BACKGROUND

The Details Of Peace

HELEN DAVIS

Foreign Correspondent

A

'

superficial reading of
Jerusalem's cat-and-
mouse maneuvering
over face-to-face talks with
its Arab adversaries in
Washington might appear to
be a classic piece of nit-
picking by an Israeli
government not fully corn-
mitted to peace.
However, that interpreta-
tion of events ignores the
profound sense of unease
that currently permeates
Israel's senior political eche-
lon, which is striving to keep
its balance as it feels the
ground moving beneath its
feet.
An alliance of more than
20 years is being
systematically eroded and
drained of warmth as the
United States woos such
former foes as Syria and the
Palestinians at Israel's ex-
pense.
This development might
be dictated by realpolitik,
but it is a traumatic and un-
nerving experience for
Israeli leaders who, rightly
or wrongly, have allowed
themselves to become over-'
dependent on their super-
power ally.
While officials in
Jerusalem insist their deci-
sion to delay the dispatch of
Israel's negotiating teams
was not a rejection of the
State Department's invita-
tion, the explanation offered
by spokesman Binyamin
Netanyahu, that extra time
was needed to assemble
three negotiating teams,
sounded limp.
It appears more likely that
the decision, following
Israeli claims that Prime-
Minister Yitzhak Shamir
had been shabbily treated at
the White House the
previous week, was a
deliberate show of Israeli in-
dependence in the face of
U.S. arm-twisting
Israel's act of defiance was,
moreover, perceived as a
_demonstration of its
diminishing trust in Wash-
ington and as a means of
serving notice that the Jew-
ish state will not accept dic-
tation from the U.S.

whenever there is a deadlock
in the peace process.
"We've drawn a line in the
sand," said a senior Israeli
source, borrowing a phrase
used by President Bush dur-
ing the Gulf crisis. "We hope
all the parties realize that
Israel will not meekly accept
U.S. adjudication every time
things get stuck."
For Israel, an important
element in successful Middle
East peace-making is trust;
trust that the Arab world is
prepared to recognize her
right to exist and trust that
the U.S. is acting as an hon-
est broker. Both of these
pillars have been seriously
eroded.
Israel's latest confronta-
tion with the Bush ad-
ministration provides fresh
evidence that relations bet-
ween the old, close friends
are approaching the diplo-
matic equivalent of per-
mafrost.
Mr. Shamir's traumatic
White House encounter —
the State Department's in-
vitation to the talks was
issued prior to Mr. Shamir's
having a chance to ask for a
delay — evoked some of the
most vituperative attacks on
any U.S. administration by
senior Israeli cabinet min-
isters, including those con-
sidered to be particularly
close to the prime minister.
If the response of Israeli
leaders to the State Depart-
ment invitation was intend-
ed to be a poke in the eye,
however, they are likely to
find that their calculations
were seriously flawed and

An alliance of more
than 20 years is
eroding as the
United States woos
Syria and the
Palestinians at
Israel's expense.

they can expect to pay a high
price for their trouble.
By staying away from
Wednesday's planned open-
ing session; Israel will lose
points among its allies in
Congress. But had Israel ar-
rived on time after all, it
would have exposed an acute

vulnerability to its negotia-
ting partners.
The apparent willingness
of the Arab parties to hold
talks in Washington and
highlight Israel's apparent
nit-picking has altered the
diplomatic balance and
gkeatly increased Israel's
sense of isolation.
Israeli officials, mean-
while, have laid down a
heavy smokescreen of
preconditions for the Wash-
ington talks, despite a warn-
ing by State Department
spokesperson Margaret
Tutwiler that the U.S. would
not entertain preconditions
attached to the acceptance of
invitations.
The Israelis insisted they
must receive clarifications
on a broad range of issues,
including the modalities of
the talks, the agenda and
the date when negotiations
will switch to an agreed
venue in or near the Middle
East.
In addition they demanded
that:
• There must be a consen-
sus among all parties that
the bilateral talks are aimed
at achieving formal, contrac-
tual peace treaties rather
than the understandings
and non-belligerency pacts
spoken of by Syria.
• The talks in Washington
must involve only one or two
sessions which focus on pro-
cedural issues and must
serve as a prelude to
substantive negotiations in
the region itself.
• The three sets of talks —
with Syria, Lebanon and a
joint Jordanian-Palestinian
delegation — must be
separated by a period of four
or five days to avoid bring-
ing all the Arab delegations
together at the same time,
which Israel believes would
encourage the parties to
adopt "extreme positions."
"For sure Israel wants to
go to the bilateral discus-
sions — that is very clear,"
said Israeli government
spokesman Yossi Olmert.
"But right now there are
outstanding problems that
require further discussion."
Israel and its Arab
neighbors failed to agree on
a time and place to continue

I 1TERNATIONA

Israel's quibbling over the next step in the Middle
East peace process stems from outrage over U.S.
actions — and mistrust of White House motives.

their negotiations when they
ended their first face-to-face
talks in Madrid last month.
The Arabs wanted the
talks to continue in Madrid,
but Israel insisted they must
be held in the Middle East,
confidently announcing that
mechanisms had been set in
place for continued contacts
over the issue.
Those contacts proved un-
productive and Washing-
ton's decision to seize the in-
itiative was clearly intended
to break the stalemate and
avoid losing the momentum
of Madrid.
Ehud Gol, a spokesman for
Mr. Shamir, said Israel was
insisting on substantive
negotiations in the Middle
East because "we have
grounds to believe the Arabs
are interested not in conduc-
ting direct negotiations, but
rather in talking to the U.S.
and, through them, to try
and exert pressure on
Israel."
Unstated by Mr. Gol was

the great symbolic impor-
tance Israel attaches to
negotiations within the
Middle East.
Officials in Jerusalem
believe the appearance of
Israeli and Arab represent-
atives meeting publicly in
the region will break old
taboos and have an impor-
tant psychological effect on
establishing Israel's
legitimacy in the Middle •
East.
The Arab delegates, par-
ticularly Syria, are resisting
talks at a regional venue
and have called instead for
negotiations to be held in a
neutral European.capital.
Wherever Israel and its
neighbors eventually find
their geographical point of
departure, both sides will
have to shake off their heavy
ideological armor-plating as
they start the long journey
down the road to serious
negotiations that ends in
conciliation and com-
promise. ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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