European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Friday december 16,1986 Flora Lewis Israel Plo must bargain to Shore land in peace Geneva there Are two games in the Middle East conflict. One is deadly. Palestinians dying at the Rale of one a Day. Five limes War has broken out. Bui there arc not Likely to be More wars like 1973," an israeli Diplomat noted because now there Are weapons of mass destruction in the Region missiles and chemicals on the Arab Side nuclear arms on the israeli thai is Why major Powers increasingly insist on re starting the peace process until now begun Only after a War. The other game is a shadowy intricate Waltz of words. Peace process itself is pan of it. Everyone is for it but not everyone has the same peace in mind. The words have taken on a life of their own some times Only tenuously connected to How people live what they must fear what they can Hope. Yasser Arafat came to new York and poured out passionate words about peace for a change about Justice As before about International legitimacy about equal Security about did he or did t he use the right words to make a breakthrough not quite although the Waffle now is More in what he adds than in what he refuses to say. There were paragraphs for practically everybody in his speech to the . At Geneva which lasted Over an hour. When they arc sifted through and they will yield a variety of nuggets. The occasion was a Triumph for hint and he did t miss the Chance to taunt the . For no letting the , hear him at its new York Headquarters. He was clearly elated wrapped in a Black and White Kaffir cd and a Well tailored safari suit which suggested a uni form without quite being one most palestinians will be ecstatic As they watch him on t a applauded by the nations of the world present ing himself As the head of the Plo committee Assum ing the functions of the provisional government of the state of he concluded with prayers for peace from the new and old testaments and then to our people the Dawn approaches. Victory is a it will take the sting out of the failure of words to produce magic by now. We thought said a palestini an journalist in East Jerusalem a Tew Days ago that if we pronounced . Resolutions 242, 338, existence of Israel renounce terrorism we d be invited to break fast in the White House the next a woman a marxist supporter of the hard liner George Habash who called Arafat a dictator said nonetheless we need him we must support him. We arc week and he is out there talking to the powerful shaking James w0hfw.thinking in the Middle East. Of course the people who live under occupation have Long known that Israel exists and will continue to exist whether or not the words acceptance and recognition Are intoned. More than half born since 1967, have known no other regime. But we Don t want to legitimize Israel said the woman a .-trained sociologist. Like Many other palestinians she is mesmerized by the idea that the words constitute concessions wrung from her Lead ers we have Given everything possible and we get nothing. They Only she was shocked to hear that a Plo representative in Jordan had snapped at friends who recited he same now common refrain. We have Given nothing he said. We have nothing to when she thought about it she said of i see. He meant the occupation goes on without words for the next couple of Days . Delegates will be haggling frantically Over More words to put into new resolutions that is the Way they do diplomacy. The famous Resolution 242, which produced the words to account for Israel s Conquest of All of Palestine in 1967, called for withdrawal from territories occupied English version which leaves room for some Border changes or withdrawal from the territories French version which suggests precisely the frontiers set in the 1949 armistice agreements. That ambiguity made possible majority support. Now the proposal is to recognize the Plo s observer delegation at the . As the Palestine observers meaning it s a slate or not a stale in the word game Lack of clarity solves problems. But the living and fighting and worrying real world goes on. People on both sides of the Arab israeli conflict know that. Some at least arc aching to bring the words to match the reality at last to admit that the israelis and Plo roust bargain if they Are to share the land in peace. The land does t Light or talk. People do. It is Lime to use words that mean deeds. Seq gun held off of they say of Ronald Reagan that he is a conservative ideologue and ordinarily this is said with a pejorative curl of the Tongue. The denomination has a basis in fact. Reagan never has impressed me As an ideologue but he is indeed a conservative. He demonstrated this Early in november in three veto messages that went largely unreported in the press. On nov. 5, Reagan vetoed the Chil Dren s television act of 1988." on the 8lh ejection Day he vetoed a Bill to establish a coordinated National no. Tuition monitoring and related research on the same Day he also vetoed a Bill "10 require certain detailed tabulations relating to asian americans and Pacific in each instance he was responding to Basic conservative instincts. the first of the three Bills would have limited advertising during children s to programs to no More than 12 minutes an hour. Of greater importance in the Rea Gan View the measure would have directed the. Federal communications commission to build a new Factor into broadcast licensing. The acc would have to be satisfied that the broadcaster has served the educational and informational needs of children in its Overall ,.-. Reagan began his veto message with a polite word of applause for efforts to increase the amount and Quality of programming for children. But this was his License renewals upon the Federal government s determination As to the adequacy of a Licensee s programming would violate the first amendment. It would inhibit broadcast ers from offering innovative programs that do not fit neatly into regulatory categories and discourage the creation of programs that might not satisfy the tastes of Agency officials responsible for consid ering License renewals i the Bill simply cannot be reconciled with the Freedom of expression secured Constitution moreover despite its laudable goals it is Likely to be coun the second Bill would have created a new bureaucracy to prepare a comprehensive plan for the assessment of the nutritional and dietary Swiss of the United slates population and the nutritional Quality of food consumed in the United in Reagan s View the Bill would put Federal nutrition efforts on the wrong Reagan did not say so in precisely these words the nutrition Bill provided a prime example of How con Gress has run the country so deeply in debt. The Bill was Well intentioned. Who could oppose so innocent and Uno fend ing a measure but the Bill was packed with familiar goodies Grants for plan Ning Grants for research Grants for data collection Grants for analysis. The Bill would have been administered jointly by the departments of agriculture and health and human services. At kinds of advisory councils would have been Cre ated. And All for what to Tell us what weal -. Experience shows said Reagan that once the Federal government begins handing out Money under a new Grant program a political constituency devel Ops that demands greater funding for that program. Greater scrutiny should be Given to the need for the proposed new Grant programs before they arc locked in As a future expansion of the Federal Bud go. V v a a. S the third Bill dealt with a lessor order of magnitude. Rea an objected thai by singling out asian americans and Pacific islanders the Bill would have unnecessarily restricted the form of race questions on. Future censuses. His main objection was that the Bill would require new questions relating to plumbing facilities in private Homes. Adequate data already arc available through the census and other sources. Finally these changes would increase administrative costs and add to the paperwork Burden imposed on the Public by the Vintage re Agana the common theme running through the three veto messages was a denial of the Nightmare that George Orwell wrote about in "1984." Reagan simply does not accept the idea of a society in which big brother is watching you free society what we watch on television what we eat or fail to Eal and what we have by Way of plumbing in our bathrooms is no Busi Ness of the Federal government needless bureaucracy officious bureaucracy the bureaucracy of useless and costly paper work All these arc anathema to the president. So he vetoed the bills., we May be certain that professional nutritionists and professional nannies will take their disappointment to the in coming Congress. Let us Pray that George Bush will prove equally resistant to the orwellian ii Cut year
