MonitoRadio Daily Program; [1988-04-21]

From Boston, this is Monitor Radio, the broadcast service of the Christian Science Monitor. I'm Clint Jones coming up on this Thursday April 21st, a special edition of Monitor Radio, Israel at 40. We'll look at the birth of a nation and we'll focus on Israel's unique form of democracy, as well as its problematic image, is Israel tough or just plain brutal. Our focus on Israel is just ahead, but first here's a summary of today's news with Sydney Seward. Democratic Senator Albert Gore ended the mystery today. He suspended his campaign for president. Monitor Radio's Tom Shearholes was at Gore's news conference in Washington. Surrounded by his family and key supporters, today, Gore said he was not withdrawing from the campaign, but suspending it, thereby retaining delegates to the Democratic Convention and the political influence that goes with them. Gore said he had no plans to endorse either of the remaining Democratic candidates before the Convention in July, and that he was not interested in being the Democrat's vice presidential nominee. I still have no interest

in it. I think incidentally that George Bush is going to prove again this fall that that is a political dead end. And I'm not interested in trying to fill his top ciders. For Monitor Radio, I'm Tom Shearholes in Washington. Frontrunner Michael DeCoccas was in Massachusetts today doing his duties as governor. Jesse Jackson, meanwhile, wooed voters in Pennsylvania. On Capitol Hill today, the House of Representatives passed a controversial new trade bill. President Reagan has already said he'll veto the bill, which includes a provision that would require employers to give notice of plant closings and big layoffs. Ohio Democratic Congressman James Trafacant says this measure and others are needed to protect the U .S. from foreign investments. There are trade deficits that continue to rise in Japan and foreign countries are buying America. Japan bought Western resorts in hotels. Japan bought the biggest bank in Los Angeles. They bought

the dunes in Aladdin's hotel. They bought Bank America. They bought CBS records. Ladies and gentlemen, you can make a direct deposit in a Japanese bank from an American soil. Democratic Congressman James Trafacant, the bill goes to the Senate floor tomorrow and a final vote has expected next week. In Kuwait today, the streets were alive with celebrations as 31 hostages of a Kuwait Airways jet returned home after a three -week ordeal. There's still no definite word on where the nine hijackers have gone, and the State Department says it won't rest until they are brought to justice. Spokesman Phyllis Oakley says the U .S. is trying to find out their whereabouts and will probably bring charges against them. The Lebanese government denies reports that the nine are in Beirut, and Algeria still won't give details of the agreement that brought about the hostage release. And an agreement by Mexican authorities brought about another hostage release today. Forty hostages in a bank in Los Moches were freed after seven gunmen escaped in an armored car provided by the government. But two hostages are still with them. Earlier, one of the gunmen was wounded in a shootout with police.

Five people have been killed and at least 15 wounded. Secretary of State George Schultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Edward Sheverd Nadzup began setting the stage in Moscow today for a superpower summit in about five weeks. The State Department says the mood is good. The two men discussed human rights and Schultz met with some refusenix, or those who have been denied exit visas. President Reagan said today that he's concerned the Senate may not ratify the INF Treaty in time for the summit. Mr. Reagan also said that a treaty on long -range nuclear forces probably won't be ready to sign. And as we heard earlier, today Israel celebrated its 40th birthday. Israel is danced in the streets underneath an aerial display by the military. Mark Levy has more from Jerusalem. The American -made F -15 fighter remains say of today is the draughty Air Force, roared by. It was fitting that the independent state celebrations began and ended with a military display, since those tens of thousands of Israelis were celebrating. Parties, cookouts, singing, the military was keeping pound of sitting in

quiet in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with harsh restrictions including curfews. Israel boxed from Jerusalem was busy turning over a hamburger on a grill out in the woods, instead of thinking about the West Bank. No, sir, I didn't know that. I'm trying not to even remember it. But military reality doesn't escape Israel box for long. He has two sons in the army and likely to serve in the West Bank. For monitor radio, I'm Mark Levy in Jerusalem. And that's been a brief look at today's top stories. I'm Sydney Seward, monitor radio. This is Independence Day in Israel. Israelis are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their country. Israel actually became a state on May 14 of 1948, but according to the Jewish calendar, this is Independence Day. The idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine is more than 40 years old. It was born in

