Involving US troops in an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement is not just a suggestion floating somewhere between Jerusalem and Washington.  Congressman Lee Hamilton, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, recently indicated that a US survey is already underway to determine the specific locations of a US peacekeeping force on the Golan. The survey's underlying assumption is that Israel will evacuate the whole Golan.

The recent scolding of United Jewish Appeal officials by top members of the Labor Party is part of what some say is a concerted effort to reduce the organized US Jewish community to its "proper" political size.

It may also reflect an attempt to undermine the credibility of the current leadership and enhance the stock of those who have always been "politically correct."

These suspicions explain Prime Minister Rabin's blunt reprimand of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee in August 1992.

The recent announcement of the transfer of $600-700 million worth of US combat helicopters, missiles and other advanced defense equipment to Israel and the pre-positioning in Israel of $200m worth of US defense items does not represent a truly new development. It is the fulfillment of legislation signed into law two years ago, in October 1990.