September 3, 1993

For Steven Spiegel, a Middle East historian at the University of California at Los Angeles, the prospect of a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is the kind of thing an analyst lives for: what he calls "a great historic moment." "My God," he recalled saying to himself when he heard reports that negotiators were close to an agreement. "That does it. This is the opportunity for the Middle East to make it into the 21st century. It now has a chance not to be a backwater. Israel has a chance to realize its potential to be the Singapore of the Middle East." Wide Range of Reactions Across the country, as American Jews followed the progress of talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, there was plenty of hope that at long last the Middle East could be at the beginning of a new era.

Joining the fall rush to cash in on the voracious appetite for new public stock offerings, Barnes & Noble Inc., the country's largest operator of book superstores and owner of the B. Dalton, Doubleday and Scribner's bookstore chains, is planning to sell a stake in its future. That future, the company says, holds almost 300 book superstores, which are fast becoming the libraries of choice for many readers.

It was 7:45 A.M., and still cool, but as Dr. Bernard Smith drove his Jeep to his abortion clinic, he was sweating. It was his bulletproof vest that was making him hot. Dr. Smith has been performing abortions for more than 10 years, much of the time driving a weekly 600-mile circuit of abortion clinics in three states. As fewer and fewer abortion doctors are willing to put up with the harassment and tension in their own communities, such circuit riders have become far more common.

A Federal judge has ordered that 5,000 extra people be called as prospective jurors in the World Trade Center bombing case, one that promises to be one of the most closely followed criminal trials in New York City history. The 5,000 extra summonses -- one of the largest single issues ever made in Federal Court in Manhattan -- more than doubles the pool of prospective jurors called each month to the courthouse in lower Manhattan. It is 10 times the number of people called for the trial of John Gotti in Federal Court in Brooklyn last year.

Senior officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization said today that they were within reach of an agreement with Israel on mutual recognition. And along with hopes and fears on both sides, success or failure of the agreement could determine the future of Yasir Arafat as the P.L.O. chairman. "Things are moving ahead quickly toward a recognition accord with Israel, which we expect within days," Bassam Abu Sharif, a close aide to Mr. Arafat, said in a telephone interview. He also made clear that he expected United States recognition of the P.L.O. to follow soon after.