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Had the German gov- ernment prepared the arms deal on this precondition, it would still remain ques- tionable but it would appear in a different light and might make sense. If Riyadh, even with excellent arms from the West, still remains too weak to make peace with Israel, then just another risk would be created, but not a chance. Don't German politicians, dreaming of this arms deal, shudder at the thought that young Israeli soldiers might lose their lives in the muzzle flash of a German tank? Are German politicians not alarmed by the thought that the super-rich oil states with their billions can buy obedience and submissive- ness almost anywhere in the world, while the demo- cratic state of Israel with its suffering of the past and its distress of the present is faced, because it is poor, with a German policy of al- leged expediency? A policy at the expense of Israel? It is only with disgust that I remember Willy Brandt's government to have prohibited freighters from sailing with arms for Israel when she was in acute danger of being de- stroyed in the Yom Kippur War. If now Saudi Arabia is to receive German arms, one should listen to what Israel's former ambas- sador to the UN, Gideon Rafael, said, "The gov- ernment of the Federal Republic which under- standably does not wish to be engaged militarily in the Middle East — neither in the peace keep- ing force in Lebanon nor in the Allied rapid reac- tion force in the Persian Gulf — should meticul- ously refrain from the rivalry of supplying arms in the Arab-Israeli con- flict. Germany owes this not only to her past but also to practical political considerations of the present." Part of these praCtical political considerations is that Bonn, by arming the Saudis, would not only de- stroy confidence on the part of four million Israelis but also the hopes that many millions of Jews all over the world, particularly in the U.S., have been focusing on Germany. A worldwide loss of credibility would be the consequence of such a disas- trous error. As a German who in all humility received the dis- tinction of being awarded the title "Keeper of Jerusalem," I wince when reading in the Israeli paper Maariv: The German chan- cellor had appeared on his trip "indifferent, impatient, colorless, without inspira- tion and like a wall." I do not share this assessment. But I could not help sharing it if Israel's desperate warning of a German arms deal with the Saudis should go unheard. The label "Palesti- nians' right to self- determination," often thoughtlessly used by Germans, falls into the same category, too. Palestinians have never been a people in the sense of being a nation and they never had a state of their own. But today they have one: Jordan. Why should they establish another one? While appreciating the misery of the Palestinian refugees — something never rectified by the rich Arab countries but rather aggravated — one thing is certain: A second Palesti- nian state of the kind re- quested would be led by the forces of Arab terrorism. Franz Josef Strauss said during his visit to Israel in 1980: "It is not possible for Israel to give her military positions on the West Bank, certainly not in the next five years." Under the Israeli gov- ernment Arabs enjoy peace and tolerance. Never before in the history of the Middle East have their religious rights been protected so ef- fectively, have their work- ing and earning conditions been so energetically im- proved as in Israel today. While they used to fight poverty hopelessly with a wooden plow, they now har- vest a good crop with Israeli tractors, and their delegates sit in the Knesset. Furthermore, there is that unreflected "argu- ment" that who as a Ger- man pleads for self- determination of his people should also de- mand it for the Palesti- nians. Had we tried to push for self- determination by hijack- ing planes, kidnapping, bomb assassinations and killing of hostages, prob- ably everyone would say, we had forfeited our claim. Our pledge to st- rive for self- determination with peaceful means has never been accepted by the Palestinians as their way. For this and other reasons the two cases are not comparable. I am not talking about one-sided rigorous taking sides with Israel, but about justice. That is where Ger- man obligations to the state of the Jews stem from. The criteria of justice can be found when one looks at what has been, what is and what shall be. In this context ethics range higher than expe- diency which, well under- stood, has the benefit of coinciding with ethics. It is Heaven's grace that our people should be able to make good for the unbeliev- ably heavy guilt of the past. If we miss this gracious chance, our past would fat- ally overtake us again, our national dignity would break apart. What is at stake, what must not be lost, can best be said with a word of Bis- marck: "When the leader of a people hears the rustle of God's robe, he must reach out and grab an end of it." Mubarak Assures Berman on Egypt-Israel Relations JERUSALEM (JTA) — Egypt, in the long run, is in- terested in improving its re- lations with Israel but its short term priority is to re- turn to the Arab fold, ac- cording to Julius Berman, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organ- izations. Berman held a press con- ference here Tuesday to re- port on his talk with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in Cairo Monday. He said that despite the "cold peace" between Egypt and Israel there are ongoing contacts between the two countries. He noted as an example that Mubarak will send a message this week to Pre- mier Yitzhak Shamir on Egyptian-Israeli relations. Egypt has also agreed to allow the resumption of the search for the bodies of fal- len Israeli soldiers in Sinai, Berman said, but Mubarak sees that as "humanitarian" and not a political gesture. Mubarak asked Be- rman to reassure the Is- raelis his good intentions toward Israel. But Be- rman pointed today to "Egypt's escalating con- ditions" for the return of its ambassador to Tel Aviv. Those conditions are Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, move- ment in the autonomy talks and a resolution of Egyptian-Israeli border dispute in the Taba region. Egypt recalled its ambassador when Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982. Berman said there was no doubt that Egypt does not want war with Israel. He said Mubarak denied re- ports that he had told King Hassan of Morocco last year that he considered the Camp David accords "dead." On the other hand, the Egyptian President did not appear overly perturbed by the fact that the king had circulated the story, Be- rman reported.