On the eve of U.S. envoy Dennis Ross’ return to the Middle East on an urgent mission to lay the foundation for restarting peace talks, Israel on Friday eased travel restrictions in some Palestinian areas.
While a slight gesture that indicates a willingness to bend, the Israeli action leaves in place harsh economic sanctions and travel restrictions throughout the remainder of the Palestinian-controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The sanctions and restrictions are only two of several daunting issues on which Ross must make headway when he arrives Saturday. His primary mission will be to get the Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement on security concerns–a difficult proposition.
If he succeeds, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would visit the region later this month to tackle even more complex and intransigent political issues separating the two sides.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, likening the Palestinian Authority to the rogue nation Libya, justifies his nation’s hammerlock on the Palestinians.
Yasser Arafat, furious over the closure that has bottled up 2.5 million Palestinians for more than a week, has told his followers to prepare for a great struggle.
In addition to their fiery words, both sides share something else: Each considers the other a despicable partner plotting to undermine their 4-year-old handshake for peace.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have welcomed the renewed determination of the U.S. to step into the fray, both saying they are encouraged by Albright’s remarks earlier this week.
In a carefully worded speech in Washington, Albright called for an unequivocal effort against terror by the Palestinians, and chided Israel for taking “unilateral action.”
Some analysts, however, suggest the Americans may be arriving too late.
“The U.S. has been maneuvered into a situation in which it can only make the situation much better or disastrously worse,” wrote former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban in the Jerusalem Post on Friday.
In a separate matter, State Department spokesman James Rubin condemned renewed cross border attacks between Israel and guerrillas in Lebanon and urged all sides to exercise “maximum restraint” in ending the violence. On Friday, guerrillas fired rockets upon northern Israel and Israeli warplanes struck back in Lebanon.
With the tense border situation compounding the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians, Rubin expressed concern that the attacks could lead to an escalation of violence in the region.
The Palestinians are in a tough situation. In this weekend’s talks with Ross, the pressure will be on them to bend first. Their dilemma is that they have little to bargain with: the Israelis hold the cards.
The Israelis, with the support of the U.S., want the Palestinians to crack down on terrorists and their supporters within the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli and U.S. officials said the Palestinians have ignored their requests and have permitted known terrorists to roam about.
“We would make an immediate response to any steps they (the Palestinians) make,” said David Bar-Illan, a spokesman for Netanyahu. “If they cannot act all at once, we’ll remove part of the sanctions.”
On Friday the Israelis eased their closure slightly, allowing Arabs to travel more freely in some areas they control.
The Israelis hold the Palestinians accountable for the July 30 bombings at Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market, which took 15 lives, including the two bombers’. The identities of the bombers and their supporters remain a mystery.
The Israelis argue that even if the attackers came from another country, they had to have local support.
The Palestinians maintain the attackers most likely came from an Arab country. They argue that it is wrong, therefore, to punish all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The two sides were already at odds when last week’s bombings occurred. The incident gave the Israelis the excuse and rationale for imposing one of the toughest closures in years.
Within days, the closure has brought the feeble Palestinian economy to a virtual standstill. About 60,000 Arabs who work in Israel are jobless. As a result of Israel’s economic sanctions, the Palestinian Authority cannot pay its 80,000 workers.
That’s because Israel also halted the transfer of taxes and other money to the Palestinians as part of its pressure strategy. This money makes up the bulk of the Palestinian Authority’s budget.
If the Israelis lift the closure, the Palestinians said they might restore their cooperation with Israeli security forces. When the Israelis began work in March on a new Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, the Palestinians canceled their cooperation on security issues.
The move seems to have backfired for Arafat; the Israelis and Americans point to the lack of security cooperation as a failure to keep the peace process alive.
Cracking down on militant Islamic groups and others linked to terror is not so easy for Arafat.
More than a year ago, the Palestinians quickly rounded up more than 1,000 members of Hamas, the militant Islamic group, after a bombing in Israel. This time only a few dozen Islamic militants have been picked up by Palestinian officials.
The reason is that Hamas has grown more popular among the Arab masses. To suppress Hamas would stir up complaints from its supporters in addition to cries from others who protest Arafat’s heavy-handed rule, according to Palestinian officials.
The Israelis, who deeply fear Hamas because of its rejection of the peace process and its commitment to armed struggle, insist that they would be satisfied if only the military arm of Hamas were put out of commission.
Bringing the two sides together is more difficult now because of the widening distrust and the public roles staked out by both leaders and their key advisers.
Palestinian leaders have accused the Israelis of plotting to undermine Arafat, destabilize the Palestinian Authority and erase a number of the steps reached in the Oslo peace accords.
Arafat has publicly vowed not to bow to the Israelis.
So, too, Netanyahu has been more outspoken in attacking the Palestinian leadership.
Netanyahu apparently feels the public supports his tough position while also supporting continued peace efforts.
To be sure, 70 percent of Israelis said they support the closure against the Palestinians, according an opinion poll by the Dahaf Institute that was released Friday.
“The situation has gotten to such a low point that it will not be possible in one quick step to go back to where it was before,” remarked a Western diplomat.
Indeed, some Israeli security officials glumly talk of the peace process collapsing, followed by a long period of low-grade violence from the Palestinians.
The right-wing prime minister’s political opponents already have cynically declared the peace process dead.
The only glimmer of hope, added the aforementioned foreign diplomat, is that the Clinton administration seems willing to be more involved.
