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HIGH HOLIDAY SERVICES

Hertzberg Sanctuary

Rabbi Martin J. Berman, Rabbi Benjamin H. Gorrelick
Cantor Max Shimansky
Reverend Joseph Baras

Sol J. Scwartz Auditorium
Auxiliary Service
Rabbi Milton Arm and David Arm

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Please join us with family and friends on August 24, at 6:15 p.m.
for our Prospective New Member Shabbat Picnic.
You supply the food and papergoods, we'll supply the beverages,
wine, good company and a wonderful atmosphere for the
celebration of Shabbat.
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about Temple Emanu-El. Come worship with us tonight and
see how nice our family oriented Temple can be.
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to come.

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us for Coffee, Bagels and a look at our Temple

Temple Emanu-EI

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Rabbi Lane B. Steinger • Rabbi L. David Feder • Rabbi Emeritus Milton Rosenbaum
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56

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1990

Will Middle East
Become Arms Dump?

MITCHELL G. BARD

Special to The Jewish News

C

hanges in Eastern
Europe have stimu-
lated unexpected
movement in arms control
negotiations. This develop-
ment is significant and
beneficial to the United
States. One of the benefits is
the now popular notion of a
"peace dividend" resulting
from the financial savings
arms reduction will create.
There is another side,
however, to this development
which could produce a war
penalty. And the United
States may be responsible.
Everyone has already
figured out ways to spend the
money the United States will
save by troop and arms reduc-
tions. Less thought has been
given to what should be done
with the weapons that we no
longer need. The Administra-
tion has found one possible
answer that, ironically,
threatens an arms race.
The superpowers have cur-
tailed their arms race, but the
Middle East competition con-
tinues virtually unabated.
Despite withdrawing support
for Syria's objective of
reaching strategic parity with
Israel, the Soviet Union per-
sists in providing Hafez
Assad with large quantities of
increasingly sophisticated
arms. Last year, these includ-
ed MiG-29s and Sukhoi
bombers. The Saudis' ap-
petite for acquiring arms has
by no means been quenched.
In 1990, Saudi Arabia will
spend nearly $14 billion on
"defense and security," up
from $12.8 billion in 1989.
The Iraqis have developed
ballistic missiles and the Li-
byans have begun to produce
chemical weapons.
The Administration has
proposed to give Egypt 700
M-60A1 surplus battle tanks.
Egypt already has 2,400
tanks. Since Egypt is at peace
with Israel, it is difficult to
understand who poses a
threat to Egypt requiring
such a large tank force.
Libya? The Sudan?
It is not the size of the
transfer or the recipient that
is significant; however, it is
the precedent of dumping
surplus arms into a volatile
region. If the United States
gives Egypt tanks, the Soviets
will rightly feel justified in
providing their clients with

Mitchell Bard is editor of
`Near East Report' in
Washington, D.C.

similar gifts. The Com-
mander of Centcom told Con-
gress the Soviets have
already sent equipment to
Iraq and Afghanistan. And
the Soviets have about 19,000
tanks to retire. Given their
desperate need for hard cur-
rency, the Soviets have an in-
centive to sell their surplus.
If the Middle East becomes
a dumping ground for arms,
U.S. interests will be serious-
ly threatened. An influx of
even outdated conventional
arms (and much of the
surplus will not be obsolete)
will increase the instability of
the region. It will further
undermine Israel's already
precarious position relative to
its neighbors. According to
the Jaffee Center for
Strategic Studies, Israel is
already outnumbered by
127:1 in divisions, 1.7:1 in
strike and multi-role aircraft,
2.4:1 in tanks, and 4.6:1 in
guns and mortars. By exacer-
bating the military im-
balance between Israel and
the Arab states, the super-
powers increase the probabili-
ty of conflict.
Why not simply give Israel
some of the surplus to offset
the transfers to the Arabs?
Israel, in fact, was offered U.S.
tanks and turned them down
because it cannot afford to
store excess defense articles
coming from Europe or ex-
pand its force structure.
The transfer of material
from Europe violates the
spirit of the Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) arms
reduction talks and could
open the floodgates to the ex-
poit of thousands of tanks,
aircraft, artillery, and other
weapons to the Middle East.
It would also send a signal to
countries like China, which
are not party to the CFE
talks, that the bazaar is open.
No excess equipment now
in the arsenals of NATO or
the Warsaw Pact should be ex-
ported to the Middle East or
anywhere else in the Third
World until a CFE agreement
is signed, at which time all
weaponry exceeding the
agreed limits must be
destroyed. Surplus weapons
should be withdrawn to the
United States or the Soviet
Union. Further, the super-
powers should begin to think
about working with the other
major arms exporters, and the
Middle Eastern countries, to
pursue an arms control
regimen to curb the arms race
in what may now be the
world's most unstable
region. ❑