Loan Guarantees for Israel

Martin Indyk of the pro-Israeli Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy labels the new government of Yitzhak Rabin “a centrist government” in his commentary “Give Rabin Room to Maneuver,” July 12. Within the strictures of Israeli politics, the Rabin government may be termed a centrist government; however, from the perspective of American values, the Rabin government would be classified as right-wing. Simply stated, no American President would consider including in his Cabinet or government a person who advocated the expulsion of people from the United States; however Rabin attempted to include in his government the Tzomet Party, which is lead by Rafael Eitan, who actively campaigns to expel Palestinians from Palestine.

The Rabin government plans to offer Palestinians only limited autonomy, and, as the Israeli government hopes and anticipates, the Palestinians will and should reject such an offer. However, once Palestinians reject Rabin’s offer, his government will move swiftly to castigate Palestinians and Arabs as the obstacles to peace, accelerate the construction of “security settlements,” and demand from the U.S. taxpayer the $10 billion in loan guarantees.

ARCH MILLER, Arcadia