BACKGROUND
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
A
mid talk of a crisis in
relations between
Washington and
Jerusalem, a senior Israeli
political analyst this week
expressed alarm about
Washington's apparent rush
to secure a settlement of the
Arab-Israeli conflict and the
Palestinian question.
Professor Asher Susser,
who heads the prestigious
Dayan Center for Middle
East Studies at Tel Aviv
University, warned that a
premature peace conference
was almost certain to end in
failure.
He told me that conditions
are indeed conducive to
peace-making in the wake of
the Gulf war, but he
counseled patience and
warned that Secretary of
State James Baker was rac-
ing ahead of the natural dy-
namic of events in the re-
gion.
"The Americans are talk-
ing about getting something
off the ground within a few
weeks," said Mr. Susser,
who is known to favor an
Israeli withdrawal from the
occupied territories. "I think
they are moving much too
fast.
"If they rush it, we may be
courting failure. That is my
fear. If I were the Ameri-
cans, I would take more time
over the process."
Israeli sources offer two
reasons to explain the
urgency with which Mr.
Baker is now pursuing his
objectives.
They believe there is a
need to show his Arab coali-
tion partners that he is seri-
ous about resolving the
Arab-Israeli dispute, but the
Israelis also suspect that Mr.
Baker is being driven by
domestic U.S. political
imperatives.
Several sources suggested
that he is motivated by an
urgent need to ameliorate
what one described as "the
unpleasant aftertaste" of the
James Baker meets with Faisal el-Husseini in Jerusalem.
Did Israel Poke
America In The Eye?
Secretary of State James Baker's Mideast peace
mission seemed to favor Israel. Then
Ariel Sharon installed a settlement in
the West Bank.
Gulf war, a reference to the
Kurdish refugee crisis.
"They may be trying to
salvage something from the
war in the Gulf and demon-
strate that something of the
new world order is emer-
ging," said one source, "but
we may also reap the whirl-
wind if it fails."
Mr. Susser agreed with
Secretary Baker's assess-
ment that the Gulf crisis had
opened a "window of oppor-
tunity" for negotiating a
peace settlement, but only if
the United States exercised
prudence and patience.
Nor, indeed, do the Israelis
want to be the first to blink
and assume the mantle of
"spoilers," but the latest
visit by Mr. Baker produced
the political equivalent of a
cold shower on Israel's
leaders and may force their
hand.
Just one week earlier, For-
eign Minister David Levy
had confidently proclaimed
that "full agreement and
understanding" had been
achieved between Israel and
the United States over pro-
cedural obstacles to a peace
conference.
"We told the Americans
our position," he said in an-
interview on Israel Televi-
sion, "and there will be no
problem." At the time, Mr.
Baker had attempted to
reduce the level of expec-
The appearance of
that small cluster
of prefabricated
dwellings on the
West Bank . . . was
an act of
breath-taking,
perhaps foolhardy,
defiance by Israel.
'
tation and warned that no
breakthrough had been
achieved, but the cautionary
note was smothered by
Israeli Ambassador to Wash-
ington Zalman Shoval, who
had returned to Israel for the
visit and confirmed the eu-
phoria that filled Jerusalem.
A "very large measure of
understanding" had been
reached, he announced con-
fidently. "Nothing can
hinder the progress of the
peace process, unless there
are problems on the Arab
side."
By the time Mr. Baker
returned to Jerusalem last
week, however, the Israelis
realized they had made a
disastrous miscalculation.
The warmth and cordiality
of the last encounter had
evaporated and Mr. Baker,
now grim-faced, was playing
a quite different tune.
Gone was talk of a strictly
ceremonial conference in the
region, presided over by the
United States, which would
simply confer legitimacy on
any agree _ ments that emerg-
ed from direct, bilateral
talks between Israel, its
Arab neighbors and the Pa-
lestinians.
Gone, too, was any sugges-
tion that Washington would
support Israel's insistence
that PLO officials should be
excluded from negotiations,
along with Palestinians who
live in east Jerusalem,
which was formally annexed
to Israel after the Six Day
War.
During six hours of tough
talking with Israeli leaders
last week, Mr. Baker made
no attempt to hide his anger
that the Israelis had leaked
most of the details of their
previous meeting, showing
the United States uncomfor-
tably close to the Israeli
positions.
Moreover, he appeared to
renege on virtually all of the
other agreements that the
Israelis believed had been
achieved at their previous
meeting. Now, he reportedly
told his Israeli hosts, he was
inclined to view the con-
ference as playing a more
substantive role in peace
talks.
In addition, the Euro-
peans, regarded by the Pa-
lestinians as "more bal-
anced," should be involved
and Faisal Husseini, a Pa-
lestinian leader from east
Jerusalem, should par-
ticipate.
Having left Israel, Mr.
Baker underscored his impa-
tience, if not outright con-
tempt, -for Israel's preoc-
cupation with the modalities
of negotiations.
What was important was
not the form and
of the negotia-
tions, but the negotiations
themselves, he said in Cairo
after meeting Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak,
whom he described as Wash-
ington's partner in seeking
to convene a peace con-
ference. There would never
be peace in the region as
long as the parties were not
prepared to sit down and
discuss their problems.
According to some Israeli
officials, Mr. Baker's ap-
parent earlier commitment
to the Israeli position had
been eroded in the course of
meetings with Palestinian
representatives and with
Arab leaders in Egypt and
Syria.
During these talks, they
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
33