Geo-Political Notes: Russia's 24-year rupture with Israel

ISRAEL IS currently marking the seventh anniversary of its resumption of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union after a rupture of 24 years. It happened on the eve of the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference for the settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which took place on 30 October 1991, under the sponsorship of the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Soviet decision to sever relations with Israel, immediately after the Six Day War in June 1967, was the culmination of a 40-year hostile policy towards Israel played out against the backdrop of Israel's fight for Soviet Jewry's rights and Soviet pro-Arab policies in the Middle East, which gradually led to the Sinai Campaign in 1956 and then to the Six Day War in 1967.

The resumption of diplomatic relations would not have taken place were it not for the political changes in the Soviet Union during the twilight of Gorbachev's era: the end of inter-power competition, the beginning of co-operation in the Middle East, the Soviet Union's positive change of attitude towards Israel's peace proposals and a more balanced attitude towards Israel and Soviet Jewry. On this basis Israel accepted Soviet sponsorship together with that of the US for the Madrid Peace Conference. At that stage the Soviet Union's international status was in sharp decline a few months before its dismemberment. It was Israel - whom the Soviet Union pushed into a corner for so many years - who accorded the Soviet Union the same status as that of the US, through the Madrid Conference. Russia did continue its sponsorship of the peace-making process but much less actively than the US, since it was still absorbed in the problems of transition from a centralised economy to a decentralised one, in addition to its permanent struggle to consolidate its leadership.

The Soviet aid to the Arab States and the PLO prolonged the Arab-Israeli conflict. When that aid came to an end, in the twilight of Gorbachev's era, the peace process started in the Middle East. Even before that, Egypt under the rule of its late President Anwar Sadat came to the conclusion that the Soviet policy in the Middle East was damaging the cause of peace rather than serving it. It was at that point that the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement encountered harsh Soviet opposition, which resulted in a negative UN vote. The Soviet Union had mobilised a majority of votes against it with the help of the Communist bloc (excluding Romania), the Arab States and the non-aligned nations.

This only demonstrated that the Soviet Union's Middle East policy weakened the system of international relations more than it strengthened it. Moreover, the break of relations with Israel deprived the Soviet Union of any objective role in Middle East affairs. It is only now that Russia is trying to overcome its previous behaviour by playing a more constructive role in this domain. The suspicion and shadow of the past have not entirely disappeared though. Russia's assistance to Iran in its production of non- conventional arms, and the setting up of Russian nuclear reactors in Iran - although the Russians say that they are under Russian full control - in view of Iran's open threats against Israel may justify Israel's present fears and suspicions.

As Russia is currently benefiting from its co-operation with Israel in the agricultural, economic, tourist, scientific and technological domains, so too could the Soviet Union have benefited from its ties with Israel in these and other domains in the past, if it were not for the rupture of relations between both states, which lasted for more than 24 years. One could presume that such co-operation in the past could only have had a very positive effect on Russia's economic and social development .

Yosef Govrin is the author of `Israeli-Soviet Relations 1953-1967: from confrontation to disruption' (Frank Cass, pounds 19.50/pounds 45)