Middle East: Crumbling Boycott

In the bitter “state of war” that the Arabs still maintain against Israel, the only weapon left is the economic blacklist of companies and persons trading with the Jewish state. Even this weapon has begun to fail, because it is clear that the penalties are boomeranging against the Arabs themselves.

Today the blacklist is full of loopholes. Arab countries do business with airlines that also service Israel. Rather than lose tourist trade, Arabs now allow cruise ships to dock at their ports after stopping at Haifa. Cairo shops still sell Sinatra records, though Frankie’s “pro-Israel” tendencies have kept him on the blacklist for years. Last week the boycott received the gravest blow yet. It involved a U.S. freighter that had been blacklisted for previous stops in Israel. When the ship arrived in Beirut harbor with 2,400 tons of wheat for the Palestinian Arab refugees, powerful voices throughout the Arab world demanded that it be sent away untouched. But Lebanon’s Public Works Minister Pierre Gemayel was too realistic for that, went ahead and ordered longshoremen to unload the ship. Then, to the shock of Arab zealots, he demanded a “complete revision” of boycott regulations, which, he said, were rooted in “chaos and fantasy.” L’Orient, a major Lebanese daily, was bolder still, flatly urged the “defunct Arab League” to end its “ridiculous” boycott procedures.