Int
Lebanese Christians Mistreated
(Continued from Page 14)
rian "army." The Christians
are "rightwing" confronting
the "peace-keeping forces"
of those attacking them.
The Associated Press, Reut-
ers and the New York Times
regularly carry the most at-
rociously • slanted prop-
aganda items from the area,
posing as news reports.
Contrary to every
Reuters and almost every
UPI report, the Christian
private armies are no
more "rightist" than the
Syrian invaders or PLO
terrorists.
That they have been
-rned over to slaughter is
e result of a fundamental,
if usually ignored, fact: the
Arab League, with its ideol-
ogy of a monolithic "nation
of Islam," can no more ac-
cept the existence of a
Jewish ' island (Israel).
Every action since' World
War II, military or diploma-
tic, documents that fact.
The last UN representa-
tive of a dying Lebanese re-
public pleaded for interna-
tional intervention- to save
his homeland. He is now
gone from the scene. The
Lebanese army is a shat-
tered and demoralized force,
with invaders dominant.
The present representative
of Lebanon to the UN is left
to make the timid sugges-
tion that it would be well if
the Syrian army were re-
placed by an international
army.
The Muslim Grand Mufti,
Shah Hassan Khaled, has
urged the Vatican to press
Lebanese Christians to
cooperate (read "submit").
The basic strategy of the Sy-
rians and the PLO terrorists
(who found refuge in Leba-
non after their aborted coup
in Jordan), and of their
Arab League allies, is to
close the ring about Israel.
The mopping up of the
Christian communities, for
whose survival only the Is-
rael government has shown
any practical concern, is in-
cidental to the major objec-
tive. The strategy is aimed
at the destruction of Israel.
After each of the at-
tacks on Israel, the Rus-
sians and Americans
Italian Town
Gets Red Cross
Day-Care Center
ROME (JTA) — A cere-
mony was held recently in
Potenza to inaugurate the
first Red Cross day-care
center for children in that
earthquake stricken town
'n southern Italy. About
bne-third of the finances
that were contributed for
the center came from
Jewish organizations.
The American Joint Dis-
tribution Committee (JDC),
which sponsored the project,
contributed $30,000. Other
organizations, such as
HIAS, the Jewish Agency,
ORT and Jewish philan-
thropic organizations in the
United States contributed
the rest to reach a $100,000
goal.
have fallen all over each
other to rescue the Arab
League aggressors from
the fruits of their folly.
Vying with each other,
the super-powers have
saved the aggressors
from the necessity of sit-
ting down with their in-
tended victims, who to
their surprise had
emerged as victors. After
each attack and defeat
the aggressors have been
saved from loss of "face,"
their myths and anti-
Semitic paranoia intact,
resolved to return to fight
another day and finally
destroy the "Zionists."
A fifth attack was
scheduled for the spring of
1977, and only the defection
of President Anwar Sadat
shattered the timetable.
The Israeli-Egyptian ac-
cords, certainly the most
important achievements of
President Carter's adminis-
tration, have held in spite of
the efforts of Communist
and Arab League blocs to
undermine them, and in
spite of the failure of Jordan
to join in and expand the
area of peace-making.
Now that the Reagan
Administration is launch-
ing a major drive to secure
an area in the Near East
against Russian expansion,
we have a right to expect the
military assistance to
threatened countries will be
matched by termination of
their periodic attacks on Is-
rael. The American initia-
tive comes none too soon,
with South Yemen and the
Malagasy Republic and
Ethiopia and Afghanistan
under Russian control.
Israel remains, with the
end of Lebanese indepen-
dence, the only country in
the entire region with a re-
publican form of govern-
ment. Moreover, Israel has,
unit for unit, the best army
and air force in the world.
The Saudis received
F-15s in 1978 with the pub-
lic promise of the American
government that the
equipment would not be
outfitted with aggressive
potential. -
The Reagan Adminis-
tration attempted to void
that guarantee, but was
blocked by a large
number of aroused Sena-
tors. In the last half-
century large numbers of
Americans have been kil-
led by American equip-
ment supplied to regimes
so instable they could
not, under pressure, even
keep the weapons from
falling into enemy hands.
Two things are needed.
First, a concern on the part
of the Administration in
Washington that the
slaughter of Christians in
Lebanon be halted. If inter-
vention cannot be direct, as
it was under President
Eisenhower in 1956, then at
least we should support Is-
rael intervention.
Second, an embargo on all
military equipment to ag-
gressor nations. This means
an embargo on weapons to
Syria, invader of Leba-
non and destroyer (with the
PLO) of the Lebanese re-
public. And it means an em-
bargo on all weaponry to
Saudi Arabia, so long as the
Saudis still have their dec-
laration of war out against
Israel.
It was astonishing that
the grain embargo on the
Soviet Union was suddenly
lifted by President Reagan,
without any quid-pro-quo.
We may assume that that
act had nothing to do with
American security, how-
ever, being simply a re-
sponse to pressure from
American farmers. But the
proposed shipment of mili-
tary equipment to Saudi
Arabia should be
negotiated, if at all, with an
eye to the political and mili-
tary realities of the area.
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