May 1989, Page 18

Bush's Middle East Policy: Too fast, Too Slow, or Just Right?—Two Views

Bush Has No Policy

By George Thompson

If Ronald Reagan was a cartoon cutout controlled by right-wing zealots, George Bush is a ball of clay who bears the imprint of the last man to shake his hand.

Here's an example: "Occupied territories" and "land for peace." They were nice words—coming as they did from the lips of the new president who insisted that we read them. After all, it was he who had sat for eight long years at the feet of his "Israel-can-do-no-wrong" mentor.

Bush "Forgot" His Lines

But the terms did not survive the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Within hours the terms had disappeared from Bush's lexicon.

Instead of telling Shamir that his hard-line approach to the Israeli occupation was making few friends among congressmen and their constituents including a growing number of American Jews—Bush greeted Shamir's shopsoiled proposals as "new steps toward peace in the area."

Who is he kidding? Not Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, who swapped diplomacy for candor with American journalists.

"What are [Shamir's] proposals? 'Interim elections among Palestinians under Israeli rule—but not until they stop the intifadah—and not with PLO sympathizers; four or five years of living together to see how it works; no talks with the PLO; no international peace conference; no land for peace; no Palestinian state; no change of the status quo. . .' What is new about these? What is there to talk about?"

For Bush, however, given the inordinate lack of haste with which he is organizing his government, it is obvious that he just doesn't care about time. He has neither a coherent Middle East policy nor the time and inclination to form one.

"Well," said Bush's secretary of state, James A. Baker, "It's a first step." Toward what?

Few informed observers of the Palestinians' plight under Israeli occupation would disagree with the following: Shamir's friend for the most part is time. He needs it to make a fait accompli of existing settlements in the territories—and time to build more. He needs time to deport PLO sympathizers, to assure that the Palestinians left are malleable to his wishes. He needs it to find ways to keep disillusioned members of Congress—and American Jewry—from tightening purse strings.

He also hopes that time may make frustrated intifadah stone throwers escalate the violence—an ideal excuse for the Israeli Defense Force to crush it once and for all. But time—and demographics—also are Shamir's enemy: Each day that passes produces an increase in the number of Palestinians capable of picking up rocks. Just as each day reveals to thinking Israelis the terrible realities of what the occupation is doing to their own psyche.

No Cause For Optimism

For Bush, however, given the inordinate lack of haste with which he is organizing his government, it is obvious that he just doesn't care about time. He has neither a coherent Middle East policy nor the time and inclination to form one. That, coupled with a penchant for reflecting the views of his latest visitor, holds little hope for any breakthrough soon in "the occupied territories." It appears he already has forgotten the words.

George Thompson, a retired Foreign Service officer, is a nationally syndicated columnist and television talk show host.