IN SPAIN ON Saturday, Shaman Peers and Gasser Aright asked each other why the cease-fire did not take hold after Sept. 26 and what the two sides could do to put it back on track. This was the first direct encounter between the Israeli foreign minister and the Palestine president since Sept. 26 when they discussed terms for implementing a cease-fire. The answers should be simple enough.
Ariel Sharon has given no sign that a renewal of the long-stalled peace process is likely soon. The actions of the last few weeks represent his game plan: Take over seven Palestinian towns, give back a couple under international pressure and tighten Israel’s grip on the rest and other areas in the occupied territories.
After a 10-day invasion, the Israeli Army left Bethlehem not nearly the way the city was when it entered. During its stay, 23 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded. The town’s two hospitals were hit by tank shells, as had its one university. Seventeen Palestinian stores had been razed to the ground. In all, Israel fired 52 tank shells, hundreds of tank grenade missiles and thousands of machine gun bullets at a lightly armed civilian population in one of the world’s most holiest of scities. The local Chamber of Commerce puts losses from the damage at around $17.5 million.
What did Israel gain from the invasion of the West Bank village of Bet Rim, allegedly in pursuit of the four-man PULP cell responsible for the death of Tourism Minister Rahavam Zeevi? Five, perhaps more, Palestinian dead, three more Palestinian homes destroyed, dozens wounded and 10 more Palestinians arrested, none apparently having anything to do with Zeevi’s killing. What did it leave? Four thousand people terrorized, a military occupation more despised and a nation outraged. As to how to get the parties back on track, Arafat is certainly doing his utmost. A few days ago, he assured various diplomats that Palestinian police had arrested over 70 Palestinians, mostly members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed responsibility for the Zeevi’s death last month. Following that attack at least four Islamic Jihad men were picked up in Gaza, including its political leader.
Arafat emerged from Saturday’s meeting saying he hoped it would lead the way back to substantive peace negotiations, adding he was personally ready to begin such talks immediately with the Israelis, anytime, anywhere. On the other hand, it would need an extraordinary effort to get Sharon to be Arafat’s partner in a peace process, and not to look at him as a foe, as a representative of terrorism who must be eliminated. Sharon does not really believe that he has to return any land now under Israeli occupation. He opposes the principle of the exchange of land for peace as determined in Security Council Resolution 242. He does not agree that land has to be relinquished if peace is to be reached.
No cease-fire can be sustained unless Israel lifts the sieges on the occupied territories, ends its assassination policy and returns to some kind of political process. But since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, an anniversary which was marked on Saturday, not a single Israeli party figure has emerged with the statesmanship and leadership skills necessary to steer the country toward signing peace agreements and following through on them. Since 1996 Israelis have gone to the polls not to elect a candidate they believe in but to topple an incumbent prime minister.
Thus, Netanyahu was voted in to oust Peres, Barak to oust Netanyahu and Sharon to oust Barak.
Israel’s lack of any leadership, Sharon included, capable of pursuing a constructive peace is a manifestation of a society that, 10 years after the Madrid peace conference and eight years after Oslo, is indicative of a deeper malaise. The Jewish state still can’t make the painful adjustments needed for the peaceful coexistence of all peoples in the region.
