hattered. It could only be maintained by a firm U.S. condemnation of the Israeli police action (there has, in fact, been some official criticism of Israeli "overreaction"), and ultimately by a resolute U.S. decision to stay out of an Israel Iraq air war. The first of these requirements is a difficult one for U.S. policymakers; the second has been virtually foreclosed by prior U.S. statements that it would respond to an attack on Israel.
Clearly, then, so long as the Palestinian question remains unresolved, all U.S. interests in the Middle East will remain hostage to the Israel/Palestine problem, and to foolish or cynical actions by Israeli rightist politicians or police commanders. Arab policymakers, like their American (and Israeli) counterparts, are not free to define their national interests as though they were positions on a chessboard. In an abstract sense, national self determination for the Palestinian Arab people is not a "vital national interest" of Saudi Arabia, of Egypt, or even of Syria (though the latter's own te
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