August 23, 1979

Ambassador Young Realistic

For once, Andy Young is right.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations should have been fired several times in the past for blunt remarks that earned him the nick-name "Motor Mouth" with Britons, Rhodesians and South Africans.

It is ironic that his downfall should come for a discrete meeting to advance the cause of Mideast peace.

The present controversy had its beginning four years ago.  Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, promised that we would not deal with the Palestinian Liberation Organization until it recognized "Israel's right to exist."  This assurance was necessary to get Israel to move toward a treaty with Egypt.

Rejection of the PLO infuriated the "third world" countries which dominate UN action.  They countered the U.S. move by inviting a gun-toting Yasser Arafat to speak to the Assembly and by inviting him to send a PLO "observer" to the UN.

A vote in the UN that would, in effect, recognize the PLO was scheduled last month.  Apparently President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance wished to assess the U.S. position.  They directed Young to seek a postponement of the UN vote to gain time for that task.

A direct approach through the UN presidents Syrian Ambassador Hammoud el-Choui, brought a direct refusal from PLO Representative Zehdi Terzi.

Choui said the only possibility of postponement was through a talk with Terzi.  Young responded with a classic diplomatic maneuver.  "You know I can't talk with the PLO, but I will call on Kuwaiti Ambassador Abdulla Bishara and, of course, I will discuss the issue with whomever is there."

Shortly afterward Young went for a walk -- with his son Beaux for window dressing -- and "dropped in" at the apartment of Ambassador Bishara.  Surprise of surprises, there was Terzi.  One could not be rude and flee, so there was a few minutes of chit-chat which just happened to include an agreement to postpone the PLO resolution.

Young reported his success to the State Department, and a memo of the event circulated to high-level officials.

The Israelis, with excellent pipelines to the U.S. State Department, quickly learned of the apparent tilt toward the PLO.  In alarm they "went public" with the issue by filing an official protest.

Thus was Young, our first black UN ambassador, caught in the middle.

Blacks here and throughout the world feel Young was a racial victim to Jewish self interest.

American and Israel Jews fear Young was promulgating a new and lenient policy toward oil-rich Arabs.

Either way it is bad political news for Carter.

Blacks and Jews constitute powerful voting blocs in this country.  They seek answers to the same questions that plagued Former President Richard Nixon in a similar cover-up incidents "What did he know, and when did he know it?"

The first version of the Young-Terzi discussion -- claiming inadvertent meeting -- was blown apart by leaks of the true story to the press.

Young contends he understood the risk in violating a long established U.S. policy and made the decision entirely on his own.  When the Israelis blew the whistle, he was doomed.

His statement that "I didn't lie, I just didn't tell the whole truth" still comes out as a falsehood.

This put the ambassador in open conflict with Carter's famous campaign promises "If a member of my Cabinet ever lies to the public or to the Congress, he or she will be looking for a new job before the sun comes up the next morning."

Former Budget Director Bert Lance was let go reluctantly under this promise.  Carter was bound by the same standard with Ambassador Young.

Out of this whole sorry affair, one conclusion stands forth.  It is time for Americans, Israelis and Palestinians to get realistic.

Young was correct in dealing with realistic problems in the soft language of diplomacy.  That's the function of an ambassador.  Unfortunately it also is realistic that his usefulness ended when be became the symbol of controversial change.

Now, Israel must deal realistically with the PLO.  The Palestinians were displaced without provocation by the homeland aspirations of Jews.  Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin was a terrorist leader in the Zionist movement.

Of all people, Jews should understand the frustrations and tactics of the PLO.  The latter must have a place to live.  Having uprooted an entire people, the United Nations is bound by justice to relocate them.  It is only fair that the beneficiaries of that original UN policy should cooperate in a final settlement.

In turn, the PLO must recognize that Israel is in the Middle East to stay and has consolidated its hold by the historic precedent of conquest.  The right of Israel to exist may be galling to Arabs, but it is realistic.

Americans, for their part, must put aside their racial prejudices in this instance.  An interest in root-ties is understandable, but their citizenship requires primary concern for U.S. interests first.

Ambassador Young took his medicine in the cause of peace.

The rest of us can do no less.

Author: Lindsey Williams