Israel and Palestinians

Efforts to find linkage between the events in the Persian Gulf and the Palestinian-Israel conflict seem to remain an abiding passion for Arab proponents. Rashid Kahlidi’s commentary (Feb. 27) calls upon the United States to “fight diplomatically for the Palestinians,” while Arch Miller (letter, Feb. 28), reports to us about Israel’s rejection of Syrian “overtures” to make peace with Israel.

In the post-war period, it is likely that we will witness a significant volume of political verbiage being directed away from the atrocities of Saddam Hussein’s regime toward a calculated policy that will seek to emphasize such themes as the requirement that the U.S. and the international community assert their diplomatic hands in establishing a peace formula for the region, thereby compelling Israel to make concessions, and the introduction of pseudo-peace overtures by such nations as Syria in recognizing Israel’s legitimacy.

Clearly, new opportunities will emerge within the Mideast that may permit the players opportunities to forge new proposals, but these will not be built around the visions of academics or Arab proponents seeking to draw upon the good offices of the U.S. or other regimes to “create” a new peace process, designed to punish Israel for the past failures of the Arab world.

The thrust of what is required now rests in such capitals as Riyadh, Damascus and Amman. It pertains to the willingness of those governments to acknowledge the legitimacy of Israel. Secondly, such a new direction must focus on the emergence of regional security, disarmament and diplomatic procedures for dealing with matters pertaining to border and territorial conflicts, water, economic and environmental considerations and ethnic and nationality grievances. It is no longer conceivable that one can isolate the Palestinian issue from the broader concerns that face the region.

The formula for peace must emerge from within the region. Unfortunately, there are still some who imagine that Israel can still be depicted as the “cause” of the problems of the region, where reality suggests a very different scenario.

STEVEN F. WINDMUELLER

Executive Director

Jewish Community Relations Committee

Jewish Federation Council, Los Angeles