World: MIDDLE EAST: THE WAR AND THE WOMAN

(9 of 10)

that while the hapless Arabs cannot win the war, the Israelis cannot win the peace. Political Scientist Samuel Merlin suggests in his The Search for Peace in the Middle East that the great weakness of Israel's diplomacy "is that it has no blueprint of its own for peace. It is not that Israel prefers a state of conflict and tension to normal relations with her neighbors. It is that the minds of the Israelis are totally preoccupied with the job at hand: to build the country." That comment is to the point, and disturbing even to the most hawkish of Israeli politicians and generals.

In a renewal of the all-out wars of '48, '56 and '67, there is little doubt that Israel would overwhelm the Arabs; a decade hence victory might not be so certain. For that reason, observers occasionally wonder whether Israel may not be trying to provoke precisely such a full-scale fight. It might be an appealing idea, if the Israelis were convinced that a total rout of the Arab armies would also send Arab governments toppling. But that too might be a questionable achievement. For despite the Israelis' obvious anxiety to get rid of Nasser and the fanatic Baathists in Syria and Iraq, there is no guarantee that those men would not be succeeded by even more militant extremists.

There is no obvious way out of the dilemma. A more flexible policy toward re-admitting the 1,500,000 Palestinian refugees who left since 1948? The Israelis point out that the Palestinians, who are the heart of the guerrilla movements now in existence, would form an enormous fifth column. A more reasonable approach toward restoration of the Sinai, the West Bank and Jerusalem? The Israelis gave the Sinai back to the Egyptians in 1957, and Nasser promptly filled it with armor. A decision to ignore the guerrilla pinpricks? That might only inspire the Arabs to greater boldness and more attacks. And yet can Israel really settle down to years and decades of continuous conflict? And on which side will such a long, drawn-out conflict be harder in the long run?

Not quite at war but not quite at peace, the little nation endures—even thrives. There is a stunning sense of accomplishment, of determination and of community—the country is small enough to give its citizens the feeling that they all know one another. The economy is booming and supermarkets overflow with a cornucopia of kibbutz-grown produce and high-quality manufactured goods. Most weekends the beaches are jammed, as are the kibbutz swimming pools. But then there are the reminders: the terrorist bomb blasts and the snipings; the veterans of the first two rounds with the Arabs, now serving as home guards; the veterans of the third round, still drilling regularly with the reserves; and most disturbing of all, the teen-agers whose mothers wonder whether they will become veterans, or casualties of a fourth round.

In Egypt, the wartime aura is no less pervasive in the cities, but almost unnoticeable in rural regions. Even if Israel were to continue mounting raids like last week's, Nasser would not necessarily suffer. He is less susceptible to public pressure than is Golda Meir. Moreover, he has going for him that famous Arab shrug known as ma'alesh, which indicates that nothing can be done.

About the only dim hope for peace entertained by Mrs. Meir and other Israeli politicians is that one day the Arabs will change;