ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060057
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SUICIDE BOMBS in Jerusalem have left mangled bodies and provoked widespread grief, shock and outrage. They also have put the Middle East peace process at serious risk.
The test now isn't merely how successful Israel will be in prosecuting its "war" against Hamas, the radical Palestinian fundamentalists behind the bombings. Two more telling tests are: (1) how helpful Yasser Arafat will prove as a partner in going after Hamas, and (2) how persevering Israelis will prove in the pursuit of peace.
Arafat's challenge is difficult. To be sure, Hamas is an extremist group that does not reflect the vast majority of Palestinians' opinions. In Gaza the other day, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated for peace. Yet suicide terrorism is the hardest to stop. And Hamas not only represents a small group of zealots who continue to believe that the existence of Israel itself is intolerable, and must be resisted violently. It also has nurtured some grass-roots support with a network of social services and religious observance, and with an image of incorruptibility in contrast to the high living of some of Arafat's associates.
Hamas itself is said to be divided between political and militant wings. Palestinian police have been arresting and imprisoning leaders of violence. But if he is to keep alive his dream of a negotiated Palestinian state, Arafat must act more boldly - and in concert with Israel - to outlaw terrorism and stop its practitioners.
Israeli perseverance for peace will be difficult, too. Though the bombings were reportedly a reprisal for the assassination of Hamas leaders, presumably by Israeli agents, Israelis' suffering is nonetheless deeply unfair. Keep in mind: The attacks have come not because the peace process is failing, but because it is working. Israelis have bravely sown the seeds of accommodation, yet now are reaping savagery.
The war against Hamas ought to be waged with the restraints befitting a democracy, lest it hand a victory to the terrorists who call Israel a tyranny. The challenge facing Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres is made more difficult because outrage over the the bombings is shifting public opinion in favor of the Likud opposition, which has criticized the peace process and which now stands to gain, however irresponsibly, from Israelis' heightened sense of insecurity.
Even so the premise of peace remains valid - that it offers far greater prospect of security for both Israelis and Palestinians than does interminable war. No one said the search for peace in the Middle East would be easy. This is a time for active support by the United States. It's also a time for Jews and Arabs - even as they grieve for the victims and search for the culprits - to determine grimly, together, not to let the fanatics and the terrorists have their way.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB