to achieve a peace treaty between
Egypt and Israel — and that after a
euphoric start prompted by Presi-
dent Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and
the advantage of Egypt's
foreknowledge that Israel would re-
turn the Sinai Peninsula.
To say that the opening condi-
tions today are less auspicious is to
mock understatement.
"The Arabs want only land and
Israel is offering only peace," says
architect Yehuda Pearlmutter.
"How do you imagine they're going
to bridge that gap?"
Good will and fair play are other
issues that feature prominently in
Israel's anxieties today.
"The bilateral talks are supposed
to prevent all the other partners
from ganging up on us," explains
bank teller Reuven Stern, "but
there's nothing to prevent them
from coordinating their strategy.
Did you see how pleased Arafat

looked after his meeting with As-
sad? I'm sure they're planning an
ambush."
Indeed, the expectations of what
will happen once the bilateral talks
begin are almost unanimous and
equally discouraging.
"Instant deadlock. That's what I
forecast," says Yosef Maimoni.
"I think they will blow up at some
point over a disagreement on sub-
stance, probably with Syria," ven-
tures civil engineer David Margalit.
"We'll give in step after step un-
der American pressure, just as we
have up to now, until Shamir can't
go any further," predicts Yehuda
Pearlmutter. "And you can bet that
when the talks fail, the Americans
are going to put the blame on us."
Such talk reflects a general mood
that the days ahead will be filled
with more tension than anticipation
and that the time for champagne, if
ever, remains a distant dream.0

Egypt And Israel:
A 'Cold' Peace

What can we learn from
the one model of Arab-
Israeli peace?

IRA RIFKIN

T

Special to The Jewish News

he 12-year-old Israeli-
Egyptian peace treaty has
not worked out as fully en-
visioned. At best, it's been a
"cold peace," one lacking the
comprehensive economic and cultural
"Mr. Baker, Go Home," reads this sign as protestors in
denouement envisioned in the written
Jerusalem voice their opposition to U.S. pressure on Israel.
accord.
month's headlines has been to immediately thereafter. And the
But as one-time Carter admixis-
plunge the country into something message has certainly come across tration advisor Stuart Eisenstat
of - a funk that news of a peace con- to the man in the street.
noted, "there are a lot worse things
ference has done little to relieve. On
"We'll drink our champagne when in the Middle East than a cold
the contrary, expectations of a long,
treaties are signed," says Rachel peace."
hard slog ahead have been rein- Maimoni, a housewife from Jerusa-
The treaty, signed by Menachem
forced by American as well as Israe- lem. "I don't remember exactly how
Begin and Anwar Sadat on March
li leaders.
long it took to negotiate the peace
Upon issuing the invitations to with Egypt," her. husband, Yosef, 26, 1979 in a ceremony on the White
the conference, Mr. Baker made a adds, "but it was quite a while, and House lawn, called for more than
point of saying that the road to more than once it looked as though just an absence of war, the demarca-
tion of borders and full diplomatic
peace "will be extremely difficult,
the whole thing was going to blow
recognition.
with many problems, many hitches, up."
It also talked of broad economic
and probably many interruptions
and
cultural exchanges; the removal
In
fact,
it
took
a
total
of
16
along the way." Mr. Shamir echoed
that sentiment, in almost the same months of tough bargaining, and of all barriers "to the free movement
words, in an interview broadcast occasional American arm-twisting, of people and goods." The vision, in

short, was a state of fully normal-
ized relations between two sover-
eign nations.
In reality, however, trade between
the two nations has been severely
circumspect (although Egypt does
sell Israel oil), both sides are not
above hurling verbal invectives at
each other, and the free flow of peo-
ple has been largely limited to Israe-
li tourists visiting the pyramids.
Still, Middle East specialists note,
the gains realized by Israel have
been enormous, not the least of
which is that Israel has been able to
relax its military guard along its
long border with Egypt now that
the Sinai Peninsula has effective
been demilitarized.
"The absence of any major mili-
tary incidents along the Israeli-
Egyptian border for a dozen years,
that is not a trivial matter," com-
mented Marvin Feuerwerger of the
Washington Center for Near East-
ern Affairs.
Ian Lustick, a University of Pen-
nsylvania political scientist and au-
thor of a recent book on the right-
wing Israeli settlers' movement
known as Gush Emunim, agreed.
"The treaty has held up rather well,
as long as you focus on the lack of
military conflict aspect," he said.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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