After a week of unbridled fury, Saturday night’s high-level meeting between Palestinians and Israelis came not a moment too soon. Since the Aqaba summit 11 days ago, more than 50 Palestinians and Israelis have been killed and hundreds wounded — the vast majority of them civilians. The latest upsurge in violence was particularly dismaying coming so soon after the Aqaba summit that seemed to promise a new beginning.
Saturday’s three-hour meeting was described as positive. No decisions were made but after all the blood spilt, the very act of sitting together was an achievement. The Palestinian side came in with specific demands, primarily Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza as well as freedom of movement in Gaza for Palestinians, along with the removal of Israeli checkpoints, an end to the assassinations of Palestinians and an end to the demolition of Palestinian houses. The Palestinians also discussed certain confidence-building measures, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners and the ability to rebuild the Gaza airport. Also on the table was a plan for the Palestinians to take control of one or two towns in the West Bank. The message was clear: The most effective means of delivering Israeli security is by ending the occupation and giving Palestinians their freedom. The Israelis say they want to take a look at the Palestinians’ plan and would hold another meeting in the near future to discuss it. But the latest violence underscored the fact that negotiations are the last thing on Israel’s mind. Reverting to type, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered no apology for the attempt to assassinate s Abdul-Aziz Rantissi that led directly to last week’s Jerusalem bus bombing and to Israel’s ongoing reprisal raids in Gaza.
Hopes that Sharon, spurred on by President Bush, was finally switching from confrontation to reconciliation have been replaced by suspicions that Sharon is deliberately seeking to wreck the road map. There is another belief that the road map arrived on Sharon’s desk too soon and that, aware of the divisions it has caused within the Likud, he wants to stall its journey, the better to reshape the road according to his terms.
One more theory exists: A Sharon willing to fight Hamas “to the bitter end” may force Bush, who invested much presidential prestige in Aqaba, to back off and pass the buck to lower-ranking officials, who carry much less clout.
Pulling the Palestinians and Israelis back from 32 months of violent confrontation and putting them on the road to peace was to have been an extraordinary accomplishment, especially by a president who tried hard and long not to get involved. Having promised great things, Bush will have to “ride hard,” as he promised, to see the peace process through.
