DETROIT
Juggling Three Concerns Forms
U.S. Mideast Policy Says Author
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
L
ike a juggler balancing
three balls, the United
States forms its Middle
East policy based on its need
for oil, its support for Israel
and its determination to
prevent Soviet expansion in
the area, a Middle East ex-
pert said here last week.
Speaking at Wayne State
University, John Rothman
said any of these three con-
cerns may be prominent at
any given time, which ex-
plains why the United
States can back Israel and,
at the same time, join forces
with Israel's adversary,
Syria, during the Gulf war.
Active in numerous polit-
ical campaigns and the au-
thor of articles on the Middle
East, Mr. Rothman is former
president of the Bay Area
Council for Soviet Jews in
San Francisco and of the
North Pacific Region of the
Zionist Organization of
America. A member of the
national board of trustees of
the American Zionist Youth
Foundation, he was a dele-
gate in 1982 and 1987 to the
World Jewish Congress.
Mr. Rothman said that for
many years the United
States and the Soviet Union
competed for power in the
Middle East. But the Soviet
Union has withdrawn and
Iraqi leader Saddam Hus-
sein stepped in to fill the
void.
, Had Saddam won the
Gulf war and controlled both
Iraq and Kuwait, he would
have held 40 percent of the
oil produced in the world to-
day and would have become
a competitor with the United
States in the region, Mr.
Rothman said.
Discussing the American
interest in oil, Mr. Rothman
said every president since
Franklin Roosevelt has been
committed to maintaining
the Saudi family's . power in
Arabia so as to safeguard
s
U.S. access to oil.
The United States sup-
ports Israel because the Jew-
ish state is a strategic ally
and a democracy, he said. It
is also the sole Middle East
nation that wins its battles,
he added.
He recalled that in 1981
Israel bombed an Iraqi
nuclear reactor, which
otherwise would likely have
been used against the allies
in the Gulf war. "The vital
sense of Israel's military was
14
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1991
demonstrated at that mo-
ment," he said.
Mr. Rothman described
Israel's relations with Egypt
as "a cold peace that has
been maintained through
ups and downs for more than
a decade."
Today, Mr. Mubarak is a
staunch American ally, Mr.
Rothman said. But the day
he loses the Egyptian army's
support is the day Mr. Mu-
barak will be ousted. Be-
cause the Egyptian leader
has no clear successor, the
Arab nation's continued re-
lationship with the United
States and Israel both
become questionable if Mr.
Mubarak loses power, he
said.
During the Gulf war, Jor-
dan's King Hussein did
"precisely what he should
have done — nothing," Mr.
Rothman said. The United
States would not have
tolerated Jordanian forces
joining Saddam. At the same
time, the Arab nation's
population, the majority of
which is Palestinian, would
have revolted had the king
supported the allies.
Some Arab countries,
angry that Jordan did not
fight against Saddam, are
raising the idea of "Jordan
as Palestine," Mr. Rothman
said.
Israeli leaders, including
Housing Minister Ariel Sha-
ron, have voiced support for
a similar plan. In 1970, Mr.
Sharon suggested Palestine
Liberation Organization
leader Yassir Arafat take
control of the Jordanian
state, Mr. Rothman said. Jor-
dan was created out of 80 per-
cent of Palestine by the
United Nations in 1947.
Despite Mr. Sharon's sug-
Some Arab
countries, angry
that Jordan did not
fight against
Saddam Hussein,
are raising the idea
of "Jordan as
Palestine."
gestion, both Israel and the
United States are committed
to the Jordanian monarchy,
he said. The two countries
regard King Hussein as
stable, "a better bargaining
partner than Yassir Arafat."
Syria's Hafez Assad
benefitted greatly from the
Gulf War, Mr. Rothman
said. His major military
competitor, Iraq, was
destroyed.
John Rothman:
Israel is between a rock and a
hard place.
Syria maintains a "cold
war" with Israel. He added,
"The only place he (Assad) is
prepared to fight Israel is in
Lebanon."
Though he called bilateral
talks important, Mr.
Rothman thought it unlikely
that Israel would establish
peace treaties with Jordan,
Syria or Iran, a nation
"firmly committed to the
destruction of Israel."
Among the war's big losers
was the PLO's Arafat, a
strong supporter of Saddam
Hussein, Mr. Rothman said.
"Yassir Arafat blew it all
the way around."
If he were the PLO leader,
Mr. Rothman said, he would
have recognized from the
beginning that his organiza-
tion's funding came from
Iraq's wartime opponents,
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
"The minute Kuwait was
invaded I would have
jumped to its defense."
And when Iraqi Scud mis-
siles exploded in Israel, Mr.
Arafat should have de-
nounced the attack on
civilian populations, he said.
This would have won the
gratitude of the West and
assured Israel that the Pa-
lestinians want peace.
Now, Israelis retain vi-
sions of Palestinians cheer-
ing the bombs landing in Tel
Aviv, "and they are not go-
ing to forget it."
Mr. Rothman described
Israel as stuck between a
rock — geography — and a
hard place — demography.
The demography problem
is the 1.5 million Palestin-
ians in the territories, none
of whom want to live under
Israeli rule. Yet Israel's tiny
size makes it vulnerable to
outside attack, especially if
it were to give up the ad-
ministered territories, he
said.
Israel has committed
human rights violations
against the Palestinians, he
said, but at the same time it
has made repeated attempts
to negotiate with residents
of the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel's bottom line is that
"the Palestinians have
rights," Mr. Rothman said.
"But not at the expense of
Israel's right to exist."
❑
Detroit Jews To Help The Minsk Community
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
D
uring a 1985 trip to
Moscow, Dr. Zvi
Gitelman and his
wife attended a Jewish
studies class conducted
without the knowledge of
Soviet authorities. The
teacher, Petia Polonsky, had
no books. Instead, he taught
chumash (Bible) from
photographs taken of the
• text.
A few months ago in Min-
sk, Dr. Gitelman was leafing
through some Hebrew and
Russian textbooks in one of
the city's Jewish schools.
The book was published in
Israel by a Pinkhas Polon-
sky.
"It was the same fellow,"
Dr. Gitelman said. "He had
moved to Israel and was
publishing religious books"
and they were being read
openly in the Soviet Union.
It is with the guidance of
those books and other educa-
A boy studying in a Minsk Sunday school.
tional aids from around the
world that the Jewish com-
munity in Minsk is slowly
reclaiming its heritage.
Minsk's Jewish commun-
ity, like so many others in
the USSR, was a thriving
one until the rise of commu-
nism, Dr. Gitelman said.
With perestroika, the Jew-
ish community has blossom-
ed, said Dr. Gitelman, who
spent a week in late
December observing parts of
the Jewish community
numbering 40,000 in
Byelorussia's capital. At the
request of Detroit's Jewish
Community Council, Dr.
Gitelman traveled to Minsk
to determine the city's con-
ditions and what Detroit
Jews could do to help those
in their Soviet sister city.
The Council, which in
December sent 600 menorot
to Minsk, recently
augmented its commitment
by funding renovations of
the synagogue, including its
heating and electrical
systems, and providing a
curtain on the ark and a
shulkan (Torah table) cover.
Other improvements include
helping renovate the
cultural center, getting med-
icines for the community
and supplying Jewish
schools with educational
materials.
Although he doubts the
Minsk Jewish community
will ever achieve its former
prominence, Dr. Gitelman
discovered that despite lim-
ited resources, the city's
Jews are once again forming
a cohesive society.
A factory was converted
into the city's only syn-
agogue two years ago, Dr.
Gitelman said. A single Jew-
ish star on a window gives
the only hint to the facility's
use.