Israel "Strong Letter"

By Hunter R. Clark

In any other circumstances, the letter might have been regarded as interference in another nation's internal affairs. The communication, which the State Department says was sent a few weeks ago by U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, outlined specific steps that Washington thinks Israel should take to restructure its faltering economy. Shultz warned that unless drastic reforms are implemented, Israeli requests for U.S. aid could be in jeopardy. While the text of the document was not released, a U.S. embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv acknowledged last week that "it was a strong letter."

There was an equally strong response from some Israeli politicians. Declared Minister for Economics and Planning Gad Yaacobi: "We don't need new (economic) doctrines from Washington. We don't need preaching, messages or 'talking papers.' " Peres, however, read Shultz's admonishments in a different light. "The Secretary compliments this government," he told an Israeli radio audience, "but he also gives us a statistical warning bell. He says that if you don't do more, and do more quickly, you face a serious, immediate and urgent economic problem."

Shultz's message did not deter Israel from asking for $4.9 billion in U.S. military and economic aid over the next 21 months. Included in this request is an extra $800 million in financial assistance for fiscal 1985, in addition to the $2.6 billion already appropriated by Congress for the year. Some State Department officials call the additional request "unbelievable." Shultz had urged Israel to trim its $23 billion budget for fiscal 1985 by at least a billion dollars beyond the $1.5 billion in cuts already planned. He also suggested an end to the system of tying wage and benefit increases to inflation, which is rising at an annual rate of 486%, as well as cutbacks in subsidies on such basic commodities as bread and milk.

The state of the economy was not the only issue that inflamed Israeli tempers last week. A visit by five members of West Germany's Green Party resulted in a fracas on the Knesset floor. Claiming that the Greens have expressed support for the Palestine Liberation Organization, Geula Cohen of the right-wing Tehiya Party greeted the West Germans, who were sitting in the visitors' gallery, by holding up a poster that read BROWN GREENS OUT. The slogan was apparently intended to equate the left-leaning Greens with the Nazi Brown-shirts. Tewfik Toubi, an Arab-Israeli Communist who has been a member of the Knesset since 1949, leaped to his feet and tried to tear the placard from her hands exclaiming, "It's shameful to demonstrate against guests." Cohen's response to Toubi: "You are no more than a guest on sufferance here." Cohen was quick to explain that her remark alluded to Toubi's being a Communist and non-Zionist. A shoving match ensued between Toubi and Yuval Ne'eman, another Tehiya Party member.

In another controversy, American-born Rabbi Meir Kahane was rebuffed by his Knesset colleagues. Elected to parliament last July, Kahane advocates the forced removal of all Arabs from Israel and Israeli-occupied territories. Troubled by Kahane's anti-Arab activities, the Knesset last week limited his right as a member to travel without restriction. Next day Israeli police barred Kahane from entering the Israeli Arab village of Taibe, where he had gone to urge Arabs to leave Israel.

With reporting by Robert Slater/ Jerusalem and William Stewart/Washington