—Voices from the Sensible Center—

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

Current Affairs

3 Who Remembers LAA Flight 114?—In some ways, KAL 007 = LAA 114 is a valid equation. The tragedies over the Pacific on August 31 and over the Sinai desert ten years ago were strikingly similar. So were the reactions of the two governments which were responsible: i.e., the Soviet Union in 1983 and Israel in 1973. If you've forgotten—or never knew—the details, see inside.

4 U.S.-Iran Trade Going Up—Despite frigid relations on the political front, the U.S. is buying oil from Iran at the rate of half a billion dollars worth per year, and selling it more and more goods as well. Iran appears particularly anxious to buy spare parts for its deteriorating industrial plant.

5 Lobby Activities—Arab and non-Arab Americans have just finished holding a week's worth of dinners, vigils, and memorial services in Washington and around the country to mark the one-year anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Over at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a close watch is being kept on steps being taken in California to redraw the lines of Congressional districts—in a way which AIPAC says would cause problems for a number of "pro-Israel" Congressmen.

Regular Features

2 Editorial—Is AIPAC playing fair when it impugns the credibility of a U.S. foreign service officer on the basis of guilt by association and by analogy? We don't think so.

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

7 Book Review—For a new "inside" look at some of the goings-on during the Sadat regime, try Negotiating For Peace In The Middle East, a memoir by one of Sadat's foreign ministers, Ismail Fahmy. The analysis is titillating—but don't expect to find a sympathetic portrait by Mr. Fahmy of his former boss.

8 Personality—It's not all peaches and cream for a native-born Palestinian to cover U.S. affairs for a West Bank newspaper. But Ghassan Bishara has spent a life-time coping successfully with adversity—and has managed to do so once again.