April 1989, Page 49

A Note From the Publishers

This Month

Three Most Frequently Asked Questions

A lot of readers called or wrote to ask whether there was some Middle East connection to the Senate rejection of former Sen. John Tower as Secretary of Defense. We can only report that the nationwide network of Jewish weeklies expressed great unease with the Tower nomination from the time it was first rumored. By contrast, in the words of Jerusalem Post Washington correspondent Wolf Blitzer: "Israeli officials and American Jewish leaders heaved a collective sigh of relief (at) the nomination of Lawrence Eagleburger as deputy secretary, the number two slot at the State Department." It's interesting to compare treatment of the two by senators. Both are vulnerable to revolving door concerns, particularly Eagleburger, who, in addition to his extremely lucrative employment by Kissinger Associates, has been a director of a Yugoslav bank now charged by the US government with money laundering.

Second question: What do you think of the Rushdie book? We've provided our readers with some widely contrasting views in this issue. Subject closed until May.

Third, and last, question: What are Bush and Baker up to on the Israeli-Palestinian peace front? We think they're moving too slowly and we're appalled at the appointments of Eagleburger, Richard N. Haass at the NSC, and Dennis Ross at the State Department, all of whom have conducted themselves in the past like wholly owned subsidiaries of AIPAC. Nevertheless, as we point out in our overview "Knowing When It's Over" on page 16, we're still talking to the PLO because the administration seems to understand that self-serving Likudist lies about that organization's historical record and present activities, even when presented in smooth American accents by Moshe Arens and Benyamin Netanyahu, are still self-serving Likudist lies.

Make a Difference

Charging Up the Hill

Last month we discussed our chronic under funding in this space in an item entitled "Big Guns and Plinkers." The article brought some new "big" guns for our artillery and you'll meet them in the next listing of the AET Angels Choir. It's time now to meet some of the plinkers, AET's infantry who just keep moving forward under fire.

From Houston this month, Harold Hewitt renewed a 47-member Americans for Middle East Peace group subscription. Then AET regional representative Frank Breckbill sent us another 33-name group subscription including 17 Methodist clergy, 10 ADC and business group members, and six more members of Americans for Middle East Peace.

The National Council for US-Arab Relations funded a group subscription for 60 students, faculty members and librarians who signed up during talks by one of our editors at Smith College and the University of Massachusetts.

Jane Alford, an AET regional representative in Durham, NC, sent us a 19-member group subscription for a newly-formed ADC Piedmont chapter.

Michael Paproski sent in 12 opinion-molder subscriptions for US Senators, members of the House of Representatives and state legislators, all representing voters of Omaha, NE.

Said Kabalan of the Northeast Ohio Committee on Middle East Understanding sent in 26 opinion-molder subscriptions covering the Akron, OH Metropolitan Association of Churches, plus an additional untied donation.

These group and opinion-molder subscriptions are $5 each. We subsidize them because, invariably, they bring us new full-rate subscriptions, new plinkers, and sometimes new big guns. The battle has to be fought this year, not next. So please send us right now the names and addresses of at least 12 opinion molders and educational institutions in your area, and a check for $60 to cover their subscriptions. You can...

Make a Difference, This Month.