European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 2, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Howard Kleinberg cons Seney sadly lacking in . Foreign policy As with anything else involving the Middle East there arc to ways to took at Secretary of slate George Shutlz s decision not to allow Yasser Arafat Avisa to address the United nations. Either it was a Brave statement against International terrorism or it was hypocritical showboating. What mates the Skull decision so astonishing however is that it was done without the input of the president of the United slates. A weekend statement from the Reagan Western while House said the presi Dent took no pan in the decision but knew about it. How could a decision that would carry such world wide Impact be made with the president taking no part has he already gone into retirement could t he be bothered is he capable. Meanwhile the United Stales officially is on record a rejecting a visa for Ararat to come to the United. States to address the United nations because Arafat s palestinian liberation organization knows or condones and lends support to terrorist acts against the United Stales. While there is everything in the reasoning thai makes sense the mull makes no sense. The soviet Union knows of condones and lends sup port to Sutti terrorist acts. Iran knows of condones and lends support to such terrorist acts. Libya knows of condones and lends support to such terrorist acts Cuba knows or condones and lends support to such terrorist acts. Syria knows of condones and lends support to such error isl acts. China knows of condones and lends support to such terrorist acts. Most countries of a slim Europe know of condone and lend support to such terrorist acts. Also knowing condoning and lending support arc the sandinista nicaraguans the North koreans and the South yemenite. Where s the consistency in . Foreign policy it in t there and in has t been Here in a Good while. Arc we Noi making the same statement against the others because they arc More powerful either militarily or economically than the Plo b silence based on the technicality that while the others Are legitimate countries the Plo is not and sits at the United. Nations As an observer Only legitimate countries which among them were legitimized by a free vote of its citizens either the uni cd slates is going to have a consistent policy against terrorism or it is going to remain a fool. In Flora Lewis his recently published autobiography Barry Goldwater the Man who fathered the Modem Republican conservatism that propelled Reagan Bush to the while House is highly critical of . Policy toward terrorism. He finds it As do i to be disjointed. Washington has no cohesive comprehensive policy that combines the special competences of the Cia our military intelligence and state to Battle the terrorists he writes. We have yet to convince terrorists that they will pay a Price for the murder and kidnapping of americans we have o Lake a tougher it this the Way we do it by keeping Arafat out of the country and thereby giving him a Public relations Victory you could kill him or other terrorists and they would not get much More favourable publicity than his. At least then you d be rid of them. Terrorists Long ago declared War on us. We barely have fought Back. National leaders and governments including inc soviet Union sponsor this violence Goldwater writes. The russians openly Arm and rain Only one terrorist group the Palestine liberation organization. However to con ceal their ties to other terrorists the Kremlin uses its communist cohort the Eastern bloc particularly Czechoslovakia Bulgaria and East German North Korea Cuba Nicaragua and South Yemen. All furnish training and arms to terrorists. They work underground with such groups As Italy s red brigade Weil germany1.raf, and Al Salvador s Feln. Iran Syria and Libya sponsor train and aim other terrorists.". Where is Pur firmness with the soviets and the Olheis if we Are going to take our stand against terrorism in this administration or in the clone that is next then we need to do More than make hypocritical pronouncement from the state department while this president rides hit Honey in California and the next one is surf casting off Maine. Arafat should get Chance to pro Amman Jordan Bassam Abu Sharif was a terrorist and he was a Vic Lim of terrorism. Now As chief spokes Man for the Palestine liberation organization he says i Don t think there s a future for either one if there is no cooperation Between israelis and palestini ans he served As Yasser Arafat s Point Man for peace last summer calling for direct talks because no one can build his own future on the ruins of another Arafat mindful of weaving contradictory strands into his own words has never gone so tar. He neither echoes nor rep Diate Sharir. " Bassam As he s called comes out of an extremist faction George Habash s popular front for the liberation of pal a sting pulp. His own Story the strands % of his own thought shows How a Man s mind can encompass attitudes that Don t seem to fit together but evolve with experience into a new approach he comes from the Village of afr Ahab near. Jerusalem where he was bom in 1946, he went to Beirut to study Al the american University and was there when the 1967 War prevented his returning Home. He studied economics business administration chemistry and history and he says he was offered lots of Good jobs. Out i decided to join the resistance to the occupation he says. My family was inside in was a human reaction we started in the resistance with the idea of going Back but then it was a reaction to the Iron fist. We found that political talk was useless it fell on deaf ears so we were forced to use arms he went to a Camp in the jordanian desert with a group from the University with a jordanian passport he travelled to Europe and the United slates three limes Between 1967 and 1970, delivering lectures on the palestinian cause. Num Bers of my family hundreds live in the .," he said. Bassam says i never shot a Bullet. 1 was not a fighter 1 was a political he does t say whether he Actu ally helped plan terrorist deeds bul As a member of his organization he accepted them. I was enthusiastic in the begin Ning for sensational operation without casualties to draw attention to our of course the threat is still terrorism " in 1970 he took pah in the hijacking of three airliners that were Kepi in the jordanian desert for a week and. Then blown up. He notes that there were no casualties and says his role was to explain the cause to the passengers. Bassam says a new York rabbi told him very seriously if i were in your place i d probably do the dramatic incident provoked world headlines and led to open lighting Between Plo and jordanian forces in Black september the Plo fighters were driven out and established them selves in Lebanon where again they did what they could to build a state within the la was an important Factor in bringing on the lebanese civil War. Bassam was in his Beirut office in1972 when a big envelope came con Taining a Book the size of websters with Che Guevara on the cover. It was a Nice cultural explosive Book the bomb evidently sent by israelis ripped several fingers off his hands disfigured his face and nearly left him deaf and Blind. A Friend says he had been very handsome like a movie now he is scarred and has Eye trouble a dark stub by but surprisingly relaxed Man he was in a Hospital for a month. Had a lot of Lime to think. 1 decided i would continue working for the cause i whatever Way possible but contrary to expectations in did t turn me into Aman who Wanis revenge i refused to fall into the vicious after what he Calls a lot of Dis Cussion in the pulp that year he says the Habash group decided to quit inter National terrorism because in was counterproductive. Bul gradually he moved toward the less Radical Arafat line chafing under syrian influence when his group moved to Damascus where i first met him. In 19.79 he was expelled forsaking hands Wilh president Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and openly joined Arafat. My View is if there is a Chance for self determination and a state we should do it he says. He is an example of thoughts catching up with realities and he criticizes colleagues who Ding to ambiguities. They speak in arabic though the words Are in English. But the Opportunity is Clear for people who arc serious about . Denial of a visa to Arafat to speak Al the uni cd nations was on grounds of the . Right to safeguard in own Secu Rity because of or. Arafat s associations Wilh nobody thinks he plans to throw a bomb in new York. The question is whether his View too has really evolved. He should have a Chance to prove it