Europe in the late 19th century. Widespread anti -Semitism convinced many Jews that they would be secure only if they had their own country. They persuaded the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, to pledge his support for a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine, which he did in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Over the next 20 years, Jewish immigration to Palestine grew, but not until World War II did the immigration become a flood. With increased immigration, the prospect of a Jewish nation grew closer, but so too did the problem that's dog Israel ever since. From London, Stephen Veard has our report. European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution poured into Palestine in the 1930s, but the immigrants faced increasing hostility from the Arabs already living there. When Britain, which controlled the territory, hosted a conference on the problem in 1939, the two sides had to be kept physically apart. British colonial secretary at the

time was Malcolm McDonald. The leaders of the Arabs in Palestine have always resented this return of hundreds of thousands of Jews to their country. They and their people have never recognized that there was any right behind this migration. And so now, when we are conferring with Arabs and Jews, we have to meet them separately. Afraid of upsetting its Arab oil suppliers, Britain tried to restrain Jewish immigration into Palestine. It refused to admit 100 ,000 homeless European Jews after the war, but Jewish terror squads launched a bloody campaign of bombing and shooting. By 1947, Britain had decided to hand the problem over to the United Nations. The UN voted to partition the country. The Jews were to get about half of Palestine. On May 14, 1948, the British finally pulled out. The state of

Israel was proclaimed. After 2 ,000 years of exile, the Jews had won back a homeland in Palestine. But the Arab world was enraged at what many saw as the theft of Arab lands. On the very first day of Israel's existence, the new state was invaded by the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Thousands of Israelis died in the fighting, but with American support, Israel forced their adversaries to a humiliating truce. The defeat caused burning resentment throughout the Arab world, erupting again eight years later in 1956, when Egyptian President NASA nationalized the Suez Canal. Threatened with an economic

blockade, the Israelis attacked Egyptian positions in the Sinai desert and they overran the Egyptian -controlled Gaza Strip. For Britain and for France, the Suez crisis was a fiasco, but not for Israel. Abba Eban, Israel's UN ambassador at the time. Our gains have been very substantial. Gaza used to be a source of constant eruption into Israel. Now, since the Sinai campaign, we've had peace on our southern frontier. But in addition, there's been a psychological gain. Israel no longer has a sense of brooding fear concerning her survival. But Israel was not left to live in peace. Palestinian guerrillas escalated their attacks from bases in Syria and Jordan. In May 1967, Jordan signed a military pact with Egypt, and as the BBC reported, the prospect of war loomed once again. The Arab world seems convinced that Israel has no alternative up to greater war, to counter the measures taken against her in the past few days. Egypt certainly says she is well

prepared for that war if it comes. And the object, if war comes, will be the destruction of Israel as a state. The six -day war quickly followed, and Israel scored a stunning victory against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. It recaptured the Sinai and the Gaza Strip and occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Golan Heights. Within a month, King Hussein of Jordan was making this for law and appeal in the UN. Jerusalem is in foreign hands, so too is Bethlehem, Hebrew, Jericho, and much of the growing fertile valley of the Jordan River. All these must be swiftly returned with the support of this August body assembled here today. But Israel was in no mood to be magnanimous, it exalted in a famous victory. The six -day war was a turning point for Israel. It has never since been regarded with such widespread international sympathy. It handed back the captured Sinai lands

after making peace with Egypt in 1979, but it remains firmly entrenched in the other occupied territories refusing to budge. Its disastrous invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, and now its heavy -handed policing of Gaza and the West Bank have reaped worldwide condemnation. The 40 -year -old state is no longer seen as an underdog struggling for survival. For monitor radio, I'm Stephen Beard in London. Not only is Israel no longer seen as an underdog, many are asking whether Israel's legendary toughness has, in fact, become brutality. From Washington, monitor radio's David Brown has more. In his memoirs in 1949, Israel's first president, Haim Weitzmann, wrote about the Zionist goal to build, in his words, a high civilization based on the austere standards of Jewish ethics. But over the years, in an effort to defend the dream, the Jewish state has risked its image with its tough, some say, brutal behavior. They have a total contempt and hatred for the Palestinians. George

