Lecture ponders fate of Israeli-PLO accord

"Need a Second Opinion About Middle East Peace?" the flier asked. But many of the approximately 50 students, professors and community members at a Monday lecture on the Israeli-P.L.O. peace accord seemed to need no second opinion. Adam Garfinkle, a resident scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, defined the implications of the peace process as "staggering in their potentiality." The former University political science professor began his lecture by identifying himself as an analyst of Middle East politics. "An analyst," he explained, "is one who has studied long enough to be profoundly wrong." With this introduction, he briefly summarized Arab-Israeli relations, beginning with the 1973 Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi Arabian coalition formed against Israel and ending with the developments surrounding the September 13 declaration. This declaration, he said, was an attempt at "psychological normalization" for the Israelis. The Clinton administration adopted a different approach from the Bush administration in advancing the peace process, one that Garfinkle described as much more congenial. "Since Vice-President Gore is a deep friend of Israel, the negative rhetoric of the Bush administration is being reversed," Garfinkle said. "[Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is] determined to do whatever he can to bring about peace. He says what he means and he means what he says," Garfinkle continued. "Sixty-five percent of the Israeli people favor the agreement. The opposition is less than feared." But the opinions of the audience were less uniform than the statistics Garfinkle cited. "I think [the prospects] are very good," said Economics Professor Uri Spiegel, who is an Israeli. "Until now, the Arabs didn't have too much to lose. Now, every party has something to lose. There's a risk, of course, but it's a calculated risk." Rabbi Sharon Stiefel, assistant director of Hillel, echoed Spiegel. "We've known war for so long, we can try peace," she said. "I'm excited about the possibilities." But Blanche Wetstein, a Philadelphia resident who identified herself as "a concerned Jewish grandmother," was not so hopeful. "There is no reason to assume that the Arabs will be satisfied with this agreement," she said. "The Palestinian flag is already flying in Jerusalem." Yossi Wetstein, a Drexel University graduate student, agreed. "It's wonderful to be optimistic," he said, "but there's optimism and then there's realism." Despite the variety of opinions, everyone seemed to agree with Garfinkle's conclusion that Israel "is at the beginning of a very perilous, treacherous journey. It isn't over yet." The United Jewish Appeal, in cooperation with PennPac and the Penn Israel Connection, sponsored the lecture.