Op1inion Page 6 Thursday, July 8, 1982 The Michigan Daily The Michigan Daily Vol. XCII, No. 35-S Ninety-two Years of Editorial Freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Israel no longer merits special status ti Atghtrope actLP P RESIDENT REAGAN'S offer to send U.S. t marines into west Beirut to walk the t tightrope between the Palestinians and Israelis a a may be the last chance for restoring peace in a the divided nation.d A single gunshot could ruin America's p mission of evacuating the PLO, however, and plunge the United States into the deepening' r political and military morass of the beseiged P city. Because the risks involved are so great, v the United States must have conditions con- S ducive not only to a successful departure of the H PLO but to the security of American forces. An agreement must include a PLO pledge to s lay down its heavy arms, transform itself into a s political, nonmilitary force, and cooperate with a American evacuation plans. b At the same time, the Israelis should pull t d back their forces to the fringes of Beirut, allowing the Palestinians and Americans a breathing room to operate. And if the job is not u done in a month, then the U.S. marines should P get back on their ships and head for home. a An all-out battle in the streets of Beirut will P not serve any group's interest, least of all the n United States. The risks inherent in involving I U.S. troops in Lebanon are great, but all sides c long for a peaceful settlement. And this may be t' the last and best hope for averting the final c deadly battle of Beirut. a I t f 'K t a C a N v , o l BIT? V x vf tj '~o r\A ti (r, g .. ,.+lhxlw.NlaaY- o P By Paul McCloskey The current bloodshed in Lebanon has several tragic im- lications for the United States. First is the hardening convic- ion elsewhere in the world that he United States has authorized nd approved the indiscriminate nd massive use of firepower gainst an innocent and largely defenseless Lebanese civilian opulation. TO THE REST of the world srael has now become a U.S. proxy-an instrument of U.S. olicy in the Mideast, much as we iew Cuba as an instrument of oviet policy in the Western Hemisphere. When Israel uses U.S.- upplied artillery aircraft and weaponry, including the fear- ome CBU's, or "cluster bombs," igainst refugee camps and ur- an areas, the world - and par- icularly the Arab world - un-. lerstands that these are U.S. weapons, supplied under greements that they will not be sed save with U.S. consent, ex- ress or implied. The blood of innocent women nd children, both Lebanese and alestinian, is thus on our hands, ot just on the hands of the sraelis. It is well-known that luster bombs were furnished by he United States to the Israelis in he early 1970s on the specific ondition that they be used only gainst regular armies when srael was under attack, and that hey not be used against guerrilla orces or in civilian areas. When he Israelis violated this greement in 1976 by the use of CBUs in southern Lebanon, the United States government lodged formal and public protest. NOT SO IN 1982, however. Not only has the United States stood ilently like Pontius Pilate as the CBU's were used in southern' Lebanon in recent weeks, we also etoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. As in he case of Vietnam, whatever' may be the merits of the destruc- ion of rural villages by U.S. irepower, the indiscriminate use f that firepower is viewed with niversal horror elsewhere in the world. It is not merely world opinion hat is shocked: We violate our wn principles in this process. America has long treasured its eritage as a nation under law ation which sought to restrain he excessive use of force, even in ust causes, according to clear egal principles. One of those rinciples is that the police, in As American-made Israeli jets bomb Be questioning continued U.S. aid to Israel. pursuit of an armed criminal, cannot pursue that individual into a marketplace and in- discriminately shoot into the crowd. Under no circumstances can the Israeli pursuit of not more than 15,000 armed Palestinians, in a country of 3 million people, be considered a restrained use of force. Naval bombardments and aerial bom- bing of Beruit, Sidon, Tyre and the Palestinian refugee villages must, of necessity, kill and maim tens of thousands of noncom- batants. A captured Israeli pilot put it fairly and accurately the other day when he said that he could not justify his country's use of force - that such use of force was excessive. Indeed, to much of the world Israel has become the newest international bully, created and armed by the United States, and now out of control'- but still supported by Washington regardless of how many innocent ,people are killed in the process. THE GROWING hatred felt by the Arabs for the United States transcends national and political views. It is an emotional, gut reaction to our conduct, a reac- tion which once implanted in a human heart may remain for years. As the Holocaust is remembered in Jewish hearts, it is the kind of hatred that can provoke blind revenge and retaliation for generations. The perception is growing that Americans no longer are people interested in fairness and justice. Instead, we now are viewed as a people who, like the Soviets in Afghanistan, value expediency more than the lives of innocent people. An even worse aspect of Lebanon's tragedy, however, may be the dulling of our senses toward indiscriminate killing with U.S. weapons, so long as it is Israel which is doing the killing. As opposed to our traditional view of independence of action and policy, the United States seems to have adopted the view that no matter what offenses Israel may commit against Arabs on the West Bank or in Lebanon, we intend to support them, out of respect for what Israelis have done in the past, or out of some sense of guilt over our inaction 40 years ago in the face of Hitler's holocaust. WHEN TURKEY, a NATO ally, used U.S. arms to invade Cyprus in 1975, we immediately invoked a provision of the Arms Control Act to cut off aid. Yet when Israel used U.S. weapons to destroy the Iraqi nuclear reactor, to bomb Beirut and to invade Lebanon, the United States stood nearly mute. What is this strange paralysis of American leadership with respect to Israel? There is no longer any reason why the United States should send $2.2 billion per year in foreign aid (one fifth of a total $11 billion in U.S. foreign aid this year) to a single nation of 3.5 million people when that nation is violating basic concepts of human decency. It is time to say: "Israel, after 34 years on this planet, you have finally come of age. If you choose to use excessive force in attaining your objectives, however praiseworthy - if you continue to flout U.S. policy goals and unanimous United Nations Security Council resolutions - then do so on your own. We no longer choose to support the killing of innocent people, no matter how understandable may be your goal of eliminating military threats on your borders. Our past relationship with you has been based on morality, but we find no morality in your ac- tions in and around Beirut today." McCloskey, a Republican congressman from California, wrote this article for the Pacific News Service.