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| —Voices from the Sensible Center— Interpreting the Middle
East for North Americans— Current Affairs 3 The U.S.-Egypt Friendship—Even before leaving Washington, President Mubarak expressed his acute disappointment with the skeptical U.S. reaction to pleas by himself and other Arab leaders for greater American involvement in the Mideast peace process. At this juncture it might be wise for policymakers to heed the cautionary words of former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Hermann Eilts, who says in his article on page 3 that the present friendly relations between the U.S. and Egypt should not be taken for granted by either side. 5 Egypt: Small Gains on Hill—Throughout January and most of February Egypt took regular lashings of congressional rhetoric for its alleged failure to improve ties with Israel. Relations between the two countries are only marginally better now, but President Mubarak's recent surprise call for direct Arab-Israeli talks did help mollify some of his congressional critics. 6 Lobby Activities—Early this month more than 150 Arab Americans received warm welcomes from both Republican and Democratic party leaders in Washington. For a smaller group of eight national leaders, this welcome came from the President himself. Some 25 Jewish leaders, meanwhile, met with President Mubarak to discuss Egypt's "cold peace" with Israel. They told Mr. Mubarak that his new three-stage negotiating formula would only delay Mideast peace. 9 U.S.-Egypt Economic Ties—The U.S. provides Egypt with one-third of its total imports, which in 1984 meant some $2.7 billion in sales by American suppliers. As our second largest market in the entire Middle East and North Africa, Egypt represents an important U.S. trading partner. Regular Features 2 Editorial: Revising History—Ariel Sharon tried to obtain in a U.S. federal courtroom the "vindication" he needs to become the next Prime Minister of Israel. It will take more than a Park Avenue lawyer and a sympathetic New York judge, however, to dissipate the smell of death that lingers wherever he has passed during 30 violent years in the Mideast. 7 Personality—George Salem, who oversaw the ethnic voters division of Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign, takes every opportunity to tell fellow Arab Americans how important it is to work "inside" the American political system. He himself sets a fine example of just how much one insider can accomplish on behalf of Arab American interests. 8 Facts For Your Files—A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations. 11 Book Review—Israel's Foreign Ministry threatened legal action to suppress publication in the U.S. of Israel's Sacred Terrorism, written by an Israeli and based upon the diary of Israel's second Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett. When you read these confessions of a weak but basically decent man, horrified at the systematic terrorism that was directed in the 1950s by David Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan and, of course, Ariel Sharon, you will have a whole new understanding of what the U.S. government euphemistically calls "the cycle of violence and counter-violence in the Middle East." |