The Boycott Hurts Mainly the Arabs : As the Middle East peace process continues, so does the blacklist against Israel

Perhaps the clearest way to assess the Arab economic boycott of Israel is to say that it is increasingly absurd and undermines the rest of the world’s regard for Arab statesmanship.

The boycott, which has been in effect since 1950, forbids direct trade with Israel and officially blacklists those foreign companies that continue to do business with Israel.

Next week Arab League officials are scheduled to meet in Damascus. High on the agenda is the blacklist, which, incredibly, some members now wish to expand to even include third-party companies that do business with companies that do business with Israel.

This petulant and self-defeating stance by some league members is not likely to change, at least so long as the views of Syria, Iraq and Libya hold sway. These hard-line states say they are distressed by the Israeli-Palestinian accord and appear eager to turn back the diplomatic clock.

From the larger Arab perspective--not just that of the hard-liners and malcontents--the only plausible ground for persisting with the boycott is to add steel to the Arab negotiating position as the Middle East talks broaden beyond the current particulars of the Palestinian-Israeli agenda.

That’s a fair point, perhaps, but in reality the Middle East climate has warmed so quickly that the boycott’s frostiness seems increasingly irrelevant, outdated and misconceived. It’s just not a useful bargaining chip anymore. In the real world of diplomacy it is more like a major irritant to progress.

Washington has been pressing hard for an end to the boycott, which as a matter of reality is sometimes honored as much in the breach as the observance.

Some countries conveniently ignore it when that is in their direct economic interest; some well-known companies somehow manage to do business with both the Arab and Israeli worlds.

Arab leaders would be wise to let economic reality and self-interest take their true and valid course and end the hot-air moral posturing.

With both courage and Machiavellian calculation, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin promised to turn their swords into plowshares in the historic agreement signed in September at the White House. It should be clear to Arab leaders and diplomats that the train of history is headed in the direction of cooperation and, one hopes, peace.

The Arab world only hurts its own true interests by persisting in confrontation and boycott. Better to swallow hard, face reality, drop the boycott and get on with the business of taking a serious role on the Middle East diplomatic stage.