WORLD vs. ISRAEL
WASHINGTON:
The
Safety Net
Unravels
As U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf
shifts, the Bush administration's
perceived concern for Israel is
further reduced,
JAMES D. BESSER
AND IRA RIFKIN
A Jewish woman is led away from the Western Wall during an assault of rocks from Palestinians.
ammunition, including
bursts of automatic fire
from their Galils (Israeli-
made assault rifles).
(Jerusalem police chief
Shar) Ayalon, however,
said none of the police in-
volved had yet admitted
to using live ammunition
in the first minutes of the
riot . . ."
The Post dispatch in-
quired into why only
about 45 police had been
stationed on the Temple
Mount on a day when
trouble was anticipated
because of the well-
publicized plans of the
Temple Mount Faithful.
Mr. Diehl concluded that
"police may have been
lulled into the seeming
routine of past Temple
Mount Faithful protests,
when crowds had
gathered but were easily
controlled."
In Mr. Diehl's article,
an Arab Israeli journalist
attributed the fervor of
Palestinians on the
Mount to "pent up na-
tionalist and religious
emotion," and to the crisis .
in the Persian Gulf. The
journalist said that be-
cause East Jerusalem
newspapers have been
reporting that American
soldiers were desecrating
Moslem holy places in
Saudi Arabia, local
Moslems had "even
greater passion than
usual about defending the
holy places here."
❑
iplomatic relations
between the United
States and Israel
plunged to a new low
this week as a result of
Jerusalem's rejection of the
Washington-crafted United
Nations resolution critical of
Israel's handling of the Tem-
ple Mount incident.
The degree to which both
parties feel wronged by the
sudden turn of events was
evidenced by the barrage of
anger emanating from both
capitals, as well as from
Israel's supporters on the
American Jewish scene.
What remains to be seen is
the degree to which U.S.
support for Israel has been
eroded in the aftermath of
Ira Rifkin, who contributed to
this report, is assistant editor
of our sister newspaper, the
Baltimore Jewish Times.
James D. Besser is Washing-
ton correspondent for The Jew-
ish News.
the Temple Mount incident,
in which 21 Palestinians
were killed by Israeli securi-
ty forces and Jewish wor-
shippers at the Western
Wall were pelted with rocks.
Even if a compromise is
worked out (and there were
rumors by mid-week that
one may be in the wind),
some erosion in the relation-
ship between Israel and the
U.S. appeared inevitable
simply because of the degree
of passion unleashed.
Clearly, the worsening
personal relationships bet-
ween President Bush and
Israeli Prime Minister Yit-
zhak Shamir exacerbated
the situation.
"Let's not mince words,"
said William Quandt, a
Middle East expert with the
Brookings Institution in
Washington, and a former
foreign policy adviser to
President Jimmy Carter.
"Bush simply doesn't like
Shamir or his policies.
There's no safety net now,
because there's no warmth
in the relationship between
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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