TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/071789/07178900.016

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 6KB | 104 lines

WORLD, Page 66

ISRAEL

Power, Not Peace

Bowing to the hard line, Shamir saves his job but not his

diplomacy

By Jill Smolowe


    Extremism was in the ascendancy again last week in the Middle
East. Capitulating to the hard-line right of his Likud bloc,
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir fettered his own plan for
elections in the occupied territories with stiff conditions that
seem to doom the peace initiative. Almost before the players could
grasp the political implications, a fanatic Palestinian wrenched
an Israeli bus over a cliff, killing 14 passengers in what was
described as an act of vengeance. Those civilian deaths will only
harden hearts against thoughts of peace. Once again the small steps
being taken toward peace were shoved rudely backward.

    Shamir's initiative was never more than a tentative move toward
starting a dialogue between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It
offered Arabs in the occupied territories the chance to elect
representatives to negotiate with Israel a transitional period of
self-rule -- a possible beginning if Palestinians were willing to
take it. But under the terms of the initiative, the Palestinian
representatives could have no overt connection with the Palestine
Liberation Organization. Not surprisingly, no Palestinians rushed
to embrace the scheme. Still, coaxed by the U.S., the P.L.O. was
giving the plan serious consideration.

    Last week those hopes lay in rubble. Rather than risk losing
power, Shamir chose to scuttle his peace diplomacy. He sidestepped
a challenge to his leadership by embracing four conditions laid
down by hard-line Industry and Trade Minister Ariel Sharon and his
allies and plainly designed to be unacceptable to the Palestinians.
Most indigestible was a restriction barring the 140,000 Arab
residents of East Jerusalem from participating in the proposed
elections. Shamir also agreed that Israel would not return any of
the occupied territories to "foreign sovereignty," that the
construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza would
continue and that the proposed elections could not take place until
the 19-month-old intifadeh ended. Ironically, Shamir has espoused
these same positions many times. But he had hoped to keep them in
the background while he maneuvered to keep on top of the pressures
for peace.

    Shamir's move jeopardized his fragile coalition with the rival
Labor Party and threatened to strain relations with a Bush
Administration eager to get peace talks under way. Charging that
Likud had "put heavy handcuffs on the peace process," Finance
Minister Shimon Peres fumed, "Shamir can agree to Sharon's
dictates, but the Labor Party will not." Party politicians pressed
their leaders to bolt the coalition and force new elections. But
Labor's popular appeal is dwindling, so the party leadership is
expected to give the wounded peace plan one more chance.

    Bush Administration officials felt betrayed by Shamir's action.
"These are the kinds of (conditions) that fall under the heading
of deal breakers," said a senior staff member. But U.S. officials
feared that any outspoken criticism of Israel would only boomerang
and said they intended to continue working with the plan.

    That won't be easy. Arab officials all but pronounced the plan
dead in its tracks. In Tunis, P.L.O spokesman Ahmed Abdul-Rahman
said Shamir's conditions represent a "complete rejection of
American and Palestinian efforts to bring about peace." P.L.O.
Chairman Yasser Arafat did not comment publicly, but he was known
to be concerned that Shamir's intransigence might trigger a fresh
wave of violence in the occupied territories and cede the upper
hand to radical elements within the P.L.O. who oppose Arafat's
attempts to promote more moderate policies.

    The one clear victor last week was Sharon. By forcing Shamir
to adopt the killer amendments, Sharon committed Likud to a
position that leaves virtually no room for negotiation, just as he
intended. He had denounced Shamir's proposal as "the most dangerous
plan ever suggested by a government," warning that it would lead
to the formation of a Palestinian state. Sharon's assault on the
peace plan also served to boost his own leadership ambitions.

    Shamir tried unconvincingly to put a positive gloss on events.
"These matters contain nothing new," he said of the amendments. "We
did not alter one iota of the peace initiative." Yet Shamir's
labored efforts at spin control could neither disguise the fact
that he had sacrificed his fledgling peace plan to his own
political survival nor hide the painful truth that as long as that
is his primary aim, Shamir will be vulnerable to right-wing
pressure.

    But shattered diplomacy and a growing domestic political crisis
were swiftly overshadowed by the violence endemic to the divided
Holy Land. Only 18 hours after Shamir's announcement, an Arab
fundamentalist from Gaza whose family had been wounded by Israeli
soldiers grabbed the wheel of an Israeli bus as it traveled along
the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. Shouting "Allah Akbar!" ("God is
great!"), he sent the bus hurtling down a 495-ft. ravine. The fiery
plunge killed 14 people and wounded an additional 27. It was the
worst single attack against Israelis since the start of the
uprising. "This is a shocking disaster," Shamir said, "the fruit
of a disgusting mind full of hatred."

    As outrage mounted, Israelis seemed all but to forget their
political woes. The violent act sent a chilling reminder to all
that the road to peace is mined with dangers -- and for the moment
provided Shamir with a temporary respite from the fallout of his
political pusillanimity.


-- Robert Slater/Jerusalem