A Meeting Between Friends

At the welcoming ceremony on the sodden south lawn of the White House, President Ford and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin stoically stood bareheaded in the cold rain while a fife-and-drum ensemble dressed in Continental Army uniforms drilled before them. Since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had been treated to an outdoor reception during his triumphant visit last November, the same courtesy had to be extended to Rabin--rain or shine. "According to Jewish tradition," said Rabin, glancing at the skies, "rain means blessing."

The blessing was at least partly disguised, what with a string of recent defeats at the U.N. for U.S.-Israeli policy and much strain between Washington and Jerusalem about where to head next in the Middle East. After three sessions, the two leaders agreed that their primary goal should be to persuade Arab leaders to join Israel at a reconvened Geneva peace conference. That agreement was easy: there now seem to be no alternatives to Geneva anyway.

The major problem with a Geneva conference: how to deal with Palestinian representation. Rabin reiterated last week that Israel would accept Palestinians as part of a Jordanian delegation (see box, next page) but would refuse to deal directly with the hated Palestine Liberation Organization. "We know what the [P.L.O.] objective is," he said. "It is written large into the Palestinian Covenant, which is their binding constitution. Every paragraph of it spits out the venom calling for Israel's destruction." Because of the U.S. Jewish lobby's influence in the elections, Ford and Kissinger are unlikely to put strong pressure on Israel. Indeed, Washington's plans for the Middle East in 1976 have been variously described by State Department officials as "a holding action," "lots of movement but little progress," and "backfield in motion but modest forward yardage."

In Washington, Rabin tried to present a softer image for Israel. Speaking before a joint meeting of Congress, he said that he was "ready to meet with any Arab head of government at any time and at any place." He quoted Sadat's remark to Congress that "there is no substitute for direct person-to-person contact" and then won applause by adding, "I wish that he would direct those words to me as well as to you."

Ports of Passage. In a paragraph added to the speech at the last minute, he offered the use of Israel's ports for passage of Arab goods, of its hospitals for the treatment of Arab sick and its research institutes for the training of Arab students. As in an earlier speech in Philadelphia--where he took his text from the biblical inscription on the Liberty Bell*--Rabin quoted from American heroes, including Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Twain and Jonas Phillips, a Jewish soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Rabin's reasonableness extended to money matters. Just before his arrival in Washington, it was revealed that the White House had requested $1.8 billion in military and economic aid for Israel in 1977--nearly $500 million less than it is slated to receive by the end of the current fiscal year in June. The unexpected disclosure--details of the foreign aid budget are usually presented to Congress in mid-February--embarrassed State Department officials. Although disturbed by the reduction, all of which comes from the military aid budget, Rabin did not pressure Ford for an increase. "The important thing is the quantity of arms, not money," said one Israeli official. "Once we get the right amount of arms, the money will be found to pay for them." As Kissinger breezily put it, "What's a mere $500 million between friends?"

There was another mild embarrassment for both Kissinger and Rabin last week when the Chicago Sun-Times printed excerpts from a forthcoming book by Israeli Journalist Matti Golan--a nonpracticing lawyer who has served seven years as diplomatic correspondent for the Hebrew-language daily Ha'aretz. The book, tentatively titled From Confrontation to Disengagement, purportedly draws on Kissinger's private conversations with newsmen and on secret minutes of his meeting with Israeli leaders. Although it was banned by censors, a revised edition was later approved. According to Golan, Kissinger criticized Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon as lacking strength and imagination, called Defense Minister Shimon Peres "a pseudo hawk" who terrorized his colleagues, and dismissed Rabin as "too small a man for the job." Rabin was equally candid about Kissinger: "It isn't possible to believe a word that man is saying." Asked about Golan's book, a State Department spokesman said: "We are not going to comment on that kind of gossipy report. The fact that we are not commenting on it doesn't mean it is true."

* Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.--Leviticus 25:10

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