Mideast not home free, prof warns

The handshake was only the first step. That was one of the messages people took home from the Hillel Auditorium last night after attending a discussion of the Middle East peace accords. Ian Lustick, a political science professor who teaches "Comparative Politics of the Middle East," clarified the nature of the the recent agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. "So much has yet to be decided," Lustick explained. "There is going to be a lot that people are still going to be arguing about." According to Lustick, the agreement, which aspires to settle the ongoing battle over the territories Israel gained in the 1967 war, does not officially take effect until early October, and there will be a five year "transitional period" before any of the results become binding. Even then, Lustick said, the conditions created by the agreement can change. "Nothing is ruled out as to what people can demand," he said. Lustick also stressed the strong resemblance between the text of this year's agreement and that of the 1979 Camp David Accords, including their similar ambiguities. "The difference is that [now] the Israeli government wants to implement it," Lustick said of the new agreement. Lustick said the problems facing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat in implementing the agreement include uncertainty over how much land is governed by the agreement and likely future sabotage attempts by dissenting groups. Still, Lustick said, "the Israeli stock market has been going wild, way up, not because people are afraid of the future but because they are very confident of it." Lustick himself, however, refused to say whether he thinks the agreement is viable, discussing instead the terms of the accords and the public opinion surrounding them. Among those in last night's audience, feelings about the accords varied from cautious optimism to fear to resignation. "It's great, but it's kind of scary," College sophomore Melissa Epstein said. On the other hand, Philadelphia resident Jerry Bolis said that "Israel has committed suicide" and "Rabin has suffered a collosal defeat." His comments met with a small round of applause. The Penn Israel Connection, the Penn Public Affairs Committee and the Hillel Va'ad sponsored the events. Event coordinators Stu Loeser and Amram Tropper, both College juniors, said they were pleased with the discussion. "I'm hoping it will be a little bit provocative – some sort of trigger to discussion on campus," Tropper said.

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