process — and supporters of the
Rabin government have not been
particularly energetic about mak-
ing it.
The right's mastery of the lan-
guage of security has added sig-
nificantly to the controversy over
the Mideast peace process in this
country. But the negotiations and
the debate over their direction
are more than simply contests of
competing words and slogans.
In fact, both sides in the debate
have an obligation to go beyond
the rhetoric they use to galvanize
support for their positions.
Hard-line leaders score im-
portant points when they focus
attention on Yasslr Arafat's two-
faced approach to the negotia-
tions, and on the myriad security
implications of any return of ter-
ritory on the Golan Heights. But
they do not offer their own vision
for a safe and secure Israel.
Do they regard security as a
return to the ar flied stand-off and
the periodic eruptions of violence
that characterized
Israel's first 50 years? Does it
involve endless cycles of rebellion
put down by a powerful and un-
compromising Israel, but at grow-
ing economic, social and political
cost? Or do they envision that a
tougher line in the negotiations
will produce a change of heart in
the Arab world that will produce
a better kind of peace?
As long as they do not directly
address these questions, they cre-
ate the suspicion that their focus
on security is a partisan strata-
gem, not part of a carefully
thought out vision for Israel's fu-
ture in an increasingly danger-
ous world.
The Rabin government's sup-
porters clearly need to find new
and more detailed ways to
frame their contention that the
peace process, for all its risks, rep-
resents the best hope for their na-
tion's long-term security.
There are signs that officials
in Jerusalem are aware of that
need. Next month, the govern-
ment will send a delegation of re-
tired generals to Jewish
communities in this country to
make that case, a belated recog-
nition of the enormous power of
the security argument for Amer-
ican Jews.
But they, too, will have to go
beyond mere rhetoric and explain
exactly how the risks inherent in
returning vital territory to Yas-
sir Arafat, and someday even to
Syrian strongman Hafez Assad,
might be offset by benefits to a
nation that longs for both peace
and security.
Control of the language is an
important political tool. But if
leaders in Jerusalem hope to re-
tain American Jewish support for
their policies, they will have to go
beyond mere rhetoric and engage
in an open, clearheaded dialogue
over the complex security choic-
es their nation faces in this hope-
ful, precarious new era. ❑

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