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the same enemy. After the Soviet
Union's demise, Israel and the U.S.
commonly face the proliferation of non-
conventional weapons and the political
radicalization of a Middle Eastern
region.
Would our incredible economic
boom be pushing the Dow above 9000
if there were not record low prices for a
barrel of oil? The region has the largest
known oil reserves in the world. Would
the United States care as deeply about
the Arab Middle East if a portion of it
did not have oil? Would the United
States have sent half a million troops to
fight a war if Chile had invaded Peru?
The strategic relationship goes beyond
good and bad players on the interna-
tional chess board; it includes military
supply, weapons development, and intel-
ligence components of a depth and vari-
ety one can not begin to comprehend or
enumerate.
The 5.8 million Jews in the United
States represent 2.3 percent of the total
population. Even the fractious 'Who is
Jew?' debate has not diminished relent-
less 24-hour American Jewish support
for Israeli security. And there are the
3,000 to 4,000 Israeli "consulates" in the
United States; they called synagogues.
This is no match for even a grow-
ing American Moslem community,
assuming they possessed the same

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JAMES D. BESSER

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Washington Correspondent

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38

common bonds to preserve a foreign
country's security at any cost.
American Jewish political activism is
unparalleled.
Finally, there is the quarter-century
American-dominated and choreo-
graphed Arab-Israeli peace process. As
long as Washington has shepherded
Arab-Israeli negotiations, there have
been profound disagreements about how
much land Israel should give up, what it
should get in return and over what peri-
od of time. You can take a four-to-one
bet that additional Israeli withdrawals,
whether from the Golan Heights or the
West Bank, will be accompanied by
U.S. guarantees and money to Israel.
Within 10 years I bet Israel will possess
an iron-clad treaty relationship with the
United States.
Can the special relationship go afoul?
Yes, if core American values change,
which is unlikely, and if Israel defeats
the United States in war, which is less
likely. More likely to create major obsta-
cles, but not necessarily major changes,
would be an end to common strategic
vulnerabilities in the Middle East, or a
prolonged gush in oil prices to points
where Jews and Israelis are scapegoats for
a world-wide economic decline.
That said, rather than exclusively
depend upon American Jewish political
activism, Israelis could do more to keep

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.S. efforts to revive Israeli-
Palestinian talks entered the
"end game" this week, but it
remained to be seen whether
this round would be any more conclu-
sive than several other diplomatic end
games in recent months.
On Monday, the State Department
indicated that Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators would resume direct talks,
possibly as early as this week, but not at
the highest levels.
But privately, administration officials
were saying that there is almost no
expectation the talks will prove success-
ful. If no progress is forthcoming, they
say, the administration will likely begin
its long-threatened withdrawal from
active mediation.
The flurry of activity came after
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
last week voiced strong frustration over
the long impasse and warned — again

— that Washington could not continue
its mediation effort indefinitely.
Spokesmen for Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu interpreted her
remarks as support for their argument
that the onus for the stalled talks lies
with the Palestinians, and that only
direct Israeli- Palestinian negotiations
could lead to a breakthrough.
That prompted a stern rebuke from
State Department spokesman James
Rubin, who came closer than ever to
officially blaming Israel for the break-
down.
Referring to a series of U.S. propos-
als that include a 13.1 percent Israeli
West Bank redeployment, Rubin said
"the ball is not in the Palestinian court
as I've seen it suggested. The ball is in
the court of the Israelis to try to work
with the Palestinians and work with us
to come to a second yes. We have a yes
from the Palestinians, and we are look-
ing to get ourselves in a position where
the Israelis can say yes, as well."
But the Netanyahu government

