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enhancing strategic relations with
Washington, but negotiators still
haven't finished a job they expected
Would be done weeks ago '
U.S. and Israeli sources say that
while there is broad agreement on the
need to reinforce defense ties, there
are still several major stumbling
blocks.
At the top of the list: U.S. demands
that Israel clear its major arms sales to
other countries, and Israel's corre-
sponding desire for a measure of
input in United States sales through-
out the Middle East.
The issue has taken on greater
prominence in recent weeks as Israeli
officials have leaked information
about how much money their coun-
try stands to lose because of last
month's cancellation of a big sale of
radar planes to China after strong
U.S. opposition.
And Israeli sensitivities on the sub-
ject have Beenrubbed raw by the
recent announcement that a group of
other nations will get additional
access to U.S. supercomputers, an
essential tool for making atomic
bombs.
"At the same time we're having con-
versations with Israel about limiting
sales to China and India, the presi-
dent is giving the same countries
access to these advanced computers
that will allow them to simulate
nuclear explosions," said Shoshana
Bryen, special projects director for
the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs.
President Bill Clinton and Prime
Minister Ehud Barak did "very seri-
ous work" on the strategic relations
issue during their meetings at last
week's UN Millennium Summit in
New York, an Israeli official said.
Lower level talks will resume in
Washington this week, the source
said, adding "There is a very strong
commitment to keeping Israel strong
and meeting new strategic challenges,
but so far, nothing has been final-
ized." And officials in both capitals
decline to speculate about when that
might happen.
The issue is also tied to additional
military aid to help Israel meet the
costs of security in the wake of the
Lebanon withdrawal and West Bank
redeployments. U.S. and Israeli offi-
cials have discussed a number of pos-
sible aid packages, but the talks have
been hampered by the uncertain state
of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
U.S. officials say the administration
will ask for a huge security package if
a deal is reached, a much more mod-

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est one if the negotiations remain
stalled, primarily to help with the
costs of the Lebanon redeployment.
"Nobody's ready to give up hope
for the (Israeli-Palestinian) talks," said
one administration official. "But until
we know if they are going to bear
fruit, it's very difficult to know exact-
ly what kind of aid package we
should be discussing with Congress."

Documenting Grief

Deborah Oppenheimer's mother never
talked about her experiences as a
"Kindertransport" child. That reticence
was not uncommon among the 10,000
Jewish children from Germany,
Czechoslovakia and Austria whom the
program helped to find refuge in
England during the Nazi years.
It was Oppenheimer's personal
need to fill in the blanks in her late
mother's life that aave rise to a docu-
mentary film previewed at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum this
week, Into the Arms of Strangers.
"My mother could never talk about
it," said Oppenheimer, the film's pro-
ducer. "She passed away in 1993, and
the story went with her. In a way, her
passing gave me permission to search
out her story, and it provided a way
of dealing with my grief."
Oppenheimer, a Los Angeles-based
television producer, began doing
research into the almost forgotten
historical episode. "The paucity of
information surprised me," she said.
"So I called the museum. They were
very responsive."
In fact, the film — which will show
initially in five cities, including
Washington, New York and Los
Angeles — is a unique collaborative
effort between the producers and the
museum. The museum hosted the
Monday premier, which was attended
by a dozen Kindertransport survivors,
and unveiled a small display of arti-
facts carried by the children during
their exile.
The documentary centers on inter-
views with survivors, providing
poignant commentary on the trauma
of separation as children left their
families for a foreign country. Most
never saw their parents again; some
faced a second wrenching separation
when they left their British foster par-
ents after the war.
After its initial five-city run, the
film may be released across the coun-
try, if there is sufficient box office
interest. Oppenheimer hopes it will
be shown on television and distrib-
uted in videocassette form.

❑

