European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 12, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes sunday. July 12,1967 arabs jews still unable to find peace anniversaries and ceremonials Don t in Trigue me As much As new things happening. So i did t Slop 10 think what the 20th anniversary of the six Day Arab israeli War meant until i read the article my neighbor my enemy by Thomas Friedman in the new York times mag Azine. U brought hoods of reminiscence and a Terri ble recognition. Friedman summed it up in say ing the last 20 years have been nothing More than the seventh Day of the six Day  i have vivid memories of the mounting crisis the excited eagerness for War in Cairo and Amman and then the week of Battle from the israeli Side. It is my favorite boast that i was the last person through the Mandelbaum Gate the Sale passage across divided Jerusalem the night before it started. But my Point is not to retell War stories it is the postwar stories that matter. In the Spring of 1968, 1 went again to see How things had changed. Alter getting some addresses from people in East Jerusalem i made a Quick Lour of the West Bank. I chose to go alone Trad ing off the limitations of Contact that the Luck of an arabic speaking interpreter would mean for the Chance mat by Misc of could inspire greater Confidence and Candor. Things were tense in Nablus. Where israeli soldiers were rounding up schoolgirls who chose to demonstrate Defiance with abettor Chance of safely than if the task were left to men and boys. A woman schoolteacher spoke about it with passion ate haired. Later she was deported to Jordan. But other especially notables spoke with both resignation and Hope. At one House in the Countryside a family talked of new perspectives new awareness. They had been refugees in 1948 but had re established themselves in Comfort. That evening i drove Back for dinner in Kent Liya at the Home of the Man who is now the president of Israel his wife was surprised that i Hart spent the Day wandering around the West Bank. Few besides israeli Soldier ventured there. And not alone. It had t occurred to me to be frightened or even that the israeli plates on my rented car marked me from the other Side of the Green line. In those Days the Green line was t Ink on a map it was literally where Intel live israeli farming and modern irrigation hopped and the dry landscape unchanged since biblical Days began. But just before i crossed Back i knew great fear i was on a straight narrow Road not wide enough to turn around. Ahead i saw a Man by the Roadside Bend Down to pick something up As he saw me coming. My Knees jellied i Felt he blood Rush to my head and i had to hold lightly to the wheel Noi to lose control of the car. There was no one else anywhere around. As 1 approached the Man stood up and held out not the gun 1 was dreading nor a Rock a bouquet of wildflowers he apparently wanted to sell. I was incapable of slopping but the Relief was joyous. Fear often comes at the wrong time. List year a woman Motorist was killed by a grenade tossed from the Roadside. In 20 years a new generation has reached maturity and hatred has ripened. Much has changed. No physical barriers Divide Jerusalem but As Friedman says each inhabitant knows by heart hit geography of fear. The people Are no nearer Mutual acceptance. Peace has come to be seen As a sacrifice that too few Are ready to make no longer the shining Hope of 1967. Anwar Sadat rejected carnal Abaci Nasser s no Sana accepted a treaty with Israel. Arabs and jews vying to assert their right to Palestine As Home cannot accept the simple truth of Friedman s conclusion As Long As your neighbor is your enemy your House will never be a Home it must be a fortress and so the seventh Day has brought no rest. It is just another Day 3 year a generation of War As usual us and them. Cml Cyk times Iam Susoe Duffoo Nortu George will skillful imaginative politicians nowhere to be seen in hearings lifting his Pinafore above the muck and clinging to cliches As to a lifeline the committee coun Sel undertook to instruct Oliver North communists deceive so we should not so Covert operations Are in american. The Gale having swung open on a child s Garden of moralists North eagerly came out to Romp on his preferred ground of passionate belief. He re plied that the world is dangerous. Thus Wen the issues joined Between a Litigator and a Licule Nant colonel. The nation still was not hearing on either Side from the kind of people who should be in charge of political debate politicians. In descending order of importance the three Rea sons for having these hearings Are to clarify the presi Dent s role to elucidate the procedures that produced the blunders and to assemble evidence of lawbreaking. The first reason is most important because it concerns the political vitality of the government s Central energizing institution. The second is Public pedagogy a legitimate use of legislative hearings. The third is relatively trivial and May turn on such technical questions As whether the profits from weapon sales were . Government assets. But the third reason seems disproportionately important because of the role played by the committee s hired litigators. John w. Nields or. And Arthur l. Liman. They resemble very Strong bloodhounds at the end of a very Long Leash held by a very Small boy. The questions that make these hearings de serving of the description historic Are political questions. They concern the distinctive functions of the government branches the different ethics of Public and private actions the compatibility of Democrat and secrecy. But for Days the political people the members of the committee were Mere props utterly passive As two litigators set the the Lone and miniaturized the controversy. There is Nice irony in the fact and some members of the committee acknowledge thai in is a fact that Congress whose expanding desire to control foreign policy is Ai Issue in these hearings has not quite controlled the hearings. It is Clear thai a senator on the committee says North was not Mett Emich he was sergeant York. In was Reagan administration policy to gel weapons to Iran and Aid to the contras. North s assignment was to gel those jobs done. The Mell Erlichs Are still missing from the Jigsaw Puzzle. One of them former Cia i Roclor William Casey Isi cad. Although Casey talked like a Man chewing grape nuts he was Brave Brilliant and foxy. He would have been an instructive and perhaps emblematic witness. He brought to the necessary business of Covert opera Lions a Bucca Neering spirit. He May also have brought a shall we say casualness about the process. Such casualties May be the contribution of conservatism to this mess. Deep Down when there is a deep Dow Many conservatives do not like government so respect for in institutions does nol act As a Flywheel on their moral motors. They Lack the patience enjoined by politics based on Public and private persuasion. In one of his plays Tom Stoppard writes skill without imagination is craftsmanship and give us Many useful Obj Ccu such As wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern  it also gives us foreign pol cies such As arms Sale to Iran. Where were the senior conservatives in whom skill and imagination Are supposed to be joined it has been said with government in mind that the Best Carriage horses an those that can most steadily hold Back a Carriage As it trundles downhill where were those horses the most seasoned officer secretaries Caspar Weinberger and George Shults when the administration headed downhill in is difficult 10 be definitive about the ethics of dissent in government s inner councils but surely those two men and especially Shultz should have slopped policies they considered dangerous or should have closely controlled them precisely because they considered them dangerous or should have resigned. A Friend once said to Al Smith to Tell you the Rulh Al. This election Campaign has nol helped me to make up my mind Smith replied to Tell you the truth Charlie if you need an election Campaign to make up your mind you must be a dumb son of a  so must anyone be who needs hearings to make up his mind about the Folly of arming a terrorist re Gime while the Secretary of Isaic lectured allies against doing thai. Finally a cautionary note. It has been said thai when there Are conflicting versions of a Story in is Wise to believe the one in which people appear most disreputable. That was unwise concerning North and Proba Bly is unwise concerning his superiors. Thai needs to be emphasized because of liberalism s contribution to the current climate the attempt 10 criminalize policy differences