their own, which had nothing to do with Abu Dis. All over the West Bank and Gaza, they threw rocks and bottles at Israeli sol- diers, and Palestinian police- men even opened fire, which the Israelis returned. They were enraged over the freezing of the peace process, and Israel's refusal to release hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. When the dust cleared, five Palestinians were dead and some 450 were injured, while about a dozen Israeli soldiers were injured by bullets or rocks. The confrontation was the worst in nearly four years, but it underlined one of Barak's accomplishments — Israelis have been safe from Palestinian violence during his-tenure, a continuation of the situation which be g an under Netanyahu. The follow- ing day the protests cooled consider- ably, and it appeared that security would continue to be a strong point of Barak's record. He's gambling with it, though. He's preparing to pull the Israeli army out of south Lebanon, where it's been dug in since 1985, fighting a war of attrition with the Islamic guerrilla organization - Hezbollah. Barak has informed the U.N. and the U.S. that the army will be out by July 7. If it goes peacefully — if Hezbollah does not carry the war across the border and into the north- ern Israeli towns and farming com- The success or failure of the with- drawal depends on the response from Syria, which is Lebanon's de facto ruler. - This has been Barak's great disap- pointment of the last year — the fail- ure to close a deal with Syrian President Hafez Assad. The talks foundered on Assad's demand to return Syria's border to the northeast- ern shore of Lake Kinneret, where it was on the eve of the Six-Day War. Barak refused, saying that control of Lake Kinneret — which provides 40 The confrontation underlined one of'13arak's accomplishments. percent of Israel's water — was a mat- ter of vital national security. Although he failed to reach an agreement, Barak seems to have won points in domestic and international public opinion for his handling of the negotiations. He showed the world that he was willing to make vast con- cessions — the entire Golan Heights — for peace, while showing Israelis that he had red lines that he would not cross. Barak's performance on socioeco- nomic issues has been his outstanding failure. He campaigned on a domestic policy that sounded like something out of FDR's New Deal, but upon taking office began implementing a policy that seemed modeled on the GOP's Contract With America. He cut spending, kept the deficit in check, and held down inflation. However, he's made no dent at all in high unemployment, nor in the income gap between rich and poor, which is either the widest or second widest (after the U.S.) in the industri- alized world. TAKING STOCK on page 28 Clothing • Accessories • Ideas Inside Orchard Mall 851 - 1260 eacon, Suite #200, Livonia, MI 48150 I 920 ext. 201 • Fax 734.266.1446 Swim Lessons Model Rocket Camp Indoor Rock Climbing Wilderness Camping Basics Radio Control Airplane/Cars Collective Dance Arts & Crafts Cheerleading Field Trip Camps Archery z z z A T H'4 " I C S Summer Day Camps with Goals of Fun, safety and Quality. Waterskiing Wake Boarding Tennis Roller Hockey Goff Advanced Golf Volleyball Soccer Basketball Football Ice Hockey Tots & Moms 5328 Highland Rd., Waterford, MI 48327 • Phone: (248) 673-0100 Fax: (248) 673-1084 eck our Expanded Classified Section of DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Murray & Marc Classic photography 350-2420 APPLEGATE SQUARE 5/19 2000 27