The First 100 Days

One hundred days—a period often used to measure the relative success of a leader or a policy have now gone by since President Reagan launched his Middle East peace proposals aimed at removing Israeli troops from the West Bank. About the same amount of time has elapsed since the evacuation of the PLO from Beirut was supposed to mark the beginning of a U.S.-sponsored departure of all foreign troops from Lebanon.

We will resist the temptation to rate the Administration's efforts since September 1 on a scale of one to ten—having no wish to trivialize the challenges posed by such complex issues. But we think it's fair enough to put a number on the extent of the results to date: zero. Since both the U.S. initiatives got under way, Israel's hold on the West Bank has tightened, and its troops in Lebanon, particularly in the south, are dug in deeper than ever. Perhaps it would be more meaningful to rate the Administration's success up to now on a negative scale of numbers—with minus ten reserved for the day when Israel has annexed the West Bank and taken over South Lebanon up to the Litani River. In view of the fact that the Administration is virtually encouraging Israel to do these things by continuing to offer 21 percent more military aid than it got last year, D-day minus ten may soon become a tragic reality.