PURELY COMMENTARY

Barbara Tuchman

Continued from Page 2

review of Dr. Henry Kissinger's
Palestine and the Middle East
"Kissinger's Self-Portrait:'
but also covers the interests that
Of major interest is the essay
affected the occurrences in that
"The Assimilationist's Dilemma:
area of the world involving
Ambassador Morgenthau's
other world powers. It deals
Story." It is reprinted from Com-
with the French concern and
mentary and originally was an
France's aspirations in Syria
address she delivered before the
and Lebanon and the power
American Historical Associa-
struggles in that sphere which
tion, in December 1976.
became a batleground for
several nations.
• Barbara Tuchman's husband, Dr.
Its significance also lies in
Lester Reginald Tuchman, three
the serious atention it gives to
daughters and her grandchildren have
the role of the Russians, to
the entire literary world to share with
Czarist aspirations to gain en-
them the immense treasures she
trance into the Mediterranean
created. Her Guns of August is among
and to gain access to warm
the great works that won for her the
water routes.
two Pulitzer Prizes. That great work
This element in her
this month goes into its 21st edition.
historical review dates back to
Collectively, all of her writings merit
Catherine the Great, the
the recognition she earned by her im-
Czarina's drive for "a warm-
mense skill.
water port on the Black Sea,"
It was also most notable with her
and we have an . account in this
courage that she gained admiration as
immensely valuable book of a
a great lady and great historian.
200-year-old Russian aspiration
that seems to be gaining head-
way in our time with the USSR
Moshe Arens:
advances in the Mediterranean
and the gains the Soviets have
Israel Dynamo
made in their dealings with the
oshe Arens took many coura-
Arabs.
geous steps toward leadership •
Guns of August and Bible and
in Israel. He is among
Sword are exceptionally imperative in American Jewry's major participants in
my recollections about the famous Israeli politics, leading to diplomatic
author. There were many other of her prominence. Successful in academia, in
works that need perpetuating.
Israel as well as in this country, he rose
One of her works not mentioned to the ambassadorship of his adopted
enough is Practicing History (Knopf) country, Israel, to the U.S., and now
published in 1982. This one is so holds the important position of foreign
valuable as American, Jewish and
minister of Israel in the government
Zionist history, that it must not be headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak
overlooked. My review of it, Jan. 22,
.
1982, covered the most significant Shamir.
Dated even a year -before his
events in American Jewish history of assumption of his present high position,
this century. It is a story of her own per- a new biography continues to occupy an
sonal life. Here are portions of my important place in current studies.
review:
Moshe Arens: Statesman and Scientist
(Dean Books) is the story of the now
Barbara Tuchman, twice
Pulitzer Prize • winner for her
historical essays and full-length
works, provides evidence for
having merited such recogni-
tion in her newest work, Practic-
ing History (Knopf).
It is a collection of essays,
and of speeches later used as
essays in national magazines, in-
cluding Commentary. In a sense
it is also autobiographical, in
the recolleCtions about her
distinguished family whose
roots were in AmeriCan Jewish
ranks.
In this collection of essays
Mrs. Tuchman, touches upon
Japan, Spain, China, Vietnam,
and on political affairs, in-
cluding Watergate and the
Presidency. Israel has many
roles in the articles in which she
emerges as an advocate of
justice for Israel, Jewry,
Moshe Arens .
Zionism.
Included in the Israel-
popular Israeli personality by Merrill
oriented is a review of Gideon
Simon, an authority on Middle East af-
fairs and internationally recognized ex-
Hausner's Justice in Jerusalem,
pert on high-technology marketing. He
reprinted from the New York
is president of Merkaz Hatorah, a rab-
Times Book Review. She titled
her article "The Final Solution:'
binic institute in Jerusalem.
Arens studied in the U.S. and his
From the NYTimes Book
Review also is reprinted her
MIT background, his association with

