From: rivk@ellis.uchicago.edu (nora gayle rivkis)
Subject: Re: CLINTON SPEECH TEXT: RABIN MEETING
Reply-To: rivk@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 16:08:48 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.080602.12256@discus.technion.ac.il> davidba@carmel.technion.ac.il (David Ben_Ami) writes:
>In article <1992Aug29.150934.11390@midway.uchicago.edu> rivk@midway.uchicago.edu writes:

>>I didn't start out particularly sympathetic
>>to Kuwait, but the combination of its behavior during and just after the
>>war wrt Israel's decision to hold its fire in the interest of achieving
>>common goals, which was the most honorable behavior I've seen out of any
>>Arab country except Egypt, and Mr. Mohammed's articles, have made me
>>rather like the place. That, and keeping you from attacking someone I
>>respect independently of his country for his willingness to discuss
>>things reasonably, are my only interests in the question.
>
>I fail to see Kuwait's the honorabilty in Kuwait's behavior towards 
>Israel in teh Gulf war. did you actualy expect them to bithe the hand 
>that helped them get back to their throne??

That is exactly what, based on the behavior of some other Arab countries
I've seen, I expected. I didn't get it. Kuwait surprised me greatly by
showing some degree of appreciation.

>Kuwait did the minimum of not blatantly cursing Israel mainly for the
>sake of American ears. 

Their reasons are impossible to determine; I think you're wrong about
them. The act of refraining from blatantly cursing Israel is better than
we've gotten from an Arab country besides Egypt in a century. Don't argue
with progress, even if it's not as great as you'd like.

In point of fact, Kuwait did more than that. A Kuwaiti official on a
CNN broadcast at the time publicly thanked Israel -- by name, which is
still something most Arab countries will not use -- for its restraint,
and recognized how difficult a thing this was to ask of a country, which
is a lot better than the United States did. Immediately after the war,
another CNN report said that Kuwait was willing to consider a peace treaty.

>Maybe in their hearts they finally understood 
>what we Israelis are facing all these years (financed by their oil)

Maybe they *have* finally understood it. What their oil has to do with 
this, I have no idea. What you think is wrong with understanding Israel's
point of view, I am not sure.

>their change of attitude towads Israel is not to be hailed as nobility
>- if they were unilateray stop all hostility against Israel and ready 
>to sign a peace treaty with us - that would be noble & honorable.

They've said they were willing to discuss a peace treaty, and I have
not seen Kuwaiti shells over Safed recently. Nor, for that matter, have
I seen Kuwaiti money funneled into the PLO the way it used to be, not
since the Palestinians betrayed Kuwait during the war. I'll settle for
that as a start, gladly. Progress away from bad behavior should be
accepted and rewarded, and by scorning it until it is completely up
to your preferences, you're shooting yourself and Israel in the foot
and seeing to it that we'll not get any more progress. 

This is not the behavior that got us a country in the first place. We
were willing to compromise, the Palestinians weren't. Look at the end 
results.

>David.

-- 
"Light one candle for those who are suffering pain we learned so long ago..."

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