PERSIAN GULF CRISIS

other Arabs?" said Adel
Hussein, the Labor official.
Syria, another vital mem-
ber of the alliance, has a
similar problem of official
policy at variance with
public sentiment. President
Hafez Assad is keenly aware
that many Syrians do not
share his own hatred for
Saddam Hussein, a fact
demonstrated by popular
elation in Damascus when
the news broke of missile at-
tacks on Israel. Other
reports say Assad has
ruthlessly suppressed pro-
Iraq demonstrations and is
seriously worried about the
growth of jihad fever.
If the leaders of Egypt and
Syria are watching events
unfold with deep unease,
King Hussein of Jordan does
so with ill-concealed panic. If
pro-Saddam, anti-Western
sentiments form a burgeon-
ing groundswell in
Damascus and Cairo, they
are a full-throated roar in
Amman where the king is
riding a tiger he can barely
control.
From almost every angle,
King Hussein's position
looks disastrous. Once
regarded as the most pro-
Western Arab leader, Mr.
Hussein set himself on a
course for disaster last
August when he attempted
to play both sides of the
fence in the Gulf crisis.
By seeking to appease his
Western friends, the king
firmly condemned Iraq's in-
vasion of Kuwait. And by
trying to appease his pas-
sionately pro-Iraqi Palestin-
ian majority, he resolutely
opposed the introduction of
Western forces into the Gulf.
That ambivalence earned
him the contempt of all sides
— and so angered his prin-
cipal benefactor, Saudi
Arabia's King Fand, that
the Saudis turned off their
financial aid to Jordan. Jor-
dan's economy, which was
$8.4 billion in the red before
the crisis, is now in tatters.
In the meantime, virtually
every political party in Jor-
dan is urging militant sup-
port for Iraq. Some have
obliquely criticized their
king for failing to fight
alongside Baghdad. At a
debate on the Gulf war in
the Jordanian Senate,
Nawaf al-Qadi declared,
"Shame on the Arab nation
and its leaders who are only
standing and watching the
onslaught against Iraq."
Israeli military analysts
are convinced that if Iraqi
forces move against Israel

18

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1991

through Jordan, the Jorda-
nian army and air force will
refuse to obey orders to repel
them.
The rulers of Egypt and
Syria — and perhaps Jordan
— will probably be able to
hold the line if the Gulf war
continues in its present
mode and results in a
relatively quick, clean vic-
tory for the alliance. In that
case, Cairo and Damascus
will present their bill for
services rendered to the U.S.
— demanding, among other
things, a peace conference on
the Palestinian issue.
Nimble King Hussein will
no doubt be right behind
them, picking up the pieces.
To thwart that possibility,
Saddam Hussein will almost
certainly go to any lengths
to lure Israel into the con-
flict.
"Saddam's strategy is to
create and exploit tension
and dissension in the region
and he knows just which
buttons to push," said one
analyst. "His goal is to drag
as many states as possible
into the conflict and turn it
into a holy war, Islam versus
the Infidel." ❑

May You Be Sealed Well'
Israelis Tell Each Other

T

he phrase tradi-
tional Jews use to
greet each other
just before Yom
Kippur — cha-
teema tova, or may you be
sealed [in the Book of Life]
— was heard in the streets
of Israel as war broke out
last week.
Only this time the
phrase — literally, may
you be sealed well — took
on new significance as
greeters referred to the
kind of sealing one does
on one's windows to pre-
vent poison chemicals
from seeping in.
Call it black humor, or
dealing with reality, but
Israelis were full -of tales
of irony as well as
poignancy when describ-
ing their experiences dur-

Though tensions are high in Israel, most people have
maintained- their sense of humor. Here, a popular tee-shirt on
sale in Jerusalem.

ing last weekend's missile
attacks.
One complained of sit-
ting in a small, crowded
room, glued to the radio
and, during an interval,
being subjected to the
music of a popular Israeli
singer. "I couldn't take

Israelis were full of
tales of irony as well
as poignancy when
describing their
experiences.

that Sephardic wail but I
couldn't turn off the
radio," she said. "It was
torture."
Another complained of
being sealed off in close
quarters with his mother-
in-law for hours on end.
He said he'd never forgive
Saddam Hussein.
An American living in
Jerusalem for the year
with his family recounted
how he tried to comfort
the fears of his 15-year-old
son, who had just seen on
television the damage
done by an Iraqi missile
that had landed in Tel
Aviv.
"I told him we were liv-
ing through history," my
friend recalled. "But he
said, 'Dad, I'd rather not
be history.' "
The same friend, who is
used to reciting a prayer
for the Israeli Defense
Forces each week in syn-
agogue back in the States,
described how strange,
yet comforting, it was to
recite a prayer in syn-
agogue in Jerusalem last
Shabbat on behalf of the
United States Armed
Forces.
But at another syn-
agogue, earlier in the day,
air raid sirens went off
while the congregants
were reciting the silent
Amidah. Suddenly, a
voice called out, "pikuach
nefesh", the overriding
obligation to save one's
life, and in seconds the
congregants had scat-

tered, each headed to his
safe shelter at home.
Last Friday, the biggest
crisis after the first night
of missile attacks was
that bakeries were under-
stocked, a friend reported.
The bakers, who usually
prepare challahs, breads
and pastries in the wee
hours of the morning,
were, like everyone else,
holed up in their sealed
rooms at home and unable
to come to work.
As a result of the brief
shortage, bakers were
moved up to the list of
"essential jobs" when the
return to work was an-
nounced.
And through it all, the
Soviet Jews continue to
arrive at Ben-Gurion Air- -
port. From Thursday,
Jan. 17, when the missiles
began to drop on Israel,
through Monday, Jan. 21,
another 2,445 Soviet olim
arrived on nine flights.
Soon after arrival, they
are given gas masks and
told how to use them.
Alexander Frefeld, who
arrived with his wife and
two children, headed for
Tel Aviv, the city targeted
by Iraq's Scud missiles, to
look for an apartment to
rent.
"Of course in the pre-
sent, tense international
climate we have mixed
feelings about coming to
Israel," confessed Mr.
Frefeld, a mechanical en-
gineer. "But we decided
that the dangers were
much greater in the
Soviet Union."
_And so it goes.
News report's that
Jerusalem is being hailed
around the world for its
restraint leads one to
wonder if experts under-
stand that Israel is simply
employing the same
policy it uses for so many
important issues at home,
from Soviet absorption to
electoral reform: do
nothing.
Only now they are
heroes. ❑

Gary Rosenblatt

1

-4
-4

4

-4

44