What was going on when I was born?

The leader of an Israeli parliamentary delegation sent here to argue against a Saudi Arabian peace plan said unexpectedly today that the Saudis had gone ''a little way in our direction,'' though they were still ''a long way'' from becoming part of the Middle East peace process. The comments by Moshe Arens, the head of the Israeli Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, differed sharply from the position taken by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Mr. Begin has called the eight-point plan put forward by Crown Prince Fahd in August a ''liquidation formula'' aimed against Israel. In formally announcing to Parliament on Nov. 2 his intention to send the delegation led by Mr. Arens to the United States, Mr. Begin said: ''Those eight points cannot serve as any basis for any discussion whatsoever. They are rejected from start to finish.''

A caption in the Business People col- umn of Business Day on Wednesday incorrectly identified the executive pictured. He is Robert G. Vandemark, vice chairman of Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads Inc.

Today was Nov. 11 and all across Poland the redand-white flags were flying in the cold autumn breeze. The graves of beloved war heroes were piled high with flowers. In downtown Warsaw, President Henryk Jablonski laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Mr. Jablonski, a white-haired man accustomed to the walk past an honor guard with fixed bayonets, has performed the ceremony countless times - but never on Nov. 11. Nation's Modern Rebirth Marked For the first time since Communism came to power more than three decades ago - in fact, for the first time since the German invasion in 1939 - Poland marked the anniversary of its rebirth as an independent country at the end of World War I. Indirectly, today's event also honored the memory of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, the nationalist military leader who led Poland to independence in 1918 and headed an authoritarian military regime from 1926 until his death in 1935.

Corporations seeking to reduce their tax bills are rushing to meet tomorrow's deadline for completing special tax leasing deals that could cost the Treasury billions of dollars in lost revenue. The benefits, part of the Administration tax program approved by Congress in August, permit money-losing corporations with tax credits and depreciation deductions they cannot use, in effect, to sell them to profitable companies seeking tax shelters. Tomorrow midnight is the deadline for trading tax benefits related to equipment that was purchased between Jan. 1 and Aug. 13 of this year. To transfer the benefits, the previously purchased equipment must be ''sold'' to a company willing to pay cash for the tax benefits and then lease the equipment back to the original owner using the equipment. In fact, the sale is for tax purposes only. The company using the equipment retains title and possession. After tomorrow, such deals can be entered into only for newly purchased equipment.

This time it was a question of both love and money. New York City's Commission on Human Rights has come down on the side of love. In a ruling earlier this week, the commission found that it was a form of marital discrimination for a landlord to require a higher rent when the lover of a lease-holding tenant moved into the partner's apartment.

The chairman of New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission predicted yesterday that the 50-cent surcharge on cab rides at night and on Sundays would be discontinued at the end of the year. The surcharge was introduced in May for an eight-month trial period to try to lure more taxis onto the streets in the evenings and on weekends, when it is often difficult to find a cab. Jay L. Turoff, the commission chairman, said that data submitted thus far did not demonstrate that the program had been successful. ''I don't see how we can keep the surcharge, based on the numbers we have seen so far,'' he said.

Blacks in the Deep South, who had hoped to make significant political gains in legislative seats as a result of redistricting, are being bitterly disappointed by the results. In the last decade, with the help of the Voting Rights Act, improved voter registration and a growing list of candidates, blacks in the South made marked political gains. In a region that is roughly 22 percent black, their numbers in state legislatures swelled to 126 in 1980, or 7 percent of all state legislative seats, up from 32 in 1970. But many blacks now argue that, in retrospect, the reapportionment lines drawn after the 1970 census dealt them far fewer legislative seats than their share of the population indicates they should control. Moreover, they see little hope of sustaining any momentum in the redistricting process this year, after the 1980 census, and as a result blacks in many Southern states are filing formal complaints and lawsuits to further their cause.

Mayor Koch yesterday disavowed a suggestion by his welfare commissioner that the city might find it less expensive to lose tens of millions of dollars in Federal aid as a result of penalties for inefficiency than to take sufficient corrective action. ''I am overruling him,'' the Mayor said. ''I make the policy, not he.'' The Mayor's statements were part of an effort to clarify the city's position on the possible loss of $70 million in Federal funds because of waste and fraud in the welfare program. On Tuesday, James A. Krauskopf, the Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration, which operates the program, said he believed ''it might not be costeffective'' to do the kind of thorough investigation of clients necessary to reduce the error rate to 4 percent.

The United States is actively considering a request by Nigeria to provide transport and supplies for part of a 5,000-member African peacekeeping force that will be sent to Chad to replace departing Libyan troops, Administration officials said today. After taking the lead for months in urging France and African nations to bring about the withdrawal of Libyan forces from Chad, the Reagan Administration has now been asked to play a significant role in helping put that country on its feet again economically, officials said, since Libya is cutting off all support. Washington has agreed to participate tomorrow in a meeting in Paris of prospective aid donors, officials said, to discuss ways of saving Chad from total economic collapse. Request From Nigeria American officials said Washington was also inclined to help Nigeria, which had asked the United States to fly a 2,000-member Nigerian contingent to Chad, and to assist other nations that asked. But they said Washington would prefer that the official request come from the Organization of African Unity itself.

IN the beginning there is nepotism. It is hard enough for an experienced architect to get work today. What does a young designer do to get his first cornerstone laid? Build a house for relatives. Charles Gwathmey, Richard Meier and Robert Venturi, three renowned contemporary architects, made their first splashes, architecturally, with houses for ''the folks.'' Indeed, kin construction dates back to Frank Lloyd Wright, George Howe and Le Corbusier, and the tradition continues. But commissioning one's child to do a house is a considerably larger act of faith than hanging the budding Bernini's finger painting on the refrigerator. Houses and their design, the biggest single expense in people's lives, involve issues of identity, control, taste, pretentions and, not least, role - who is the ''parent'' and who is the ''child.''

The Senate Banking Committee is considering a proposal that would pre-empt many state laws that allow homeowners to transfer old, low-interest mortgages to purchasers when they sell their homes. The little-noticed proposal is buried in the Thrift Institutions Restructuring Act of 1981, a huge Administration-backed collection of bills proposed over the last several years. The legislation, which includes controversial provisions such as an override of interest ceilings on loans, is expected to be voted out of the Banking Committee and onto the Senate floor in the next few weeks. No Similar House Legislation There is no similar legislation in the House of Representatives, but the House Banking Committee will shortly start hearings on problems faced by savings banks and savings and loan associations, which write most mortgages.

The plan to link the trading floors of the mighty Chicago Board of Trade and the foundering New York Futures Exchange has stirred up a storm of protest among members of the Chicago exchange. More than a quarter of the board's 2,025 members have petitioned the directors to reconsider the deal. But Chicago Board officials, confident that the agreement will stand, are pressing other futures exchanges about establishing similar ties. The plan's extension of reciprocal trading priveleges for all financial futures contracts is a point of contention. ''You have a N.Y.F.E. seat selling for less than $10,000 and one of our seats selling for $130,000. How are you going to equate the two?'' one Chicago Board financial instruments trader, who asked to remain unidentfied, asked today.