Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...battle is raging in the Middle East. It is not the usual Arab-Jewish conflict but instead a Jew-against-Jew struggle to determine the character of Jerusalem -- and by extension, the very nature of the state of Israel. On one side, wearing beards, side curls, long black coats and fur-rimmed hats, are the ultra-Orthodox militants, who want all Israelis to live according to the strict dictates of the halakhah, or religious law. On the other side, constituting the vast majority of the country's 4.3 million citizens, are the secular Jews, who believe Israel should...
...Hussein's insistence that the Soviet Union attend an international conference at which negotiations would take place. Because the Soviet Union's agenda for the Middle East is suspect, Hussein's position has elicited strong opposition. Yet the position is understandable given Jordan's difficult relations with less-moderate Arab neighbors...
...obstacle more remote in time but potentially more significant is the plan's stance toward the Palestinean Liberation Organization. One million Palestinian Arabs living in territory captured by Israel in 1967 want autonomy. Israel does not want a(nother) hostile Arab state created in territory it now controls. Americans, clearly, would like to see each of these dreams fulfilled--but never will...
FRIGHTENING because summits ultimately allow presidents and general secretaries of the Soviet Union to disrobe themselves of their foreign policy advisers. They begin to compromise and agree on matters they have very little experience or knowledge of, much like an unwary tourist in an Arab bazaar. This is particularly ominous for the United States, where the last four presidents have been a crook, a football player, a peanut farmer, and an actor. Thanks to television's role in American electoral politics, we can't expect our presidents to be experts on foreign affairs--but they're guaranteed to be both...
...reasons that have as much to do with internal politics as international politics. King Hussein of Jordan is said to want the Soviet Union in attendance at such an "umbrella" conference. He reportedly thinks that he needs their presence to protect him from the wrath of less conciliatory moderate Arab leaders. He has made it clear that he will not meet with the Israelis unless the Soviets have a seat at the conference table...