EDITORIAL
Border Patrol
Israeli officials took several steps this week to smooth procedures
and ruffled feelings for persons detained for questioning while enter-
ing Israel. The U.S. State Department had threatened to issue a
travel advisory because of alleged abuse of 40 Arab Americans and
35 Black Hebrews who were either denied entry to Israel or had their
U.S. passports confiscated by Israeli officials.
The fundamental question raised by these episodes is over Israel's
legitimate concern for security vs. harsh treatment of American
citizens. Where do security questions end and discrimination against
American blacks and Arabs begin? Every sovereign nation must
answer the same questions and be held equally accountable for its
treatment of foreign visitors at its borders.
Detroiters especially should understand these concerns as we
travel back and forth to Canada, worrying about the questioning at
each end of the bridge or tunnel and dreading the infrequent .com-
mand to pull over for a closer inspection.
Israel should be applauded for taking steps to resolve the pro-
blem. New procedures involving senior officials from the Israeli
government and the U.S. Embassy in interrogations and remodeled
holding areas at Ben-Gurion Airport will remove the problems for
American citizens while Israel continues to protect her citizens.
Like our border along the Detroit River, friendliness and security
can be kept at the maximum.
of bolstering aliyah, while Soviet Jewry activists in the U.S. are op-
posed, arguing that such flights remove freedom of choice for the
new emigrants who may wish to settle in the U.S.
The Soviets aren't saying much. They insist that the delegation
now in Israel is simply there to inspect Soviet-owned property in
Israel and conduct consular business with people who hold Soviet
passports. But why bother to send a delegation at all, since the Fin-
nish Embassy has been handling such Soviet interests for the last
two decades? Clearly the Soviets are at least interested in explor-
ing the possibility of renewed diplomatic ties as a means of being
included in any possible peace talks.
Soviet Jewish activists like Natan Sharansky are most outspoken
in their opposition to the new thaw in relations, asserting that there
is no symmetry. "We have their delegation without seeing any im-
provements for Soviet Jewry," said Sharansky while demonstrating
outside the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. "Why are we giving up
on every point?"
All of those in the West who have been heartened by signs of
"glasnost" under Gorbachev should bear in mind that those who have
had the most experience under Soviet rule — the former refuseniks
— are the most wary, cautioning that distinctions be made between
rhetoric and action. For now, Israel seems to be willing to move for-
ward, cautiously, in its diplomatic dance with Moscow.
Moscow's Mixed Signals
Is Moscow up to its old Mideast mischief or is there the possibility
of a meaningful diplomatic breakthrough?
The confusion is based on the fact that while Moscow has sent
a low-key delegation to Israel for the first time since they broke
relations with Jerusalem 20 years ago, the Soviets have also taken
a hard-line position in Geneva on conditions for an international
Mideast peace conference.
The only consistent pattern in Moscow's behavior is its incon-
sistency. While treatment of Jews within the Soviet Union has not
improved, another Soviet Jewish refusenik was released and flown
to Israel last week, and the USSR flew several Soviet Jewish families
on a direct Moscow-Bucharest-Tel Aviv route. It is unclear whether
these direct flights through Rumania will be permanent, though.
The Israelis have been calling for direct flights to Israel as a means
LETTERS
Simplistic
Conclusions
I was surprised to find that
Philip Slomovitz has adopted
Thomas Friedman's
simplistic conclusion that
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FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1987
peace would reign if the
Palestinians and Jews
recognized each others right
to self determination and na-
tionhood ("Purely Commen-
tary," July 17). This view
might have some merit if
Israel were an isolated island
in the middle of some vast
ocean.
The fact of the matter is
that, in addition to the
Palestinians and Jews, there
are other peple claiming
Israel as their own. Syria
openly states that they con-
sider Israel to be part of
"Greater Syria" while Jordan
is slightly less vocal about its
view that Israel is actually
part of Jordan.
This is the crux of the pro-
blem: even if the Jews
withdrew into the sea there
would still be at least one or
two Arab parties whose ap-
petite for Israeli territory
would not be satisfied.
Aaron Lerner
Royal Oak
Egypt A Threat
To Peace
The (Reagan) Administra-
tion is helping Egypt prepare
for war against Israel without
notifying Congress; the
Defense Department has ap-
proved plans for Egypt to
build more than a thousand
Ml-Als, America's most
sophisticated tank. Those
tanks have never been allow-
ed to be exported before. Its
extremely powerful 120 mm
gun can easily destroy any
Israeli tank. The Pentagon in-
cluded in its fiscal 1988
budget, $168 million for
assistance to Egypt to start
that tank program.
Charles E. Redman, the
State Department
spokesman, explained that
Congress has not been
notified, "because our discus-
sions with Egypt are in a
preliminary stage and there's
not sufficient detail to do so."
Defense Secretary Caspar
W. Weinberger, after discus-
sions with the Egyptian
Defense Minister Mohammed
Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala,
decided in May 1986 to ap-
prove the M1 Al tank sale to
Egypt.
A New York Times editorial
asked: "Against whom are
(the tanks) to be deployed? As
for Libya, Chad convincingly
demonstrated last March at
Wadi Doum that anti-tank
missiles mounted on jeeps
suffice to defeat Libyan tank
forces."
There is no question Egypt
is preparing for war against
Israel. We have their word for
it. Egyptian Minister of
Defense Mohammed Abdel-
Halim Abu Ghazala reported
to his parliament's defense
and national security com-
mittee that Israel is Egypt's
"principal and sole enemy"
and claimed that Egypt in
concert with Syria could
"crush" Israel. The defense
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