THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
U.S. policies in Mideast
have failed for Reagan
BY VICTOR BIENSTOCK
Miami — After three
years in office, the Reagan
Administration, gearing up
for its re-election campaign,
offers a bleak record of fail-
ure in the Middle East.
It finds itself frustrated in
its attempts to create a
"strategic consensus" to
protect the oil of the Persian
Gulf, expelled as a mediator
from Lebanon with consid-
erable loss of face, utterly
stymied in its efforts to re-
solve the Palestinian ques-
tion by establishing some
form of political entity for
the Arabs of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip and largely
betrayed by the Arab states
and leaders it has regarded
as friends and allies.
The most recent blow it
suffered, considerably more
punishing because it had
been so completely unex-
pected, was King Hussein's
bitter condemnation of the
United States as a tool of the
Zionists and his portrayal of
President Reagan — the
man who had hailed him as
one of America's greatest
friends — as a supplicant
kneeling to Jewish power
for permission to provide
missiles to Jordan and
Saudi Arabia.
How much more dignified
the Administration re-
sponse would have been if it
had replied to Hussein by
immediately withdrawing
its authorization request
instead of dithering until it
became glaringly evident
that Congress would over-
whelmingly reject it.
Every policy this Ad-
ministration has advanced
that involved cooperation
and support from the Arab
states has failed ignomini-
ously as have those policies
it inherited from previous
administrations and sought
to implement.
On the Palestinian ques-
tion, the Administration
remains committed to two
constants: the Reagan Plan
for a Palestinian entity west
of the Jordan — for which no
Arab state and no West
Bank leaders have spoken a
single word in support and
which Israel has summarily
rejected — and a stubborn
refusal to recognize
Jerusalem as the capital of
the Jewish state.
To all intents, the Reagan
Plan is dead; King Hussein
administered the coup de
grace. On Jerusalem, the
United States has rendered
itself hostage to the more
vociferous Arab elements. It
is motivated by fears that
any alteration in the status
of Jerusalem would result
in further anti-American
explosions throughout the
Moslem world.
Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan, the outspoken
New York Democrat, pro-
vided the only possible an-
swer to this lame argument:
"If the United States can
be deterred from taking a
normal, legal, everyday act
by the threat of Arab vio-
lence," he asked, "what kind
of country have we be-
come?"
In three years, the Ad-
ministration's only "vic-
tory" in the Middle East
theater has been over Israel
in the brutal battle for Con-
gressional approval of the
sale of AWACS command
and surveillance planes and
offensively enhanced F-15
fighter-bombers to Saudi
Arabia. That "victory," it
will be recalled, was pur-
chased at the expense of in-
voking the 'spectre of anti-
Semitism in the United
States.
Diehards in the Adminis-
tration and in the foreign
policy establishment —
which manages to retain
control regardless of
changes of administration
— still yearn and scheme for
the American Middle East
policy oriented to the so-
called "moderate" states.
They still believe it is neces-
sary to do business with
Yasir Arafat, the leader of
the Palestine Liberation
Organization whose ter-
rorist excesses they dismiss
as the aberrations of a na-
tional liberation movement.
With a few exceptions,
our foreign policy experts
have learned nothing from
the years of fruitless efforts
to reach an understanding
with the Arab leadership
and even less about the
futility of seeking to work
with Arafat. Not even the
400 hours of dialogue con-
ducted with him over a
nine-month period by an in-
termediary for the State
Department approved by
Secretary of State Alexan-
der Haig have made them
understand that you cannot
do business with Arafat un-
less you accept his terms.
Even King Hussein, at
long last, had to conclude
that he couldn't pin the wily
Arafat down on an agree-
ment to permit talks to go
ahead on the Reagan Plan
and abandoned his own
possible involvement in the
process the Reagan Ad-
ministration would like to
see launched.
But - Washington still
hangs firm on the
Jerusalem issue, viewing it
as possible bait to entice the
Arabs into talks on the
Palestinian issue on some
future, more propitious oc-
casion. It is hard to believe
there is anything more than
political calculation in
Washington's position —
certainly not principle.
President Reagan has re-
peatedly asserted that
Jerusalem is a single city
which must never again be
divided. As a candidate in
1980, he spelled out his
position even more specifi-
cally. Reaffirming that
Jerusalem must never
again be divided, he de-
clared: "An undivided City
of Jerusalem means sover-
eignty by Israel over that
city."
Now, however, the Ad-
ministration line is that
Jerusalem is an entity that
must not again be divided
but that its future must be
settled in negotiations with
the Arabs. Transfer of the
U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem, the Adminis-
tration argues, would mean
recognition by the United
States of Israeli sover-
eignty.
By refusing to accept
Jerusalem as Israel's capi-
tal, all Washington accom-
plishes is to prove to the
Arabs that if they make
enough noise about an is-
sue, Washington will have
to listen.
By the time these words
appear in print, the White
House may have persuaded
Congressional leaders to
withdraw a pending bill cal-
ling on the Administration
to move the U.S. Embassy
from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Strong efforts were being
made to convince the bill's
sponsors that it would not
be wise to make waves over
Jerusalem at this time.
The New York Times took
an editorial position op-
posed to the bill and advised
President Reagan that if Is-
rael's supporters persisted
in the effort, he should in-
form them that he would
move the embassy to Is-
rael's "juridicial" capital of
West Jerusalem but would
have to proclaim that East
Jerusalem is "occupied"
territory with borders and
status "unsettled."
But when haven't East
Jerusalem, the West Bank,
Gaza and all the territory
that now comprises Israel
not been "occupied?" There
was the Turkish occupation
that lasted three centuries,
ending in 1921 when the
British occupied the land
until 1948 when Israel was
born in the heat of war. The
Kingdom of Jordan seized
the West Bank and East
Jerusalem by force during
the War of Liberation and
Egypt seized the Gaza area.
Both invaders were expel-
led by the Israelis in the
Six-Day War of 1967.
Why should the Jorda-
nian regime be considered
as having a claim on East
Jerusalem which it held as
occupied territory for a
mere 19 years? If it has a
claim, how about Egypt and
Gaza? As a matter of fact,
the United Nations refuses
to recognize the legitimacy
of conquest by force.
There is a constructive
policy the United States can
pursue and that is to accom-
pany American recognition
of Jerusalem as the capital
of the state of Israel by
negotiations with Israel to
facilitate a political set-up
for the city that would
guarantee in perpetuity the
freedom of access to the
religious places already
granted by Israel, control of
the holy places by the var-
ious religious entities and
the political and civil rights
of all the residents of the
city and a voice in the city's
government.
Would it require too much
independent thought in
Washington to seek a policy
that would encourage these
ends instead of perpetuat-
ing the old discords and di-
visions?
Grandfatlier
Antique
Cuckoo
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