ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010062
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
PRESIDENT Clinton did well to call Israeli and Palestinian leaders to a summit today in Washington. The meeting is desperately needed. However, to get the Middle East peace process back on track, much more will be needed than an emergency get-together and whatever temporary reassurances it produces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to recognize that he can't continue to fudge on, or avoid, the fundamental choice between (1) a right-wing fantasy of trying to go it alone as Fortress Israel, and (2) the fragile but realistic course that requires strategic accommodation between Israelis and Palestinians.
It was hardly reassuring, on the eve of the summit, that Netanyahu was trying to put all the blame for last week's violence on the Palestinians. In fact, the opening of an Israeli tunnel next to a major mosque was only the immediate impetus for the protests and bloodshed; the more basic cause has been Netanyahu's intransigence on the peace process begun by his assassinated predecessor, Yitzhak Rabin.
Netanyahu's tough-guy talk and calculated, incremental provocations appeal to his core constituency, among them Jewish settlers in the occupied territories and other ultranationalist and ultraorthodox Israelis. But his belligerence betrays the interests of Israel as a whole, in particular the chance for peace incorporated in the Oslo, Norway, accords signed by Israel and the Palestinians.
The prime minister has violated these accords by refusing to redeploy the Israeli military from the West Bank town of Hebron. He has aggressively increased construction of settlements on the West Bank. He has done severe damage to the Palestinian economy by keeping the borders sealed to Palestinian workers. He has insisted - the tunnel incident is merely the latest reminder - that his government will dictate, without consultation, what happens in Jerusalem.
Last week's violence was doubly alarming not just because of the high numbers of casualties, but also because it involved Palestinian police firing on Israeli soldiers and Israel's military entering towns that the Palestinians, under the peace accords, are supposed to rule and patrol.
Yasser Arafat, perhaps assuming he could create bargaining leverage, shares some of the blame for the violence. At the summit he needs to provide assurances that Palestinian police won't again fire on Israelis.
Arafat, though, has already embraced the peace process forged with Rabin. Netanyahu has yet to. It won't be enough, in a meeting demanded and arranged by Washington, to iterate his rhetorical commitment to negotiations. Netanyahu needs to start acting like a peacemaker.
He could do that by complying with the Oslo accords and redeploying from Hebron. He could open up the border with the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He could stop new construction of settlements on the West Bank. He could also start meeting more often with Arafat, to begin developing a personal relationship and to restore progress in the peace talks.
Netanyahu, in any event, has a choice to make. No one doubts that Israel can deploy superior force against Palestinian rioters. But that path promises only more conflict, bloodshed and insecurity. President Clinton needs to employ all his persuasive skills to impress on the prime minister, today and in the future, the wisdom of choosing peace.
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