Beginnings
The one redeeming circumstance of this winter's weather is that we know, even as the record snows continue, that it will change. The thaw may not happen until May, but thaw there will be, and that...
...We neglected to credit him properly, and we now repair the omission...
...Some of the implications of the change are spelled out on page 8 of this issue: I hope you will read it...
...And that is a very serious matter...
...While no one disputes Israel's right to make its own determination and to make its own decisions, those on whom Israel rightly depends for support are entitled to ask that they be offered more to work with...
...The thaw may not happen until May, but thaw there will be, and that makes the thing tolerable...
...But though when I look at my desk I see the effects of the storm, and though when I look out my window it is snow that I see, writing words that will be read some time in March induces a consciousness of the nearness of Spring that offers some comfort...
...Begin will have been here, and Congress will have responded to Mr...
...As to the announcement, it is that with the publication of this issue, moment has undergone an important change in its organizational status...
...It is not yet an erosion of support for Israel...
...Here the cycle of freeze and thaw is far less dependable, and the current chilling seems likely to be with us for a long while...
...The potholes will be filled, they will be...
...There is precedent for such an arrangement—witness the Panama Canal Zone—and there has also been at least some indication that the Egyptians would accept such a proposal...
...A correction, and an important announcement...
...But that reason has, to the best of my knowledge, not been presented, and I am concerned that those of us who are expected to be the intelligent defenders of Israel's policies in this country are left in the dark...
...While waiting for more dependable signals, it is worth noting that the unpleasant developments of January and February have left many American Jews in a state of moderate distress...
...We are, it appears, expected to do the job out of good will rather than out of conviction, supplying on our own the arguments and rationales which Israel has yet to offer...
...Specifically, Israel has sought to justify the Sinai settlements on security grounds...
...it is an erosion of confidence in Israel's government...
...Perhaps there is good reason to prefer civilian settlements to rented bases...
...Moreover, the slapstick non-comedy of the "archaeological" dig at Shiloh, in the West Bank, suggests that there may be more involved here than a botched up public relations effort...
...The matter of the Sinai settlements has created great confusion even among Israel's most ardent defenders...
...The Blizzard of '78 has thrown our production schedule out of whack—no mail for a week, no way of getting manuscripts to the typesetter, delays that will affect our schedule for many weeks...
...But many Israelis, as well as most of Israel's newspapers, have raised the obvious question: if security is the issue, why not propose that Israel rent from Egypt space for as many military bases as it needs...
...Not so—not so with such certainty—when it comes to the man-made potholes of this chilling time in Middle East affairs...
...But if the relatively "simple" matter of civilian settlements in the Sinai creates such tumult, how can we have serious hope that the more significant issues will be dealt with constructively...
...I do not believe that a defense mounted under such disabling circumstances can be expected to be very effective, and if the people I've spoken with about the matter are at all representative of American Jewry, a rapidly growing number of American Jews share that concern...
...Dayan was in this country in February, trying to solidify support for Israel's actions, but his repeated cavalier dismissals of questions put to him by troubled allies suggests that he may have had no real answers to offer...
...A month from now, we will know more, and better...
...There is, quite plainly, an erosion taking place...
...Emanuel Culman was responsible for the photographs on pages 28, 29, 30 and 38 in last month's article on Los Angeles...
...And that you will have a very happy Purim...
...There are, to be sure, other and larger issues still waiting in the wings...
...We are now a tax-exempt organization, and we are very optimistic about the effect of this development on our capacity to serve our readers—and the entire American Jewish community—better...
...While it is still too early to announce the demise of our hopes for peace, it is increasingly difficult to imagine how they may be resuscitated...
...General Gamasy, the Egyptian War Minister, said in a press conference on January 14 that "They do have justification for retaining Rafah airfield and Ra's an-Naqb airfield in particular...
...It will not do for the Israelis to think that by saying "our security" they have made their case, they have said all that needs to be said...
...Carter's proposed arms sale, and we will have a clearer sense of whether the Sadat thaw will continue or whether a new ice age is in store...
Vol. 3 • March 1978 • No. 4
