—Voices from the Sensible Center—

Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans—
Interpreting North America for the Middle East

Current Affairs

2-4 Three Unending Wars: While the U.S. has its hands full in Lebanon, we thought it would be useful to provide a progress report on three other wars in the Mideast and Africa which the Administration has to keep its eye on.

Iran-Iraq—The idea that this war could spill over into other countries is often much exaggerated, but the possibility is still very real.

Chad—After being dormant for many months, this conflict—which hit America's front pages last summer when the U.S. despatched equipment—has flared up again. France and Libya are still the main outsiders involved, but where you find Qadhafi, you will never find the Administration far away.

Western Sahara—For eight years, the Polisario guerrillas have not given up trying to defeat Morocco—although the odds against their ever succeeding keep growing. One reason for this state of affairs is that Morocco is benefiting from U.S. military assistance.

5 Lobby Activities—More than 12,000 voters in Ann Arbor and Berkeley have petitioned for ballot initiatives aimed at cutting U.S. assistance to Israel. In Berkeley, voters got their wish—while in Ann Arbor the story had a different ending. On another issue: The brouhaha over Arab League donations to the PUSH organizations has exacerbated already strained relations between Jewish and black communities.

Regular Features

2 Editorial—There has been so much written lately about the cautious, almost dovish outlook of Israel's leaders in the wake of their Lebanese misadventure, that we thought we should put things in perspective. A top Israeli official, unwittingly, helped us do this.

6 Facts For Your Files—A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

7 Book Review—To visit the land of Oz, you don't have to go down a yellow road. Just read the book that Israeli writer Amos Oz has written about his country, and you could learn something useful about what Israelis think about each other and about the Palestinians.

8 Personality—To official Washington, the PLO has long been anathema. For that reason, some people are surprised when they run into Hasan Abdul Rahman in the nation's capital and he tells them that he represents that organization. Read all about it on the back page.