ANALYSIS I
Has U.S. Shifted
Away From Israel?
Pro-Israel activists in Washington perceive
an administration move toward
even-handedness.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
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hile it is true that
every shift in U.S.-
Israeli policy pro-
vokes cries of impending ear-
thquake, events in the last
few weeks have left some pro-
Israel activists here deeply
troubled.
A long series of signals from
the administration, starting
with Secretary of State Jim
Baker's speech to the
American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee (AIPAC),
have given some activists the
sense that the United States
has shifted its role from one
of Israel advocate to more ob-
jective mediator.
Recent disclosures of
meetings with a widely
despised terrorist as part of
the embryonic U.S.-PLO
dialogue, and Baker's warn-
ings this week of a possible
renewal of U.S. interest in an
international peace con-
ference, have touched raw
nerves in a way that
generates more anxiety than
solid analysis.
Some of Israel's supporters
here argue that these events
are part of a pattern that
clearly portends a sharp shift
in U.S. Middle East policy.
Developments in Israel,
where the possibility exists
that the current government
will self-destruct over Prime
Minister Shamir's recent con-
cessions to the Israeli Right
Wing, will only accelerate
this shift.
Others do not dispute the
seriousness of the current
situation, but suggest that
relations between
Washington and Jerusalem
are durable enough to endure
these shocks. Despite the four
new conditions tacked on to
Shamir's plan for elections in
Gaza and the West Bank, the
United States will continue to
prod both the Palestine
Liberation Organization and
the Jerusalem government,
these analysts suggest. But
the fundamental anchor of
U.S. policy in the region — the
"special relationship" bet-
ween the United States and
Israel, with the sense of
strong advocacy implied by
that term — will continue.
Last week's revelations of
informal talks between
Robert Pelletreau, the U.S.
ambassador to Tunis, and
several top PLO officials, in-
cluding the alleged terrorist
Salah Khalaf, caught Jewish
activists here by surprise and
produced a kind of visceral
anxiety about the course of
U.S.-Israeli relations.
In a way, the meetings with
Khalaf, a senior deputy to
Yassir Arafat and a key figure
in the Black September group
that carried out the 1972
Olympic massacre in Munich,
was the nightmare-come-true
for pro-Israel activists.
"My own feeling is that the
substance of this expanded
dialogue is not particularly
important," said one official
with a major Jewish organiza-
tion here_. "I can accept the ex-
planation that these
meetings occurred in the
course of normal diplomatic
activity. But the symbolism is
extraordinary; the image of
the United States now talk-
ing to Khalaf is tremendous-
ly unsettling."
Almost as unsettling was
the surprise factor; the
Khalaf meetings caught
Israel's supporters here off
guard. News about the
meetings came as a major
disappointment to pro-Israel
activists who have sought
closer ties to the
administration.
`The United States
will continue to try
to push the PLO
further. But it will
be harder.'
The meetings reflect the ad-
ministration's new "clean
slate" policy, under which
this country is now willing to
talk to PLO terrorists who ac-
cept Arafat's official renun-
ciation of terror. Many pro-
Israel activists worry that
this represents a precedent
which could pave the way to
more formal talks with the
PLO, perhaps in a neutral
country, or to the granting of
visas to former PLO terrorists
for meetings in this country.
In diplomacy, symbolism is
at least as important as
substance. In the case of the
Khalaf meetings, the sym-
bolism was a kind of bludgeon
that convinced some pro-
Israel activists that the Bush
administration is dead
serious in pursuing its