July 8, 1992

Call it the great banana war of 1992. It broke out when the European market did not open as expected, saddling the big growers, newly expanded for the cause, with surpluses. Prices in Europe -- and to a lesser degree in the United States -- dropped along with the profits of the big brand companies like Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita. Investors have stampeded out of fruit stocks. As the world's biggest banana marketer and the only one of the Big Three that relies on bananas for its fortunes, Chiquita Brands International has been kicked hardest. While shares of Dole Foods, the other large public company with banana operations, dropped to $27.75 yesterday, from a high of $48 last year, Chiquita's stock price has plunged to $15.75 from a high of $50.75 last year. That brings the company's stock price below its year-end book value of $19.39 a share.

Policy makers groping to understand how auto sales could be rising even as more Americans are losing their jobs could do at least as well consulting Steven M. Parr as their statistician or economist. "We had a great June," he said today at the Haldeman Ford dealership here, tapping a well-polished loafer on the floor for emphasis. "Our sales staff is charged up. The buyers are there."

Describing Zionism for the first time as a "liberation movement," the Rev. Jesse Jackson brought a message of reconciliation today to a conference of the World Jewish Congress. Leaders of Jewish groups said later that the speech could lead to a rejuvenation of political cooperation between black Americans and American Jews. Mr. Jackson, delegates said, went further than before in affirming the right of Israel to exist. While not abandoning his support of Palestinian rights, Mr. Jackson said the victory of Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party in the Israeli elections last month was "a breath of fresh air for peace and security for Israel."

Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato yesterday hit a bump on what had been his clear path to the Republican nomination for a third term with the announcement that Laurance Rockefeller, a 47-year-old political novice with a famous New York political name, would challenge him in a Republican primary. Mr. Rockefeller, known as Larry, is an environmental lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nephew of former Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and the son of Laurance S. Rockefeller, the philanthropist and conservationist. He has never run for political office, but has been active on behalf of environmental and liberal causes, and had been weighing a race for the United States Senate seat for months before telling reporters several weeks ago that he would not run. Impact on Candidacy Unclear But aides said yesterday that several recent events, including the Earth Summit in Brazil and the Supreme Court's upholding of a Pennsylvania law placing restrictions on the right to abortion, had impelled him to change his mind. He is to announce his candidacy formally today in Manhattan, one day before the legal start date for collecting nominating petitions to get on the September primary ballot.

A BRIEF history of food heroes: In the 1970's, it was the restaurateur, the man who owned the joint and could give you the best table at the best time.