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PAPER EXAMINES THE AMERICAN ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST ISRAEL AS AN APPARENT INCONSISTENCY IN AMERICAN POLICY - GENERALLY PRO-ISRAELI. IT WAS, IT IS ARGUED, A PRODUCT OF CONCERTED AND CONSECUTIVE EFFORTS OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND THE BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE WHO WERE BOTH ANTI-PARTITION DESPITE TRUMAN'S SUPPORT OF ISRAEL. THIS AMBIVALENCE ENCOURAGED ARAB HOSTILITIES.

A comprehensive and innovative examination of US policy on the Jerusalem issue over the past half-century, this study analyzes the complex political and legal factors, both domestic and international, which have shaped executive decisions. The book provides a unique entry into the variations in policy from administration to administration, and the increasingly assertive role of Congress. Based on insights garnered from the past, the author offers useful suggestions for a reality-bound future approach to a problem which is central to resolution of the protracted Arab-Israeli dispute, and thus to security throughout the Middle East

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- I: THE CONSTITUTIONAL SETTING -- 1 The Constitution and the Rise of an Ideological Court in a Nonideological Polity -- II: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND -- 2 The Founding Fathers and the Constitution as a Vehicle for Change -- III: EXECUTIVE-LEGISLATIVE RELATIONS -- 3 Tension in the Twilight Zone: The President and Congress in Foreign Affairs -- 4 Congressional Supervision of the Executive Branch: The Necessity for Legislative Controls -- Comments: On the Aftermaths of the War Powers Resolution and Chadha -- Foreign Relations and the Rule of Law: The Case for Constitutional Revision -- IV: THE ESTABLISHMENT AND FREE EXERCISE CLAUSES: RESOLVING THE INHERENT TENSION -- 5 The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment: Reconciling the Conflict -- 6 Seeking Tolerance: Do Courts Respect Religious Observance? -- Comment: The Key Question: The Religious Freedom of the Individual -- V: MINORITY RIGHTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION: RACE -- 7 Affirmative Action: Is It Just? Does It Work? -- 8 Socio-Dynamic Equality: The Contribution of the Adversarial Process -- Comment: The Impact of the Supreme Court -- VI: MINORITY RIGHTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION: GENDER -- 9 Reconstitutions: History, Gender, and the Fourteenth Amendment -- 10 Employment of the Constitution to Advance the Equal Status of Men and Women -- VII: INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES AND THE RIGHTS OF PRIVACY -- 11 James Madison's "Triumph": The Fourteenth Amendment -- 12 The Right to Privacy and Legitimate Constitutional Change -- Comment: Limits to Constitutional Interpretation -- VIII: REFORMING THE CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM -- 13 The Case for Reform -- 14 Obstacles on the Road to Reform -- Comments: The Undesirability of Reform -- Don't Mess with the Constitution -- IX: THE IMPACT OF THE CONSTITUTION ABROAD: THE VIEW FROM ISRAEL -- 15 Judicial Perspectives: The View from Israel.

Describes how the drafting of the US Constitution involved, far more than most scholars acknowledge, an item-by-item compromise between large state & small state differences. The Virginia Plan represented Madison's vision of a national government that granted states little role, while the New Jersey Plan represented the small states' interest in keeping the states largely sovereign. While scholars recognize that one concession that was made when the Virginia Plan was accepted, equal representation for all states in the upper house of Congress (Kelly, Harbison, & Belz, 1983), they have missed the extent to which compromises were reached throughout the Constitution (Farrand). The small states, combined with the slave states & others who believed in state sovereignty, achieved state involvement in the national government in four major areas: (1) the enumeration of federal powers; (2) the elimination of a national legislative veto; (3) the advice & consent of the Senate to treaties & appointments; & (4) the electoral college. In addition, the appointment of the court to resolve federal-state differences in interpreting the Constitution led to judicial review whereby the court could offset Congressional decisions. While the Virginia Plan was the blueprint for the national government, the compromises reached through the struggle for the equal power of the small states helped shape its ultimate structure. L. A. Hoffman