Correspondents' Correspondence Personalizing Diplomacy
KALB, MARVIN
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS. PersonalizingDiplomacy Washington-the personalization...
...If Sadat intends by this tactic to topple Begin from power, these officials feel that he will not only fail, but also end up strengthening Be-gin's grip on power...
...This, it is felt, demeans his otherwise good-faith efforts to attain peace...
...This anti-Semitic campaign seems to increase in intensity, moreover, during the periods of highest frustration with the peace progress...
...officials, speaking privately, express concern about Sadat's criticism of Begin as the major obstacle to peace...
...It is clear that the gaps between Egypt and Israel are great, and peace is not at hand...
...They are also saying that territorial compromise on the West Bank and Gaza is a subject for negotiation, if the Arab side is interested...
...He did meet the challenge of the Egyptian President's criticism of Goldberg, however, stressing that Goldberg represented the United States during the 242 negotiations and pursued American interests -not those of any other nation...
...The Israeli government has shown recent flexibility in two significant areas, matching some private signs of flexibility from the Egyptian government...
...The following day, when a reporter asked State Department spokesman Hodding Carter about the problem of overpersonalizing diplomacy in the Middle East, he responded by observing that it would be far more useful for negotiations and discussions to take place through normal diplomatic channels...
...Yet other U.S...
...They are concerned on several levels...
...PersonalizingDiplomacy Washington-the personalization of diplomacy is not a new Egyptian tactic...
...It is equally clear that the gaps only widen as a result of personal vendettas and insults of the kind Egypt has recently leveled against Begin.-marvin Kalb...
...He referred to former Secretary of Labor, former Supreme Court Justice, former UN Ambassador Arthur Goldberg, as a Zionist who, in effect, fashioned UN Security Council Resolution 242 into a pro-Israeli instrument that has blocked an effective solution in the Middle East ever since its adoption in 1967...
...But Begin has also quoted Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Kamel as asserting that the Arab side is not interested in a territorial compromise and will only accept complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied lands, except for minor border rectifications...
...The Israelis are now saying that they are willing to consider the question of sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, after a five-year transitional period...
...He quickly added, though, that he was not aiming that implied criticism at any one party...
...According to Sadat, if President Carter had been in power at that time, we would have had peace by now...
...But it has received new emphasis in recent weeks with Anwar Sadat's suggestion that if it were not for Menachem Begin, there would be peace in the Middle East "in hours...
...Finally, there is the widespread feeling that by personalizing the complexities of the Middle East negotiations, Sadat is engaging in oversimplified generalities-focusing on a personality, instead of on the actual issues to be resolved...
...Ever since January, the Egyptian President-either himself or through his press-has zeroed in on the Israeli Prime Minister as the main obstacle to peace...
...And last month Sadat carried the pattern a step further-a big step further...
...If, in addition, Sadat intends to whip up a tide of anti-Semitism in the United States, officials feel this is an extremely dangerous game that could backfire diplomatically and explode socially...
...In cartoons and editorials, Begin has been pictured as a kind of Shy-lock, holding out for his pound of flesh...
...Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, appearing on the ABC television program Issues and Answers, ducked an opportunity to challenge Sadat's comments about Begin...
Vol. 61 • August 1978 • No. 17
