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60

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1988

COMMENT

Israel Has Accomplished
Much In The Last Year

MITCHELL BARD

Special to The Jewish News

W

ashington — To
judge from the
American press, one
would think that Israel was
on the verge of collapse. The
Palestinian uprising, we are
told, has severely damaged
not only the Israeli economy,
but also Israel's image
around the world.
The reality is quite dif-
ferent, however, and the new
year seems an appropriate
time to reflect on the Jewish
state's accomplishments since
last Rosh Hashanah.
The unity government has
repeatedly come under fire for
its apparent inability to make
decisions, but the present
coalition was formed primari-
ly for two purposes: to
facilitate the withdrawal from
Lebanon and to take steps to
prevent the collapse of the
economy. Both of these objec-
tives have been accomplished.
Although there are still
Israeli troops patrolling a
security zone in southern
Lebanon, the bulk of the ar-
my was withdrawn. There are
still sporadic attacks, but, for
the most part, the tranquili-
ty of northern Israel has been
restored.
The economy has also made
a remarkable recovery, large-
ly as a result of austerity
measures and the willingness
of the Israeli people to endure
a decline in their standard of
living.
After years of triple-digit in-
flation, the 1987 inflation
rate fell to 16 percent, the
lowest figure in 15 years. The_
most recent figure for this
year, in June, shows the
smallest price increase in 10
years and represents an an-
nual rate of around 18
percent.
Taurism enjoyed a record
year, increasing by 25 percent
in 1987. Unfortunately, the
uprising has scared many
tourists away this year and
the number has fallen off.
The economy is still. far
from robust because of
Israel's enormous foreign
debt and trade deficit, but it
is far from the collapse that
was feared five years ago.
Israel's international posi-
tion also has rebounded. Up
until the recent unrest, the
United Nations had devoted
consideraly less time to its
ritual condemnation of Israel
than in the past. Much of the
credit for this must to to
the Reagan Administration,
which proved that determin-

ed leadership such as that ex-
hibited by Jeane Kirkpatrick
and Vernon Walters can pre-
vent the degeneration of U.N.
debates into anti-Israel
diatribes.
Even more important has
been Israel's success in im-
proving bilateral relations
with other nations.. For years
Israel enjoyed good relations
with much of Black Africa.
That changed as a result of
Arab pressure in 1973, which
forced most of those nations to
sever ties with Israel. In the
past few years, several of
those nations have restored
relations and a number of
others are on the verge of do-
ing so. Prime Minister
Shamir deserves much of the
credit for this development.
Similarly, Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres deserves credit
for improving relations with
Western Europe, particularly
France, where Peres and
Francois Mitterrand have had
a long personal friendship.
Last November, in fact, Jac-
ques Chirac became the first
French premier to visit Israel.

Worth mentioning also is
the improvement in Israel's
traditionally frosty relations
in Asia. Israeli officials hope
that Japanese Foreign
Minister Sosuke Uno's July
visit (also a first) will signal
to the Japanese business com-
munity, which largely
adheres to the Arab boycott,
that contacts with Israel are
now permissible.
In addition, there have been
an increasing number of con-
tacts with China, a burgeon-
ing relationship made all the
more important by the fact
that the People's Republic is
likely to be a participant
should an international peace
conference be convened.
An equally noteworthy
development has been the im-
provement in Israel's rela-
tionship with the Eastern
Bloc countries. East Germany
announced that it would con-
sider the negotiation of
reparations for Holocaust sur-
vivors. Poland, Bulgaria, and
Hungary have upgraded their
ties with Israel, undoubtedly
with the consent of the Soviet
Union.
Most importantly, the
Soviets have shown signs of
moving toward a restoration
of relations. A Soviet delega-
tion visited Israel at the end
of last year and the fist Israeli
delegation to visit Moscow in
21 years arrived at the end of
July. There is still a long way
to go, but any improvement is
seen as a positive.

