European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 23, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes May 1977 like never wot Bank Anthony Lew is begin election upsets Mideast views we had allowed ourselves to this that there we at last a real Chance for settlement in the Middle a Way out of the political danger and human misery of the last 30 to those Hopes the election in Israel is dealt a numbing the Victory of the righting nationalist threatens the two crucial calculations in the Carter administrations Mideast thinking that Arab opinion would keep moving toward acceptance of israels reality and that Israel would agree to with draw from occupied territory in return for genuine both premises Are shaken by the Prospect of an israeli Premier t manahem the liked Leader who has for decades advocated an enlarged jewish unsettling As the election results they have to be put in a certain perspex for one liked did not exactly win a great Triumph for its it gained just two emerging with the largest number Only because the Long dominant labor party suffered huge most of the defecting labor voters went not to liked but to the moderate reformist coalition headed by Yigal Domestic not appear to have produced the the labor John Roche Mutt and Jeff interrogation team there has been so much Conversa so Many plans directed towards a Middle East settlement that the fundamental problem has been virtually there could have been peace anytime the leaders of Jordan and Egypt agreed to meet the israelis and their refusal to do so has strengthened the suspicion Many of us have that the nol the of Israel remains the Basic Arab All hands did agree to go to but in real terms this was a neat Arab gambit their agreement was conditioned on representation of the Palestine liberation organization a proposition they knew Israel would it was very Clever because it put the onus for stonewalling negotiations on yet no sane israeli could agree to representation of an organization that has time and again vowed to eliminate the jewish to this Many americans but they dont mean Yasser Arafat just has to say those things to protect himself from the Hartline in other when the leading body of the the pal Estine National announces As it did recently that the strategic purpose of the Plo is the liberation of Palestine from the zionist racist but that jews can remain if they cast away their racist zionist we Are asked to believe they Are firing off Blanks to improve their bargaining Yasser who has been Well briefed in Moscow on disinformation is working hard to Bill himself As the Nice the palestinian who wants to save the israelis from their own its an old technique in third degree circles the Mutt and Jeff interrogation Mutt beats the Burns him with cigarette kicks him and then delivers him Over to who turns out to be a real after a Beer and Sandwich and some pleasant Jeff notes that Mutt will soon be Back so Why not confess now and get it Over at this Point a Normal human being would admit the murder of president Garfield As he is led Mutt and Jeff congratulate themselves and go out for a Good if we cast Arafat As we get the pre sent picture in note the recent leaks from that peace All on a double soviet ambassador a past master of the tells Secretary of state Vance that Arafat told Brezhnev the Plo would accept israels existence in return for a palestinian state in the West Hank and then listen to this ambiguous Beauty Crown Prince Kahn of saudi Arabia said today he believed that the Plu would agree to recognize the state of Israel As part of a settlement of the Middle East such a he includes the establishment of the West ban Gaza Arafat was recently in town in the Wake of president Carters meet ing with syrian president Hafez at which he announced american support for a palestinian we can expect a massive orchestration on the theme of israeli the fact that Jordan is the palestinian Homeland the Arab segment of the old British Man Date with a population at least three Quad ters palestinian has already disappeared from history and i wonder if it occurred to Carter that Assad a very Tough customer might be engaged in a takeover bid of his Assad has never concealed his desire to recreate the old turkish province which included what is now Jordan and this dream of a greater Syria could be written off As Idle musing by a megalomaniac except for two things 1 assays Savage domination of which is now a syrian dependency and 2 the Syria jordanian rapprochement in Given King Hussein notable Assad is obviously the it is difficult to gel decent people to real ize there Are killers in the a Genera Tion has risen in the land that knows not gulag or the holocaust and has difficulty understanding that the red Khmer really have killed perhaps 20 per cent of the Cam Bodian they desperately want to in Arab Good yet the sur Vival of Israel May Well depend on their escaping from Bland self deception and taking a hard look at the situation at ground oking turn in Power for 29 had suffered a series of scandals climaxed by the resignation of Premier the voters evidently Felt it was time for a they exorcised a democratic right that often bewail Ders foreign observers voting against begin will hardly have free reign for his revisionist he must go through the particularly intricate in of forming a he is in frail some americans who know begin Well say he is personally an old Ash toned courtly and certainly less forbidding than his moderation often sets in when longtime opposition figures win and that could Well happen with it was easy for these last to say that he favored proposals to Start new jewish Settle ments in the occupied West but it would not be so easy for him to do so As Premier if the american government warned him of the As it doubtless but for All the fact of a begin government could have a profound Impact on the chances for that is because his tory has made begin a powerful Symbol to Many and symbols have their own reality throughout his political begin has been in the zionist faction that wants Israel to include both the West and East Banks of the Jordan just the other Day he said we want to prevent the creation of a so called palestinian state in our that posture will inevitably give support to those arabs who portray Israel As an Irr dentist committed to expand its Borders whenever before the creation of Israel in begin led the an underground army that not Only fought the British colonial forces but made retaliatory terrorist at tacks on the Airgun was responsible for the destruction during the 1mb War of an Arab Village called Deir Yassin an incident that Cost hundreds of civilian lives and that the Arab world has called an even those most committed to Israel should be Able to understand Why Arab leaders May find it hard to Deal with Mcna him at a they have constituencies to worry an Anwar shaky As he is in his political sup would have to consider what the egyptian Public thought about a Deal with such an israeli Damascus radio re acted to the election by calling begin a terrorist and a the changed Prospect in Israel also has difficult implications for the american president Carter and Secre tary of state Vance have indicated that they would try to move Israel toward con Cessions not by threats but by will those tactics work with a begin government even if begin himself should prove responsive to can a coalition he Heads conceivably have the author Ity to take bold Steps for peace if in fact the Hopes of encouraging Prog Ress by agreement now Peter what alternative would Washington have the new situation puts a particular re i on american support ers of they May be if Arab rhetoric now returns to a More strident to argue that peace has turned out to be an that the arabs cannot be that unfailing military help for Israel is the Only american policy but that Way lies and War cannot be the salvation of Israel or even for very the True Security of Israel can Only in the on Arab realism and and in on israeli accommodation with the legitimate Aspi rations of the it is for those who appreciate americas stake in Israel to keep those truths in patiently during the political struggles cd a Law York Timm
