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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, May 1, 1981
The expected winner of the elections, Shimon Peres, is alarmed at the
escalating arms buildup surrounding his country, AWACS or no AWACS.
Earlier this year, Peres visited the heads of government of several
European nations. Upon his return, notes the editor of Britain & Israel,
Terence Prittie, Peres expressed the belief that the time factor is
crucially important for the Middle East and that the next five to ten
years will be critical for war or peace in the stormy region"-:-��-
Peres envisioned, said Prittie, "four sources of future pressure in the
Middle East--inter-Arab disputes, Soviet designs on the region, Islamic
fanaticism and the spread of nuclear weapons."
While there have been four Israeli-Arab conflicts (1948, 1956, 1967
and 1973), the list of wars among the Arabs themselves is far longer.
Rivalries between ''radical" states and moderates threaten to worsen.
Right now, there is the prospect of renewed fighting between radical
Soviet-supplied South Yemen and pro-west Oman along the southern border
of Saudi Arabia. And for the past week fighting has dangerously escalated
in Lebanon between Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization on one
side, and "Christian" forces, backed by Israel, on the other.
Soviet meddling in the region is by far the biggest danger. This is the
reason the Israelis are adamant against the establishment of a PLO-run
Palestinian state in the West Bank. A PLO state would be backed to the
hilt by Moscow as well as troublemaker Syria. "A PLO state," writes
Prittie, "would indeed be a Trojan Horse of the most dangerous kind and,
other things apart, a base for terrorist incursions into Israel."
The Israelis are dumbfounded as to the Common Market's approach toward
the Middle East, specifically its recommendation that the PLO be "brought
into the peace process." This is incomprehensible to Israel, indicating
only two things: 1) the Europeans are cringing before the oil-rich Arab
states; and 2) many Europeans, especially the French, are plainly un
sympathetic, even hostile, towards Israel.
The Israelis point out that the PLO:
1. Rejects United Nations resolutions 242 and 338, the U.N. basis
for peace in the Middle East; including the call for the "respect
for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity
and political independence of every state in the area and their
right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free
from threats or acts of force." That includes Israel.
2. Rejects the Camp David agreements.
3. Has not modified its charter, the Palestine National Covenant,
which calls repeatedly for the abolition of Israel as a state and
the establishment of a united Arab-controlled Palestine incorporat
ing the whole of Israel today.
4. Defends the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
5. Generally supports Libya's madman, Colonel Qaddafi.