Ball, under Secretary of State, under President Kennedy and Johnson, is co -author of the soon -to -be -released book, The Passionate Attachment, a study of U .S.-Israeli relations. They demonstrated their ability to fight off the Arab opposition in the 1948 war, and then there were a whole series of incidents. Critics point to such acts as the sinking of the U .S.-S Liberty in 1967. The Israeli attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the ruthless exploits of the Israeli Secret Service, the Mossad. Samuel Lewis, former U .S. ambassador to Israel during the Carter Administration, says these all have to be seen in the proper context. Rather than looking at them as just isolated incidents of toughness or brutality, you have to look at them as retaliatory or preemptive actions in an ongoing, continuing warfare between a national movement and a nation that's trying to defend itself, and these are episodes,

battles, and a war. As a tiny nation surrounded by Arab enemies, Israel must clearly be resolute in its own defense. Whether its resolve actually constitutes brutality is a point of contention. Either way, Israel's image is suffering. Israelis are being typecast as a people who have been treated brutally over thousands of years, and who, having found themselves in a position of superior force, are giving in to the temptation to use that force to intimidate. If that's true, it would suggest that Israel has lost its moral direction. In the early days of June 1967, came Israel's brightest triumph, and the start of Israel's deepest troubles. Says George Ball, the Six -Day War was a turning point. Well, I think it was a turning point because they acquired a million and a half Arabs under their jurisdiction, and they've never been able to find a solution or that satisfies them.

Apart from that, it also contributed to a kind of megalomania, belief that the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force, was capable of doing almost anything. Ultimately, last December, the specter of Israeli repression exploded in the form of a rock -slinging petrol bomb throwing Palestinian rebellion on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel responded with nightsticks, rubber bullets, and military might. Israel's Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Christopher Van Hollen, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, is now Vice President of the Middle East Institute in Washington. Many non -Israelis appreciate the

need for Israel to be tough on a number of issues, particularly when its national security is challenged. But the question is, when toughness verges on brutality, then it seems to me Israel loses a great deal of its international support, and it also brings about increasing questioning within Israel itself, namely by people who ask, is this the vision we saw for Israel when Israel was established in May 1948? The very question has Israel lost its way, is virtually impossible for any non -Israeli to answer. Those of us who live in the safety and relative security of the United States can't fully appreciate the pressures unique to this tiny nation ringed by enemies. In that sense, then, it's probably unfair for outsiders to make a moral judgment about whether Israel is tough or brutal, and yet, on Israel's 40th birthday, it's difficult to ignore the words of

Israel's first President, Heim Weizman, who wrote in 1949, I'm certain that the world will judge the Jewish state by what it will do with the Arabs. For Monitor Radio, I'm David Brown in Washington. You're listening to Monitor Radio, the broadcast service of the Christian Science Monitor on American Public Radio. I'm Clint Jones. It can be said that Israel's military prowess is a reflection of the pride and vibrant spirit of Israel's people. It's a spirit that shines through in the country's passionate politics. The Christian Science Monitor's George Moffitt has more on the hotbed of Israel's politics, the Knesset.

From a distance, you could almost mistake the Israeli Knesset for the Kennedy Center in Washington. Its lines are sleek and square. It's an imposing, even serene site on the wooded hillside where it sits, a mile from the bustle of downtown Jerusalem. But if it's serenity you're seeking, the Knesset is definitely not the place to be. The rambunctious debates that take place here have become all but legendary in this, the arena of one of the world's most vibrant democracies. It's here that the dream of uniting Jerusalem under Israeli rule was finally realized, where the anguished debates over the 1982 Lebanon War took place. Etch deepest here are memories of the dramatic moment in 1977, when Israel's old nemesis, Egypt's president Nwar Sedat, mounted the Knesset podium to deliver one of the most historic speeches of modern times. Shmuel Jacobson, now the Knesset

Secretary General, remembers the day. It was a very sensitive moment that a leader of such great nation as Egypt decided to come to see Israel and to meet Israel leaders and to negotiate with them about peace. It was a surprise because we passed approximately 19 years of struggles of suffering here in Israel before the independence. And such a great moment, you have to be a painter or a poet to describe such a sensitive moment, but it was one of the greatest moments of the Knesset. Like everything else in this tradition -bound nation, Israel's parliamentary system has deep roots in the past. The name Knesset, for example, which means governing, comes from the first legislature set up by the Israelites 2500 years ago.

Its size, 120 members, is based on the ancient formula that each of Israel's 12 tribes should have 10 representatives. Even its system of representation, where members are elected in proportion to the percentage of votes their party receives, has roots in Zionist congresses that preceded the Israeli state. But whether Israel's complex parliamentary system will be adequate for the next 40 years has become an open question, especially in light of the deep national divisions that have paralyzed the current government. Former Israeli diplomat in Knesset Secretary General Netanyl Lorch. What has happened in the last elections is that there is a total deadlock. What is a built -in resultant of this coalition system is that there's a tendency to its weak governments. There's a tendency for small and sometimes very small parties to have a disproportionate amount of political power of tail wagging the dog in many cases.

