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12

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1991

Israelis, Palestinians

Continued from preceding page

elements of a classic melo-
drama: envy, betrayal, sulk-
ing, gloating, and the in-
evitable threat to get even.
(There are no soap operas on
Israeli television; politics fill
that slot, and Israelis get
their daily dose on the
prime-time news.)
Mr. Levy had been the
most enthusiastic member of
the cabinet in advocating for
the peace conference, and his
supporters say he was being
punished, and upstaged, by
the prime minister.
The details of the spat,
which filled the airwaves
and papers for days, were
essentially unimportant.
What truly mattered, it
seemed, was the excuse to
flee from the real issues at
hand. In fact, such squabbl-
ing on the eve of
heavyweight events is
typical of Israel's political
culture. If the rift in the
government's top echelon
hadn't occurred when it did,
someone would have had to
invent it.
Meanwhile, on the other
side of town, and of the bar-
ricades, the Palestinians
seemed equally slow in
grasping the implications of
events from their own
perspective. A poll taken
before Secretary Baker had
extended the invitation to
Madrid showed that 80 per-
cent of the Palestinians in
the occupied territories were
hoping for "positive results"
from the talks. Yet
throughout the last days
leading up to the conference,
the mood among them was
consistently low.
There was feuding in the
ranks of the Palestinian
camp, too. While Feisal al-
Husseini worked to build a
delegation that would meet
the demands of both Tunis
and Jerusalem (meaning
Arafat and Shamir), the
local opposition — made up
of Hamas (the Islamic
Resistance Movement) the
Popular Front, and Naif
Hawatmeh's faction of the
Democratic Front — called a
general strike to protest the
Palestinian participation in
the conference.
The results were dismay-
ing, for the nay-sayers
managed to close down the
territories completely. On
top of that, their most
outspoken representative,
Dr. Riad Malki of the Pop-
ular Front, promised to
make the lives of Mr. Hus-
seini, his advisers, and the
14 members of the Palestin-
ian delegation "a living
hell." That put a fright even
into circles in Tunis, which
interpreted the threat as a
call to violence against the

proposed negotiators. What
followed, however, were
some tame demonstrations
in front of Mr. Husseini's
house that were greeted
almost with relief.
Nevertheless, the strike
and protests were hardly a
rousing send-off for the first
Palestinians ever to face
Israel as equals across a ne-
gotiating table.
Long schooled in the all-or-
nothing approach, the
average Palestinian found it
hard not to focus on the
empty half of the glass, and
even Mr. Arafat's euphoric
appearances on television
did little to raise morale.
So it was that in an odd
symmetry which often
characterizes the two
peoples that begrudgingly
share this land, the expecta-
tions of the conference
became increasingly bleak.
"One huge photo oppor-
tunity" is how a leading po-
litical commentator de-

A strike and
protests were
hardly a rousing
send-off for the
first Palestinians
ever to face Israel .
as equals across a
negotiating table.

scribed the import of the
three-day opening. And
reporting on the prepara-
tions by the advance teams
in Madrid, another observer
remarked sourly that it
looked as though Jerusalem
was gearing up more for a
war (albeit of the propagan-
da variety) than for negotia-
tions on peace.
Admittedly, it could no
longer be said that the
public in Israel was steeped
in apathy. Tens of thousands
of Israelis took to the streets
in two demonstrations — by
the Left and by the Right —
to express their opposing
views of a settlement based
on compromise.
But these were brief side
shows, preludes to the main
event in Spain, where Yit-
zhak Shamir will be pitted
less against the forces of Mr.
Assad, Mr. Hussein, and Mr.
Husseini than against
George Bush and James
Baker.
From here on in, all the
biblical cliches apply. A
Daniel in the lion's den, he
may redeem himself in
American eyes by finally
reading the handwriting on
the wall. But one thing
seems certain: a replay of
the David and Goliath tale
— this time on a political
battleground — is unlikely
in the extreme. 0