Can It Work?

With his usual lack of cant, Sam Rayburn once defined a statesman as a dead politician. Whether the Middle East solution proposed by John Connally will help him politically only a prophet can foretell. As a matter of genuine statesmanship, however, the solution fails, because of Connally’s assumption that a settlement treaty settles.

The key sentence in Connally’s speech of last October 11 was: “We must now pursue a new approach based not merely on individual Arab or Israeli interests, but on American interests.” My analysis will limit itself to America’s national interest without reference to ethics or our long-standing friendship with Israel; Arab and Israeli interests will intrude only as they affect the ability of Connally’s means to accomplish his ends.

LB

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Laurence W. Beilenson

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With his usual lack of cant, Sam Rayburn once defined a statesman as a dead politician. Whether the Middle East solution proposed by John Connally will help him politically only a prophet can foretell. As a matter of genuine statesmanship, however, the solution fails, because of Connally’s assumption that a settlement treaty settles.

The key sentence in Connally’s speech of last October 11 was: “We must now pursue a new approach based not merely on individual Arab or Israeli interests, but on American interests.” My analysis will limit itself to America’s national interest without reference to ethics or our long-standing friendship with Israel; Arab and Israeli interests will intrude only as they affect the ability of Connally’s means to accomplish his ends.