Critics and would -be reformers say Israel can no longer afford a parliamentary system that immobilizes the government. They say the power it gives to special interests and splinter parties is an open invitation to factionalism. National gridlock has blocked action on even such basic questions as how to solve the pressing Arab -Israeli conflict. But most Israelis say they would rather have too much democracy than not enough, even at the price of such intense partisanship. Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Mayor Cohen Avidov. Can go by himself to the Knesset. What is democracy from the

green? They said they all the people gathered together and decided together. So maybe some portions, small portions, that one that meant being Knesset, represents their idea. Even one out of 120, this is democracy, the real democracy. At 40, the test of Israel's democracy may come down to whether these 120 men and women can agree on some way to make peace with their Arab neighbors. At stake, is whether Israel can be what its founding fathers wanted it to be? Namely, a nation like any other. For monitor radio, this is George Moffitt in Jerusalem. Throughout this program, we've been hearing music from an album by Flutus Matthew Greenbaum, entitled The Israeli Influte. The music of Israel is a tapestry of styles woven from the cultures of the people who have migrated to Israel. This piece is typically Hebrew. It's

called Maim Maim. Coming up, the thoughts of Abba Eban on Israel's 40th anniversary, right after Sydney Seaward updates the headlines. It's official Democratic Senator Albert Gore suspended his campaign today in Washington. Gore still has his 400 plus delegates and didn't say who he'll endorse in the race for president. The FAA launched another crackdown today, this time on Smokers. As of midnight this Saturday, it's illegal to smoke

on domestic flights that last two hours or less. Anna Wall Street today, the Dow Jones gained 1 .99, closing in 1987 .40. Volume on the big board totaled 168 .44 million shares. I'm Sydney Seaward, monitor radio. Earlier in our program, we heard briefly from Abba Eban, former foreign minister of Israel. Eban has also served as Israel's representative in the UN and ambassador to the U .S. as well as Israeli Deputy Prime Minister. Eban has also written numerous articles and books on Israel and is recognized as one of Israel's most eloquent statesmen. We ask Mr. Eban, if he's disappointed that so many Jews fleeing oppression have decided to settle in the U .S. rather than Israel. Yes, I'm very disappointed at the proportion, and

especially the two facts that those who come from the Soviet Union over 70 percent using our passports go to North America. And the other circumstance is that there's been virtually not even a trickle of coming to Israel from American Jewry. You say you understand the reason, is there anything that can be done to? Well, the reason is of course the intense difference in economic levels and the tradition of the United States in absorbing newcomers, but no, it is one of the sadness is although we can say over the past 40 years that we've increased from a very small fragile community of 600 ,000 to the three and a quarter million Jews that we are in a state of over four million citizens. I have a twinge of sadness about the difference between the three and a quarter million that we are and the five million that we might have been. What would you say is Israel's greatest achievement? I would say the greatest achievement is the building of a society from a very weak and

fragile beginning into something which is so solid and so rooted that no serious question exists about its durability and about its strength because in the early 50s, the Israeli society still had an air of fragility and provisionality. You take our economy for example, it was not producing anything for the world markets, nothing whatever almost. And here we now have exports of Israeli goods and services, so the extent of 12 billion dollars into world markets, perhaps the highest per capita exportable surplus of any country in the world. The other achievement is what I call national coherence because some people thought that with this enormous diversity of origins, different countries and languages and attitudes on the part of our immigrants, we would not be able to achieve coherence. And yet I tell you that underneath the outer surface of diversity and sometimes disorder, the general pattern is one of

cohesion and of internal solidarity. And finally there is the the two greatest and unique achievements, the revival of mankind's oldest language and culture, a staggering achievement that no other nation has ever achieved, and then the human vocation that we have fulfilled by bringing millions of our countrymen from the depths of weakness and despair into the emergence of a new life and a new hope. What are your hopes for Israel? If we've had four decades, what I would like the fifth decade to be, it would be one in which we are outside the context of regional tension, in which we are in a tolerable relationship with our neighbors, in which defense against possible war will always be necessary, but not our major preoccupation, and in which we can make Israel a better society, more in harmony with the ideals of our founding fathers, I would say a less nervous society, a society in which the

quality of its culture and society could have a higher place than be concerned with physical security. Also, I hope a country that will be more attractive to Jews, especially Jews who are on the move. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eben. And that's Monitor Radio for Thursday, April 21st. Thanks for listening. We'll talk with you again tomorrow from Boston. I'm Clint Jones, and this is the American Public Radio Network.