In the Mideast, not action but reaction:
Hehir, J Bryan
THE MIDDLE EAST in the summer of 1981 is being shaped by events rather than policies. The policy vacuum is evident in Washington and in the region itself. Secretary Haig's proposal for a "strategic...
...Both of these arguments, the geopolitical and the political, however, are less immediate than the daily human costs of the conflict, the death toll which escalates each month...
...The P.L.O...
...policy in Vietnam, misses the point that it was precisely this issue that galvanized opposition to the war in the United States...
...At this writing he has defused the Israeli-Syrian confrontation and has shaped a fragile cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (P.L.O...
...a special relationship carries special responsibilities...
...The success of Philip Habib as personal envoy of President Reagan is less the product of a coherent Washington policy than a testimony to Habib's extraordinary negotiating skills...
...Delivery will occur...
...The attack on the Iraqi reactor raises a different set of issues...
...The way this freedom is exercised directly touches the United States...
...allies in Europe think of the United States as an interested but disengaged supporter of Israel...
...Several situations are at least comparable to Israel's dilemma if not identical with it...
...Second, even if the local conflict could be insulated, the cycle of violence for the inhabitants of the region is straining the psychological and political limits of human endurance...
...It is this latter point which has particular relevance for U.S.-Israeli relations...
...These two decisions sparked controversy for both procedural and substantive reasons...
...The Israeli response has been that both actions were directly related to Israel's vital interests (hence within its sovereign prerogatives), and that U.S...
...Second, the procedural response is inadequate because of the substantive nature of the attacks on Iraq and Beirut...
...From Israel's perspective both actions were taken in response to provocation...
...In the Mideast, not action but reaction J. Bryan Hehir The need for a policy can be understood in two ways...
...Even if one accepts Israel's definition of the threat posed in each case, the raids are open to criticism...
...Positively, there is the need for a vision which relates the several elements of the Middle East problem, and proposes a coherent approach to the principal issues...
...Even if this assertion is valid in the short-term, however, the need for moving away from this crisis-ridden pattern is clear...
...The Israeli reprisal is equally indefensible and overwhelmingly disproportionate...
...Negatively, the need for a policy vision can be seen in the consequence of not possessing a policy...
...only the date is unknown...
...is left with actions which it presumably opposes, but which could be repeated...
...an Arab-Israeli engagement could draw in the superpowers...
...It is, rather, how much passive acquiesence the United States can afford...
...or a sudden halt in the oil supply could be used by outside powers as a casus belli...
...No serious observer will judge this suspension to be anything more than a symbolic gesture...
...J. BRYAN HEHIR...
...Israel's unilateral definition of what constituted a mortal danger and its unilateral determination of how to respond has implications which go beyond the Middle East...
...this allows individual actors to shape events unilaterally...
...In this kind of relationship to hear that one's interests have been considered, but to know one's views were not solicited is not sufficient...
...headquarters in Beirut...
...The U.S...
...First, it fails to acknowledge the direct and immediate link between the United States and Israel's foreign policy...
...without either party acknowledging the diplomatic existence of its adversary...
...The U.S.-Israeli relationship is under scrutiny this summer because of Israel's preemptive strike on the Iraqi nuclear reactor and its retaliatory strike on the P.L.O...
...interests were taken into account by the government of Israel before the raids were made...
...This procedural response is inadequate on two counts...
...military assistance annually provided to Israel creates not simply an "interest" for the United States in Israel, it identifies it with any major military move of Israel in the Middle East...
...Israel argued that the reactor was near completion and that the consistent enmity of Iraq toward the state of Israel justified a preemptive strike even though Iraq had signed the Nonproliferation Treaty and Israel could have requested inspection of the reactor...
...It could be argued that, given the distinct but interrelated conflicts presently afoot in the Middle East (Iraq v Iran...
...Even though Israel has demonstrated many times its ability to defend its interests, the assumption in the diplomatic world, in the media and in the mind of ordinary observers is that Israel's strength is a mix of its native capabilities and virtually unlimited U.S...
...The question between the United States and Israel is not, as Prime Minister Begin portrays it, how much interference Israel can tolerate...
...In a world of sovereign states, where the right of self-defense is acknowledged (even within the principles of the UN Charter) Israel will certainly maintain an irreducible margin of freedom of action to assure its sovereignty and independence...
...Proliferation of nuclear weapons and methods of preventing it is a global question...
...If the Israeli-response is accepted as normative, the international system faces a qualitatively new threat to peace...
...The attack on the P.L.O...
...Syria v Israel...
...Hence, the U.S...
...Three distinct reasons demand a more comprehensive policy on the part of the United States...
...First, there is the persistent danger of the Middle East becoming the catalyst for large-scale international conflict...
...Secretary Haig's proposal for a "strategic consensus" to counter the Soviets seems distant from the intricate details of the multiple conflicts which compromise the Middle East...
...In the Middle East the possibilities for wider conflict are multiple: a regional actor threatened with defeat could "go nuclear...
...political and military support...
...attack on civilians is indefensible...
...Only a few regional confrontations carry this kind of potential...
...Prime Minister Begin's comment, that he would disregard American criticism of civilian deaths because he remembers well U.S...
...the PLO v Israel, Lebanon), only ad hoc piecemeal measures are possible...
...Neither the Arab states nor U.S...
...headquarters in a civilian sector of Beirut was undertaken after Palestinian shelling of Israeli villages...
...The amount of U.S...
...In both cases the key procedural issue was whether the United States (whose aircraft were used in the raid on Iraq) was consulted...
...Both the Camp David formula and UN Resolution 242, in spite of the limitations each contained, provided a framework for negotiation rather than an ad hoc approach to the several crises in the Middle East...
...response to both raids has been to suspend delivery of aircraft...
Vol. 108 • August 1981 • No. 15
