Local Activists Voice Cautious Optimism : Reaction: Arabs and Jews in the L.A. area hold no rallies. Many await details on the accords.

Stunned by the dizzying pace of events in the Middle East and scarred by agonizing memories of decades of hostilities between the PLO and Israel, Los Angeles-area Arab and Jewish activists are reacting with cautious optimism to the historic agreement by the two sides to officially recognize each other.

“Our mindsets have always been, ‘Can you trust?’ ‘Can this be true?’ ” said Steven F. Windmueller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Committee for the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. “This moves the process along to the next level . . . toward a period of at least hoped-for stability.”

Echoed Don Bustany, local president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee: “There will be some setbacks . . . but this is an important step to the creation of a peaceful accord.”

As momentum builds toward the likely signing Monday of an agreement on limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, few public statements have been issued and no major rallies have been held in Southern California--a region with a significant Arab presence and a Jewish population larger than that of either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

For many Jewish leaders concerned about Israel’s military security and bearing painful memories of terrorist acts, it is a matter of waiting for additional details about the peace process and its potential long-term impact. They hope to receive specific answers, they say, during a scheduled appearance by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres at a Westwood synagogue Sept. 19.

“The general tenor of the Jewish community is hopefully to cool it, to learn more about the ingredients of the peace process but at the same time to lift up the stature of the state of Israel and to hopefully provide unity during very tenuous negotiations,” said Rabbi Jack Simcha Cohen of Los Angeles, regional president-elect of the American Zionist Movement.

Arab activists, angered by the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights since 1967, say their muted public response is due in large part to their concerns that even such a momentous act as mutual recognition is but a single step toward the ultimate Palestinian goal of self-determination.

“There are people who say this is not near enough--that they were offered a piece of bone with no meat on it whatsoever,” said Dr. Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Center of Southern California. “There are also those who say it is a step, and a step is better than nothing. But all agree unanimously this should never be the whole story.”

Those on both sides of the fence are quick to acknowledge that public posturing halfway across the globe could also appear presumptuous or arrogant.

“People have opinions, but it’s a ‘Who am I?’ attitude right now,” explained Jack Salem, a past co-chair of the Jewish Federation Council’s committee on the Middle East. “Those in (the Middle East are the ones) living and dying by their decisions.”

Still, the staggering turn of events is leaving a marked impact in the Southland--from rabbis scurrying to rewrite their sermons for the coming High Holy Days to a slain Palestinian immigrant’s brother, who dreams about returning in peace to his West Bank birthplace.

“What we are witnessing is a historical breakthrough in the sense that all people have finally decided to accept the existence of each other,” said Sami Odeh, whose brother, Alex, was killed in the 1985 bombing of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee’s western office in Santa Ana.

Although never charged, Robert Manning, the prime suspect in the case, has been linked to the militant Jewish Defense League in the United States and the ultranationalist Kach movement in Israel.

“I still remember Oct. 11, 1985, when I got a call about my brother being blown up in pieces,” said Odeh, current president of the AAADC’s Orange County chapter. “That day will never, never, never, never disappear from my life. But I am willing to forgive.

“I can envision myself going back to Jifna and enjoying a good cup of Turkish coffee with Jewish friends without the fear and apprehensions and guns and fighting.”

Khader Hamide, a 39-year-old Bethlehem native who has faced federal deportation proceedings in Los Angeles since 1987 on charges he provided material support to a militant PLO faction, said the accords appear to be “a first step” toward having the freedom to decide whether to return home someday.

“Even if I chose to be deported to Bethlehem, I would not be accepted by the Israeli government right now,” said Hamide, a San Bernardino County sales representative accused of aiding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist group. “It’s a dream to be able to see my homeland and my family, whom I haven’t seen for 15 years.”

Rabbi Joel Rembaum, president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, said he and many other rabbis are “ambivalently hopeful” about the prospective accords between Israel and the PLO.

“An economically and socially strong Israel will be a secure Israel,” said Rembaum, senior rabbi of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles. “The only way for this to exist is with peace. But I am ambivalent because the Arabs have to prove their faithfulness.”

On the first morning of Rosh Hashanah next Thursday, Rembaum said he had planned to address his congregation on the topic of how Judaism copes in a world filled with hate. Now, he will modify his remarks to deal with the meaning of peace and the difficulties in achieving it--both in the Middle East and individual homes.

Still, the reality is that there is no uniform opinion on the accords.

“The Israeli government chooses to have confidence and trust and chooses to risk, in this relationship, their national security,” said Rabbi Julian White, a fellow Temple Beth Am cleric and regional chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel. “I don’t understand that, I can’t accept that. It’s a risk that they don’t have a right to take and that is illogical to take.”