Slippery Comparisons

The language of diplomacy wisely shuns analogies. In a supposedly off-the-record session with newsmen, Jimmy Carter was reported by the New York Times to have likened the Palestinian problem to the "civil rights movement here in the United States."

Though Carter actually was only comparing two issues, and the emotions involved, the reaction was swift and furious. "Carter's suggestion that the Palestine Liberation Organization is akin to civil rights is the worst insult he could level at Americans trying to achieve true equality," charged Arnold Forster, general counsel of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. In Israel, already worried over a growing rift with the U.S., a top aide to Premier Menachem Begin said Washington's credibility was "shattered."

The Administration tried to end the fuss by saying that the Times account was garbled. Explained Press Secretary Jody Powell: "The President actually said he felt the right to return [to the West Bank] is important to the Palestinians as a matter of principle, just as certain rights were important to blacks as a matter of principle." Among these, according to Powell, were the desegregation of schools and restaurants. That slighting reference to constitutional rights irritated a number of blacks and scarcely placated the supporters of Israel.

The White House then issued a second clarification. Said Vice President Walter Mondale to Israeli television: "In no sense did the President wish to relate the civil rights movement to the so-called P.L.O."

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