im

36

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1989

the Technion where he was a faculty
member, his expertness on Israel's
foreign affairs and his subsequent selec-
tion to the U.S. ambassadorship em-
phasize his step-by-step rising to leader-
ship in the Likud party on whose plat-
form he was elected to the Knesset in
the November 1988 election. While this
biography does not deal with his cur-
rent position as foreign minister and as
a spokesman for Likud policies, the in-
troductory roles emphasize an
understanding of his approaches to the
current government and political issues
confronting Israel.
The deep Arens involvements led
him to an approach to the major pro-
blems, especially to the relationships
with the Arabs.
The deep impression made, upon
readers by Merrill Simon's biography is
evident in the commendation for it in
a foreword to the biography by U.S.
Senator Daniel J. Inouye of Hawaii.
In a question-answer format, Mer-

rill Simon acquires the ideological ap-
proaches of the subject of his biography
and the reader gets an acquaintance of
the views both of author and Moshe
Arens.
It is not an updated book because it
appeared a year prior to Arens' present
role as Israel foreign minister. It is
valuable for a total acquaintance with
Arens.
There is much more to know. A
brother of Arens bitterly assailed him
for his Zionism when Arens was the
Israel ambassador. Now his son, Dr.
Yigal Arens, who works in the field of
Artificial intelligence in Marina Del
Rey, takes issue with his father and
charges that Israel is "a pariah state."
Yigal co-signed a statement in the
Israeli-bashing Los Angeles Weekly, en-
dorsing the Arab demand for a Palesti-
nian state, contra his father's
opposition.
That's how the total Moshe Arens
becomes fully revealed in his powerful
role as Israel's foreign minister.

I BACKGROUND I

Weizmann Institute Wants
Brains To Return Home

T

he top priority of Dr. Haim
Harari, recently elected presi-
dent of the Weizmann Institute
of Science, is to bring the most brilliant
of the young Israeli scientists working
in the United States back home.
The lure is obviously not salaries,
which run three to four times higher in
America, but the availability of sophis-
ticated, state-of-the-art scientific equip-
ment and laboratories, which Harari
describes as "the entrance ticket into
international scientific competition."
Harari outlined the main thrust of
his new administration in press inter-
views and at a black-tie dinner before
300 Weizmann Institute supporters
here.
Harari reported that he had scored
some successes in persuading the
brightest of emigre scientists to join the
Institute, pointing especially to an un-
named top brain researcher, who is
bringing with him $3 million worth of
IBM equipment.
Harari himself is a 48-year old
theoretical particle physicist; straddling
two generations of scientists: the older
one, which joined the Institute in the
'50s and '60s and is nearing retirement,
and the younger people in their mid-
'30s who are now coming to the fore.
The new scientific generation at the
Institute "is absolutely brilliant,"
Harari said, and its importance to
Israel and mankind "is the only reason
I accepted this difficult job."
Funding for the Institute comes
from three sources in about equal pro-
portions — the Israeli government,
private donations, and research grants
and contracts. The latter came to $26
million last year.
Currently, about half of the In-
stitute's research is in the biological
and medical sciences, and the other half

in fields ranging from applied
mathematics to theoretical physics.
Among the key areas of research are:
• A new solar energy facility, whose
team is working on ways to transmit
energy, via "gas pipes," from the collec-
ting points in the desert to, the in-
dustrial plants where it's needed.
• Computer science, in which In-
stitute teams work in the sub-areas of
cryptography, new sophisticated corn-
puter languages, and artificial in-
telligence.
• Fighting major diseases such as
cancer, AIDS and the parasitic ills af-
fecting many of the Arab and develop-
ing countries. Harari cites particular-
ly impressive advances in multiple
sclerosis research.
• Electronics, including research at
the Institute's Submicron Centre to
develop the post-silicon generation of
faster and smaller microchips.

U.S. Shipments
Under Scrutiny

New York (JTA) — American com-
panies have shipped large quantities of
substances that can be manufactured
into chemical weapons to Middle East
countries, U.S. Customs officials have
discovered.
The U.S. shipments were uncovered
as Customs officials stepped up scrutiny
of chemical exports, following revela-
tions that West German firms were in-
volved in shipping chemicals to Libya
for use in an alleged poison gas plant.
According to recent reports in the
New York Times, Iran was able secret-
ly to recruit the help of companies in
Germany, the United States and Asia
to increase its stockpile of chemical
weapons.