Good Start for "Ambassador Bob"

Texas slang and an abrasive style produce a breakthrough

We're just a couple of Jewish diplomats," said Robert Strauss to Henry Kissinger when they met on the veranda of Jerusalem's King David Hotel last week. Strauss was in town on the first official stop of an eight-day tour of the Middle East as President Carter's super-ambassador to the Palestinian-autonomy talks. The former Secretary of State apparently was in Jerusalem on private business--even though his journey was embellished with nearly all the trappings of a state occasion (see box). In fact, Kissinger was quite apologetic about the coincidence of the trips. Said he: "It is my fate to wait for months to return in order to avoid complications, and with my enviable sense of timing to arrive at the same time as my old friend Strauss." The old master of shuttle diplomacy also had ready praise for the novice. "You're the right man for the job," he told Strauss, "and you're doing beautifully."

At that moment the President's new envoy had spent less than 48 hours in the turbulent Middle East. Aware of the pitfalls that face even the most seasoned diplomats, Strauss told reporters aboard his Air Force jet: "I'm used to conducting business in Washington where I know every inch of the ground. Now I'm going into the Middle East where the sensitivities are tenfold."

Nowhere are those sensitivities more acute at present than in Israel. Once again, the "special relationship" between Washington and Jerusalem is in some trouble. The U.S. has strongly deplored Israeli air and artillery attacks against Palestinian guerrilla positions in Lebanon, not only because of the loss of civilian ives, but also for fear that the raids could ead to war with Syria. Last week an Israeli army force crossed into Lebanon for the first time since May, killing two guerrillas. The U.S. regards Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as illegal and not conducive to peace. It particularly objects to a new settlement at Elon Moreh near Nablus, which is being built partially on confiscated Arab-owned land. Finally, the U.S. tends to agree with Egypt that the issue of Palestinian autonomy must be broadly defined, even if it runs the risk of leading to what Israel fears most, an independent Palestinian state.

One of Strauss's first official duties in Israel was to spell out Washington's concerns in a talk with members of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. He pointed out that the minority of Americans sympathetic to the Arab view point would greatly increase if the worsening fuel situation in the U.S. should ultimately be blamed on Jerusalem's obstinacy over the Palestinian problem. The message was not lost on Knesset members. Israeli politicians are already disturbed by signs that many American Jews have serious reservations about any settlements on the West Bank that are not vital to Israel's security.

Strauss looked forward to the prospect of a head-to-head session with Premier Menachem Begin; they had met only perfunctorily before. After the first meeting in Begin's office, Strauss's aides said that the two men had got along "extremely well." But there was little doubt as to which of the two was in control. As cameras flashed before their serious talks got under way, Strauss handed Begin a letter from Carter and started to spin a yarn about how his "Grossmama " would slowly pore over a letter while others watched. Begin cut him off in midsentence, asking, "I sent you a very important letter last week. Did you receive it?" Strauss had, it turned out, but score one for the Premier.

In a move that seemed designed to improve the atmosphere for Strauss's visit, Israel made two significant gestures that affected the West Bank. The first was the reopening of Bir Zeit College near Ramallah, which was closed last May because of student demonstrations in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The other was the shelving of plans to put Nablus residents, including its mayor, on trial for taking part in antisettlement protests. In an effort to convince Strauss that the settlements are essential to Israel's security, Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon took the ambassador and his wife Helen on a helicopter tour of the West Bank. Strauss listened patiently to the arguments of Sharon and Interior Minister Yosef Burg, who heads Israel's negotiating team at the autonomy talks, but was not convinced. Said Strauss later: "Even if the settlements are a security factor, would that compensate for what Israel loses in slowing down the peace process and stating its case to the world? Is it really worth the price? I do not believe so."

After his aerial inspection of the West Bank, a weary Strauss flew to Alexandria, where he met Egypt's Anwar Sadat on the manicured lawn of the President's beach-front villa at Mamura. Sadat appeared solemn and strained before their hour-long talk. But when the two later greeted newsmen, a more relaxed Sadat referred to Strauss as "Ambassador Bob." Sadat said that following his meeting this week with Begin in Alexandria, he would immediately consult with Carter and Strauss on how "to keep the momentum going in the peace process." He warned that unless there was tangible progress in the autonomy talks before October, the sixth anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the peace process could begin to unravel.

Strauss spent the next two days trying to invigorate the autonomy talks; three previous meetings of the Israeli and Egyptian negotiating teams had bogged down in fruitless haggling over the agenda. At his first session with the delegations, Strauss urged the two sides to stick to substantive issues, and abruptly cut off digression. He later confessed: "They probably found me somewhat abrasive, pressing them harder than they liked. My style has a bit of impatience to it, and it's not totally uncalculated."

The pressure tactics seemed to help. The delegations agreed to establish two working groups that would iron out "terms of reference" for two key subjects pertaining to Palestinian autonomy: the "modalities of elections" and the "powers and responsibilities" of the self-governing authority. Other working groups will be established as the need arises. With typical Texan flamboyance, Strauss said "the agreement was not a compromise but rather something with which everybody could go home a winner." He also described the agreement as a "break through." In fact, the working-groups idea had been developed largely in advance, and required only top-level approval. Still, everyone was willing to allow the new envoy his moment of triumph. Both Israel's Burg and Egypt's Premier Mustafa Khalil were pleased by their first experience with Strauss's unorthodox approach. Cairo had another reason to be pleased. The Defense Department announced last week that it intended to sell 35 F-4E Phantom jets to Egypt for $594 million. But a second plane deal, involving the sale of 50 less sophisticated F-5E jet fighters, was delayed when Saudi Arabia failed to come through with expected cash.

But there are a few nuances Strauss has to learn about the Middle East. When he said farewell to Sadat, the ambassador impulsively kissed the President's wife Jehan on the cheek. It is unthinkable in the Muslim world for someone to touch another man's wife, however innocently. Sadat hastily motioned to his press secretary to make sure that no pictures of the incident were released. qed

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