Monday, November 4, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
(Can Jorian make Beaee?
It's time Hussein got serious about his peace rhetoric
Page 5
r even years ago, I tried to go from
O Jordan to Israel where I was
supposed to meet my wife. My
plan was to go across the Allenby
Bridge, which spans the Jordan River,
only I could not. My papers were not in
order and so, knowing I would be late, I
lifted the hotel phone to call my wife in
Jerusalem. It was then that I learned
the difference between Jordanian rhet
oric and reality. Israel, I was more or
less told, did not exist.
The operator said a call to Israel was
illegal. Click. I called the telex operator
and said I wanted to send a message to
Israel. There was another gasp. Impos
sible, Sir, she said. It was illegal. She,
too, hung up quickly. I went down to
the lobby to see the travel agent. I said
I wanted to fly to Greece and then on to
Israel. She said she could book me to
Greece but not to Israel. It was . . . you
guessed it illegal.
The next day, having booked a flight
to Cairo, Egypt, I drove into the Jordan
ian desert to the Roman ruins at Petra
and then went over to the Dead Sea.
You could see Israel from where I stood
and, if you were on the Jordan River,
you could throw a stone across or
maybe yell to someone. But you could
not call and you could not telex. And
you could not get information on a
flight.
I recall those days from time to time
because Jordan always is described as
a moderate Arab government that wants
only peace with Israel. And I recalled it
just the other day when Shimon Peres,
the prime minister of Israel, spoke
before the United Nations. He outlined
a peace plan. He said he would, in his
own way, accept the Jordanian sugges
tion for an International peace confer
ence. He said he would talk with the
Jordanians directly at any time. What
was Jordan's response? Its delegation
was not in the hall. It had walked out.
It Is, I grant you, a small event in the
scheme of things. It is, moreover, the
sort of thing all Arab states except
Egypt routinely do. Joined by some
fellow travelers in the international
community of Israel haters (Nicaragua,
for one), these countries greet any
speech by a representative of Israel by
shuffling off to the lounge. This is a
United Nations way of saying drop
dead.
Richard
Cohen
Routine or not, it's time Jordan
behaved as if it were serious about its
own rhetoric. There is something absurd
about a country that pleads for $1.8
billion in U.S. arms on a pledge of never
using the missiles, planes or other
weapons in an offensive war against
Israel, and then displays an inability to
stay in its seats when the prime minister
of Israel goes before an international
forum to make a speech. That sort of
action, besides being just plain rude,
indicates that Jordan does not have the
courage of its own convictions. It will,
as usual, go along with the crowd.
There is historical precedence for
this analysis. Moderate or not, Jordan
nevertheless went to war against Israel
in 1907. The reason Israel now occupies
East Jerusalem and the West Bank is
not because it attacked Jordan, but
because it was the other way around.
Neither Jerusalem nor the West Bank
would be issues today, and dilemmas
for Israel, if King Hussein had been
able to keep his finger off the trigger.
As they say in the Old West, he drew
first.
Where and when Israel and its
enemies finally sit down to talk peace
is, of course, important. But the im
portant condition for talking is mutual
confidence. The question for the Arabs
is whether any Israeli prime minister
can find it politically possible to do
what has to be done: swap occupied
territories for a guarantee of peace.
And the question for the Israelis is
whether an Arab government, Jordan in
this case, really intends to recognize
Israel and let it live in peace. Since
Jordan is, by the grace of God and the
imagination of the British Colonial
Office, a kingdom, the ultimate ques
tion has to do with Hussein himself:
Does he have the courage to cut a deal?
History awaits the answer to that
question. But it is hard to be optimistic
when the Jordanian U.N. delegation
steps on the peace process by marching
out of the United Nations at the appea
rance of an Israeli speaker. It was
petty, rude, insulting and, above all,
childish. War is for kids. Peace is for
adults. It's time Jordan grew up.
1B85, Washington Post Writers Group
Cohen writes an editorial column for the
Washington Post.
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$8,000 later, Sadie still praying for a husband
ROYKO from Page 4
Well, what about her marital goals?
Is anything cooking on your end?
"I never promised that my prayers
would being her marriage. That would
be encroaching on the man's preroga
tives."
You have a code of ethics.
"Ours is a reputable ministry. And
believe me, that woman is speaking
with a forked tongue. She is engaging
in a smear campaign. Goodbye."
So it looks like Sadie is out of luck.
And it's a shame. For $8,000, if that's
what she really sent, she ought to get a
new husband.
And at those prices, the preacher
should have made sure the guy had his
own teeth.
1985 By The Chicago Tribune
Royko is a Pulitzer Prize winning column
ist for the Chicago Tribune.
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