Middle East: Mortal Friends

The relationship has always been a rather special one, occasionally baffling outsiders. "I don't understand you Americans backing Israel," Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin told Lyndon Johnson in 1967. "There are 80 million Arabs and only 3 million Jews. Why do it?" Johnson shot back: "Because it's right." Yet, as Ronald Reagan's anger over Israel's siege of West Beirut demonstrated last week, that "right"relationship can sometimes confound, even infuriate, the two nations.

In May 1948 the U.S. became the first nation to recognize the newly created state of Israel. Relations reached their lowest ebb during the Eisenhower Administration. In 1956, Israeli forces, together with British and French troops, invaded Egypt after Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. At U.S. urging, the British and French pulled out within two months, but the Israelis remained behind. Dwight Eisenhower lambasted Israel on national TV in February 1957 and privately threatened economic sanctions. Two weeks later the Israelis withdrew.

During the 1973 war, Richard Nixon privately warned the government of Golda Meir not to cut off food and water to 20,000 trapped Egyptian soldiers. But it was not until 1975 that relations were once again seriously strained. Angered over Israel's intransigence in the negotiations for troop withdrawals from the Sinai, Gerald Ford dramatically announced a "reassessment" of U.S. policies in the Middle East and suspended consideration of Israel's request for $2.5 million in aid.

In 1978 the Israelis installed U.S.-made armored equipment in southern Lebanon. When Washington protested Jerusalem first refused to remove the equipment; later the Israelis claimed to have done so, but U.S. surveillance showed otherwise. An enraged Jimmy Carter informed Israel that if the weapons were not moved forthwith, he would ask Congress to halt all arms sales to Israel. Only then did Jerusalem bow to Washington's wishes.