Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408040012
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cal Thomas
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
King Hussein stopped far short of that when he observed that the parties had made ``a modest, determined beginning'' and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said, ``We embark on a road which must still be completed.''
The anti-Jewish terrorist bombings in Argentina and London indicate that it will take more than smiles and speeches on the White House lawn to reverse decades of animosity. Let us remember that the rhetoric of this hostility has included calls to force out all Israelis, even going so far as to evict buried Jewish bodies from their graves. And let us not forget Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, who is grumbling about possibly losing his clout with the Israelis because of the Jordan-Israel agreement. He's made trouble before and could do so again.
Americans are often too quick to accept declarations by foreign leaders whose record would be suspect in an American. Would a former Ku Klux Klan member involved in the bombing of black churches be instantly accepted as genuine when he announced he would no longer make war on blacks? If Charles Manson wanted to date your daughter, could you be satisfied with a signed pledge he would treat her well?
King Hussein is neither a Klansman nor a Charles Manson, but four years ago he backed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was raining Scud missiles on Israeli civilian targets and whose troops were terrorizing Kuwait. One might have wished a declaration from King Hussein that he regretted that alliance (and his record of offering sanctuary to terrorists), coupled with an announcement of how differently he now views Israel. Perhaps that will come. One can hope.
There is another reason for caution. King Hussein, like all leaders of Arab states, does not head a democratic government. The assassination tradition in the Middle East is long. Should a terrorist slay him, there is no assurance that whoever followed him to power would honor any agreement he signed. Egypt was fortunate to have Hosni Mubarak step in when Anwar Sadat was assassinated. No other Arab nation could expect such an orderly transition in similar circumstances.
Douglas Feith, a deputy assistant secretary of defense and a Middle East specialist on the White House National Security Council staff in the Reagan administration, has written words worth repeating:
``True peace, as opposed to a mere cease-fire or a balance of power, is bound up with concepts of justice - that is, law and morality. It describes, for example, relations now between the United States and Canada, but not relations during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. It has to do with attitudes of mind - with a mutual belief that each state has sovereign rights and a shared conviction that no party should take what belongs to another. The ultimate success of the current Arab-Israeli negotiations, therefore, will hinge on how they deal with the legal and moral essence of the conflict: the longstanding Arab legal and moral arguments used to oppose Zionism and Israel.''
Nations can change. Germany and Japan are examples in this century. But the Middle East is different. Logic and historical analogies do not apply there.
Shalom. Salaam. Peace. Say and write the slogans and the blessings, but it should not be forgotten that Israel has never been the obstacle to peace. Jordan could have had a real peace agreement in 1948, but chose to align itself with other Arab states in a genocidal cabal to eradicate Jews from ``Arab land.''
Israel has been the target of an effort by Arab nations to wipe it out. If Jordan now wants to make real peace because it is exhausted by years of contention, fine. Israel nonetheless had better not let its guard down. Generations of hatred, inflamed by some of the very leaders who have lately been in Washington talking peace and acceptance, are not instantly or easily put to rest.
Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB