ISRAELI JOURNALIST ADDRESSES MIDEAST

An Israeli journalist told a campus audience Wednesday that peace in the Middle East would have political as well as civilian casualties.

Middle East politics and the peace process were topics of discussion Wednesday afternoon at Southeast Missouri State University and the honored guest was an Israeli journalist.

Don Makovsky, a St. Louis native, is a diplomatic correspondent and analyst with the Jerusalem Post and a special correspondent with U.S. News and World Report.

He spoke to a few groups during his campus visit, which included a presentation open to the public called "The Road to Middle East Peace: Prospects and Perils."

Although a milestone was reached when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yassir Arafat shook hands in Oslo, Norway, over a year ago, he said the road to peace still will be a hard one.

Since Israel took control of the outlying territories in the 1968 war, Makovsky said, Israelis and Palestinians have had tense relations.

"Palestinians want control of their own settlements," he said. "For 27 years the country has been trying to decide what to do about the territories. Rabin shaking Arafat's hand was a major leap, but the hard part is ahead."

Makovsky, the first Israeli journalist permitted in Saudi Arabia, not only has first-hand experience with Middle East politics, he received a master's degree in Middle East studies from Harvard University. He also has an undergraduate degree from Columbia University.

He said tensions have claimed civilian lives inside Israel and he expects more bloodshed. He also expects the political death of Rabin.

"He can still turn it around before the election in '96," he said, "but if the elections were today he wouldn't win."

Makovsky said the bloodshed inside Israel -- in Tel Aviv and at coastal towns, not in the territories -- has the Israeli people upset at Rabin.

"He promised peace," he said. "And since Rabin was a military leader, people thought he knew what he was talking about. He hasn't been able to deliver peace and he hasn't been able to improve the economic situation."