ARAB AMERICANS SHOCKED

Khalid Saffuri, assistant executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim Council, heard the news as he was walking into his office. "Oh my God!" he thought. "The peace process is dead." Speaking to TIME's William Dowell Saturday, Saffuri expressed concern that Shimon Perez, who lacks Rabin's charisma, may lose the next election. He told Dowell: "If the Labor Party loses the next election, the peace process is over. I am shocked. For the first time since it began, I think the peace process is in real danger. This is a real blow. Rabin was a man committed to peace." "All of us are frightened about the future," James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, told Dowell. "We know there are going to be dark days ahead, but going back will be worse."