What was going on when I was born?

-ZARQA, Israel, July 4 - Shimon Peres scans the eyes of the Arab voters in this tiny village, a grave look comes over his face and he asks the crowd in his somber baritone: ''Is there anyone here who wants the Likud?'' ''Nooooooooo,'' the Israeli Arab audience anssers in unison. It is campaign day in Jisr al-Zarqa, a poor Arab village north of Tel Aviv, and several hundred of its Arab inhabitants have turned up in the central square to hear the Labor Party leader, speaking in Hebrew, try to win their votes. More than ever before, Jewish politicians are looking to Israel's 250,000 Arab, Druse and Bedouin voters to get them elected to the next Parliament. Arab voters in Israel have the strength to elect roughly 12 of the 120 members of the Israeli Parliament and in a close election, as this one is expected to be, their choices could be decisive.

Moslems determined to learn the fate of missing relatives thwarted Government plans today to open more crossing points between the predominantly Moslem and Christian sectors of this city. Only one crossing point between Moslem West Beirut and Christian East Beirut had been open since February. The Government's plan was to open three additional crossings today to help restore normal travel and activity as this capital city recovers from civil war. The three routes were opened this morning to traffic but within two hours all had been obstructed. The protesters also closed the one route that had been open - known as the museum crossing.

With major Wall Street firms poised to report dismal second-quarter earnings, analysts are looking to the last six months of 1984 for a boost in securities industry profits. According to Perrin H. Long Jr., an industry analyst with Lipper Analytical Services Inc., pretax profits for the industry in the second quarter will total about $150 million, a serious decline from $497 million in the first quarter, and $1.46 billion in 1983's second quarter. Albert L. Simon, of Mabon, Nugent & Company, has estimated second- quarter losses of 40 cents a share for Merrill Lynch & Company, 10 cents a share for E. F. Hutton Group Inc. and 20 cents a share for Paine Webber Inc. All had profits last year. ''The second quarter of 1984 was probably the worst quarter in years,'' said Jeffrey M. Schaefer, research director for the Securities Industry Association, the major trade group. ''What it would take to turn it around is a downward trend in interest rates. It's clear that's been the principal problem in the first half of this year.''

The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries who will meet beginning tomorrow in Vienna are split into uneasy factions amid an oversupply of oil and increased fighting in the Persian Gulf. Some members have violated price and production levels set by the cartel and there are questions whether OPEC can maintain its official price of $29 a barrel. Few analysts believe major official changes will be announced at the regular meeting, the first since December. Most, however, suggest that, unofficially, some of the poorer OPEC nations will be allowed to increase their oil production - and thus their export revenues - at the expense of richer members such as Saudi Arabia. And there will be a renewed commitment to limit total OPEC production enough so that oil prices do not tumble, analysts say.

A picture caption in The Home Section on Thursday incorrectly described the availability of the Satoki talking wristwatch. Ohrbach's will sell it beginning July 16.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany left here today after a four-day visit in which he was friendly but firm in telling Argentines that they must settle with the International Monetary Fund before industrial nations will help the country solve its debt crisis. The German leader's statements appear to have all but ended Argentine hopes that they could force a wedge between Europe and the United States on the debt issue. The Argentines wanted European aid to soften international conditions over repaying the country's $45 billion foreign debt. The Europeans have generally been more sympathetic than the Reagan Administration about long-term changes in the international monetary system to help developing nations repay their debts. But Western bankers and diplomats said the Argentines had failed to realize that the Europeans, who hold nearly a third of Argentina's total debt, have been tougher than the Americans in requiring a short-term I.M.F. agreement.

Harried by overextended welfare budgets, fear of crime and a whiff of xenophobia in the political atmosphere, the Governments of Western Europe are struggling to turn back a tide of illegal immigration. To take one example, West Berlin is swamped by waves of third-world immigrants that include Tamil tea pickers from Sri Lanka, teen-agers smuggled out of Iran to evade the draft, war-weary Kurds from Beirut, unemployed Ashantis from upcountry Ghana and Pakistani drug dealers. And Poles, Czechoslovaks and other refugees from Eastern Europe keep arriving as well. Package Tours to Asylum On special discount fares from Aeroflot, the Soviet airline, and Lot, the Polish airline, the travelers from underdeveloped third world nations fly in groups into East Berlin's Sch"onefeld Airport and, without visas, are admitted to East Germany. In a matter of hours, they take the subway to West Berlin - an open city - where they report to the police, seeking political asylum.

American auto makers are again looking to the Far East to find a nation that offers low labor costs, a well- educated and hard-working labor force and a government that encourages big business. But it is not Japan that has drawn their attention this time, but South Korea. In June, the General Motors Corporation and the Daewoo Motor Company signed a $426 million agreement to produce 167,000 cars a year in South Korea by 1987. About half those cars will be exported, with many expected to be distributed in the United States by the Pontiac Division of General Motors.

Ten minutes before the Eastern shuttle's hourly departures at La Guardia Airport, the last-minute passengers arrive. And like many of them one recent morning, Lou Ulsch of West Milford, N.J., sprinted, billfold in mouth, over to one of the five self-service ticket machines. He is one of an increasing number of business travelers who are buying their tickets from machines. It is a trend that disturbs travel agents who fear the devices could cost them their 10 percent commissions or even their jobs.

With his serve booming like a Rich Gossage fastball, John McEnroe made quick work of Jimmy Connors in the Wimbledon tennis final today, giving up only four games in 80 minutes to a man known for his battling spirit. McEnroe's 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory was the most one- sided men's final here since Don Budge, the last American to win two consecutive titles, allowed Bunny Austin just four games in 1938. It was four minutes shorter than Martina Navratilova's two-set triumph over Chris Evert Lloyd in the women's final on Saturday, and by far McEnroe's easiest in his march to the title, during which he lost only one set in seven rounds. ''That's the best I've ever played,'' said McEnroe, who made his first appearance in a Grand Slam event here in 1977 and has played in the last five Wimbledon finals, winning three. ''But I think I can - hope I can - play even better.''

''Extraordinary'' coordination among rescuers and hospital workers carrying out a local plan for coping with disasters was credited today by a Federal official with saving lives when an Amtrak passenger train derailed Saturday morning. Rescue efforts after the derailment, which killed five people and injured 153, were compounded by difficulties in getting an estimated 300 workers and equipment to the remote, hilly area where the train crashed in a ravine. Helicopters were also used by rescue teams. ''The coordination of this rescue was an extraordinary effort,'' said Patricia A. Goldman, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, who arrived on the scene from Washington Saturday afternoon. ''The dynamics of every disaster differ, but I can say this: Their work and their cooperation with one another saved lives out there. I would even say it was amazing.''

Besieged by sharply higher caseloads, a shortage of judges and, in some areas, crowded quarters, the Federal District Courts in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are struggling to keep up with their calendars, court officials say. The crowded dockets sometimes mean that judges are forced to move along difficult and important cases rather than take the time they would like, according to court officials. Between 1978 and last year, the increase in new cases in the six districts involved ranged from 44 to 140 percent. New legal actions are continuing to be filed at these same high levels, statistics provided by the officials show. Civil Litigation Rises But, the officials said in interviews, judicial appointments have not kept pace with the sharply increased caseloads, which they say have resulted largely from a steep rise in civil litigation rather than criminal prosecutions.