The Palestine Ploy

The Allied divergencies I wrote about in my last column include, quite prominently, an important difference of approach on Middle Eastern problems. Although the difference concerns tactics, methods, and priorities, it is also, in the deepest sense, philosophical.

To simplify: the Reagan/Haig view is that the main problem in the Middle East is Soviet expansionism and that top priority, therefore, has to be given to ways of countering it. The EEC view, largely the brainchild of the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington (who expounded it to Secretary Haig on his recent trip to Washington with Mrs. Thatcher), is that the real problem is the Palestine question, to which, therefore, top priority must be accorded.

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Brian Crozier

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The Allied divergencies I wrote about in my last column include, quite prominently, an important difference of approach on Middle Eastern problems. Although the difference concerns tactics, methods, and priorities, it is also, in the deepest sense, philosophical.

To simplify: the Reagan/Haig view is that the main problem in the Middle East is Soviet expansionism and that top priority, therefore, has to be given to ways of countering it. The EEC view, largely the brainchild of the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington (who expounded it to Secretary Haig on his recent trip to Washington with Mrs. Thatcher), is that the real problem is the Palestine question, to which, therefore, top priority must be accorded.