European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 13, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 genuine peace would Benefit whole Mideast Cal Thomas Cairo Egypt despite setbacks and twists and turns resembling the chaotic traffic in this congested City the spokes Man for the egyptian foreign ministry predicts talks Between Israel and the pal Estine liberation organization will succeed in the near future. Nagiel Ghetrifi tells me he sees no serious problems that will damage what been achieved until How.". Ghetrifi also says Plo chairman Yas ser Arafat has contributed to the bottle neck the peace talks Are now experienc ing because of his insistence on symbols which Are not very serious.". The palestini ans Are going to have their state he says regard less of symbols. There Are signs All Over Cairo that say no to terror ism and Ghetrifi says he believes All sides have concluded that blood shed and hatred must end. But terrorist groups continue their work most recently last month in Cairo when they attacked a bus full of tourists and in Southern Lebanon where a Roadside bomb injured a militiaman. The israelis retaliated by shelling the area. Egypt has responded by providing armed escorts to tour buses on the Road to Israel. Ghetrifi believes the terrorist incidents reflect a dwindling minority sentiment. He specifically names Iraq s Saddam Hussein As passe saying his defeat in the persian Gulf War sent a message to extremists that they do not reflect the dominant sentiment in the Arab world. There Are rumours that Israel and Syria May work out an agreement prior to next sunday s meeting Between president Clinton and syrian president Hafez Assad. The agreement is said to include a staged israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for recognition of Israel by Syria. A group of academics from Syria and Israel has been meeting in Norway to script such a scenario though israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin said it does not have his government s approval and he does t consider its efforts binding on Israel. There is Strong opposition in his coun ,. Try to any Deal involving a pullout from the Golan which Many israelis regard As vital to their Security. The Prospect for an agreement be tween Israel and her neighbors in the Middle East is so near that is Why this May be the most critical period since the five wars Between Israel and her neigh Bors. The pressure on Israel is tremendous but the dividends of a real peace would Benefit the entire Region. The egyptian foreign ministry spokesman says a huge influx of Aid and joint business ventures will be needed after a peace settlement. A genuine peace would Lead to an economic explosion across the Middle East that could have a greater Impact than All the terrorist bombs in recent years. Poverty a Scourge in most of the countries in the area could be sharply reduced by an economic Boom. So far More than Borders and states Are involved in the current and future talks. The out come will have profound consequences for the Region for the foreseeable future. But Israel s Confidence needs to be built up by the Arab world not the re verse.,. \ Israel has been on the receiving end of five wars designed to eliminate the nation and its people. Statements by the Plo and by Israel s Arab and other neighbors have rightly caused it to question these Riou Ness of those who claim they no want peace. Only Egypt has stood by its word and Only Egypt so far is deserving of is Rael s Confidence. If Israel s adversaries want real peace they should go the extra mile As Egypt did and turn their words into deeds. The Plo could begin the process by accepting the document presented in Cairo in which Israel has promised a phased withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza. Instead the Plo has been trying to broaden the agreement by demanding even More territory. The Only Confidence an expanded agreement would build is the Plo s and they have enough Al ready. C los anglos times i tech Conception heeds ethical Stop signs.  it s been 15 years since Louise Brown s birth was flashed across the Globe in headlines announcing the arrival of the first test tube  in retrospect her Conception in a Petri dish from her Mother s egg and father s sperm seems relatively natural. Today a Man s sperm can meet a woman s egg for a one night stand in a Laboratory. The genetic offspring of these strangers can then be placed in a second Wom an s womb and Given to yet another couple for raising. In the years Between baby Louise and teen Ager Louise we Learned to subdivide the very word Mother into functions genetic Mother gestational Mother birth Mother social Mother. We spawned an entire generation of ethical worries about reproductive Sci ence and human nature. Now from Europe comes the next generation of these Fertile questions. They have arrived unexpectedly carrying uncomfortable Little identification tags that read retirement babies and fetus  in Italy and England women who were infertile for the most natural of All reasons they had passed menopause have been impregnated As late in life As 59 and 62 years old. With the egg from a Young woman and the sperm from a younger husband with hormones pumped in and dollars freely spent they have broken the biological  Scotland a researcher announced in a Calm scientific voice that within a few years we will be Able to Harvest eggs from an aborted female fetus. He raised the Specter of children whose own genetic mothers were literally never born. I Don t think there Are thousands of women eagerly waiting for the Chance to Cash in their social Security checks for maternity clothes and diapers. Nor do i think that a woman who chooses to have an abortion would want her female fetus to become a Mother cannot imagine that the same woman who decides not to be a birth Mother for example would consent to be coming a birth grandmother. But these cases raise deep anxieties about the choices that science now offers and human beings now have to make. And they Are by no Means the last nor most unsettling options. Recently for example the French government proposed Banning the use of donor eggs for the in Vitro fertilization of Post menopausal women. But what if these eggs belonged to the women themselves a few years ago before soldiers went off to the persian Gulf War a number banked their sperm. If women want to beat the biological clock will they Deposit their eggs in some holding tank for future use the notion of taking eggs from aborted fetuses is grotesque. But How Long is it before someone suggests filling the shortage of eggs in other ways. Will brain dead or dying females become egg donors the Way they Are now kidney and liver donors. Will we Harvest eggs Ellen Goodman to conceive our own grandchildren we need some ethical Stop signs. One Stop sign goes up at the idea of using fetal eggs at All. Another Stop sign should go up at the sight of the Dollar sign. In no Way should eggs or sperm be bought and sold in the marketplace. Will such Stop signs make it harder for infertile Cou Ples to have children maybe so. Every step on this re productive i tech Way from in Vitro fertilization to cloning has been defended As a Way to help with the real pain of infertility. But How much of a help is it for every woman who eventually delivers a child How Many others Are led further and further Down paths of false Hope that Don t have to end now until death. Even if this technology does produce a picture perfect baby for some couples it s fair to ask How much we  in moral and scientific terms for that portrait. In the end this May be the toughest ethical Issue. We live in a world that is bursting at the seams with children. We cannot count the unwanted and the underfed those in need of families. In such a world How much should be devoted to the problems of infertility before baby Louise began life in a Petri dish we de Pended on nature the life cycles the human body to determine our limits. Now we must depend on the heart and the brain. At times they seem like much Les reliable organs. C Tho Boston Globo