NOBLIA
PURELY COMMENTARY
Double-Talk
Continued from Page 2
the legitimacy of the state
of Israel, and that the
refusal to make a "just and
lasting peace;' as stipulated
in U.N. Resolution 242,
justifies Israel in maintain-
ing occupation of the West
Bank.
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1990
Two: Lead an interna-
tional effort to resettle the
refugees now in camps in
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan
and Egypt, defusing this
time bomb.
Three: Work out the
details of a land-for-peace
formula in which Israel
would return the 70 percent
of the West. Bank on which
about 90 percent of the
Arabs live in return for ad-
justed borders that enable
Israel to defend itself.
Without the West Bank,
Israel has strategic depth of
just 9 miles from border to
sea. In a war, its casualties
would exceed 100,000, the
equivalent of 6 million dead
and wounded in America.
This land-for-peace ex-
change represents the risk
that must be accepted by
Israel to achieve a
settlement.
Four: Support Israel in its
determination to negotiate
with the West Bank Palesti-
nians themselves, and not
with the PLO, which would
make maximalist demands
and wreck the chances of
compromise. Israel has ac-
cepted the Palestinians as
equal partners in the peace
process in lieu of the Arab
states. It's a big step: They
know that any election will
produce victory by PLO-
backed candidates who
will constitute the new self-
governing authority. It is
understandable that the
Israelis should refuse to go
further and negotiate with
the PLO. They see that as
inviting a failed conference
for which they would be
blamed and as negotiating
details of their own demise:
When the PLO speaks to
Arabs, it speaks not of
peace but of Israel's
destruction.
It is here that America is
part of the problem, not
part of the solution.
Secretary of State James
Baker seems not to unders-
tand how difficult it is for a
beleaguered nation to yield
strategic land captured in a
war for survival.
Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's
Prime Minister, has in-
dicated in interviews with
U.S. News that he is com-
mitted to negotiate on
"land, borders and
sovereignty," and on
autonomy for the Palesti-
nians, despite his belief that
the land should remain
part of Israel. Instead of
nourishing this spirit,
Baker is undermining
Shamir's ability to lead
positively by pressure that
can only send Israel back
into the bunkers.
Blunt as this is, the
challenge of it is like a de-
mand for action to assure
resort to truth. Zuckerman's
proposals will, hopefully, be
widely supported.
"countless needy coun-
tries," as Dole suggests,
and it vanishes into thin
air.
But what makes this
nonsense pernicious is that
while $330 million spread
among the economies of
Eastern Europe will make
not a whit of difference, it
makes a large difference to
the five countries from
which it is being taken
away.
❑
Foreign Aid
Confusion
-
G
iving the impression
that he was rescuing
this nation from a
crisis involving foreign aid
policies, U.S. Senate Minori-
ty Leader Robert Dole pro-
poses cutting allocations to
Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, the
Phillipines and Turkey as
means for acquiring
speculated savings to be used
in a program of aid to east
European countries. Treated
by some as daring and others
even as courageous, the Dole
ideas continue to mislead
many, including the Bush ad-
ministration. In knowledge-
able quarters where there is
seriousness based on eco-
nomic realism, the Dole pro-
posal is branded as nonsense.
In one especially analytical
study of the issue that has
thus been raised, the imprac-
ticality of it encourages pro-
per treatment of foreign aid
responsibilities. Charles
Krauthammer, a senior editor
of the New Republic, im-
mediately came to the basic
"nonsense" of the Dole sensa-
tion, as he branded it. He
indicated:
Dole tells us that his cut
to the most favored nations
will yield "$330 million —
enough to respond to the
needs of new democracies
such as Poland, Hungary,
Panama and countless
needy countries." Surely he
is joking. On his recent trip
to the United States, Lech
Walesa said that Poland
alone needs $10 billion to
rebuild an economy de-
stroyed by 40 years of com-
munism. Estimates for
what Panama needs range
from $.5 billion to $3
billion.
Three hundred and thir-
ty million dollars? Spread
over Eastern Europe, it is
enough to buy every
citizen a Big Mac and Coke
— but hold the fries. The
$300 million won't cover it.
Spread that sum addi-
tionally to "Latin
American nations in the
front lines of the war
against drugs" and
This is where Krautham-
mer proceeded to describe the
seriousness of the issue as it
affects the countries involved.
In relation to Israel he
commented:
Israel, the only country
in the Middle East where
the United States can rely
on free use of the territory
in case of emergency, has
since • 1948 been abused
and reviled in the Third
World precisely because
(as then UN Ambassador
Daniel Moynihan once
pointed out) it represented
the only outpost of the
Western democratic idea in
the region.
It is in his concluding
analysis of the issue raised by
Dole that Krauthammer
especially appeals for a pro-
per approach to a basic
American obligation. He
pointed out:
Dole says he wants to
"consolidate and expand
freedom's gains" by giving
money to Europe. Then, in
a stunning disconnection,
he suggests taking it from
countries that have helped
the United States con-
solidate freedom else-
where. This makes no
strategic sense.
The United States cur-
rently spends about $150
billion a year in the defense
of Europe. The nature of
the threat to Europe has
K
clearly changed: The
challenge to freedom is
less military and more
political and economic.
It would be logical to
reduce the military compo-
nent of our European ex-
penditures and turn, say, 5
percent of it into economic 'N
aid to face the new
challenges in Eastern
Europe.
This not only makes con-
ceptual sense, it makes
economic sense. It is the
only way to make Dole's
proposal to help Eastern
Europe serious. Five per-
cent of current U.S. expen-
ditures for Europe's
defense is $7.5 billion — 25
times the $0.3 billion Dole
proposes giving. ❑