Living With Wye
The
Bombs
That
Fail
Israel and the
Palestinians,
despite
heightened
violence, are
locked into a
peace process
with its own
momentum.
LARRY DERFNER
Israel Correspondent
Jerusalem
is remarkable — Palestinian ter-
rorists launch three bomb
attacks in as many weeks, yet
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, elected on a platform of
"peace with security," goes ahead with
his plans to relinquish 13 percent of
the West Bank to the Palestinians.
No one can argue that the pressure
to not go ahead with the transfer —
and to fight back hard — isn't there.
First there was the grenade thrown at
Beersheva's central bus station, then
the attempt to blow up a busload of
35 schoolchildren in Gaza, and finally
last Friday's bombing in Jerusalem's
Mahane Yehuda open market, in
which 21 Israelis were injured, fortu-
nately none seriously. In the last two
episodes, dozens could have been
killed had Israeli soldiers and others
not sensed pending danger.
After this last attack, Netanyahu
I
talked tough, suspending Cabinet dis-
cussions of the Wye Memorandum.
Yet, he made it clear the debate would
be resumed shortly, the accord would
surely be ratified, and the peace process
— including Israel's withdrawal from
West Bank territory — would go on.
Netanyahu made his career on
fighting the scourge of Palestinian ter-
ror and as a champion of the biblical
heartland of Judea and Samaria. He
has penned a book on defeating ter-
rorism and started the Jonathan
Institute, an operation to study terror-
ism named in memory of his brother
who was slain at the Entebbe raid.
What has changed? Why is it that
the peace process is going forward
despite the current bombing spree?
One reason is that Netanyahu and
the Likud aren't there to lead demon-
strations against the government in
charge. The streets of Israel might be
different were Labor party immediate
past prime minister and Oslo Peace
Accords architect Shimon Peres, or
any other Labor leader, trying to sell
house arrest in Gaza, or that the
the Wye accord right now.
Palestinian Authority has arrested
Secondly, the bombings have failed
hundreds of Hamasniks and numer-
to be as deadly as in the past.
ous Islamic Jihad activists.
While it is still a tragedy, only one
When Iran's spiritual leader, Ali
Israeli has been killed. With less luck,
Khameini, calls Arafat a "traitor" to
the death toll could have been in the
the angry chants of Iranian crowds,
scores. Had this been the case, it is
and Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan
difficult to see how the peace process
Nasrallah threatens to assassinate
could have proceeded.
Arafat, this can't help but raise his
There are other important reasons.
stock with Israelis. At
The Israeli people (about
least in appearance, this
three-quarters of them, accord- Staying the course:
Israeli p olice evacu- time it seems as if the
ing to a number of public
ate an e lderly
Palestinian leader really is
opinion polls) want the Wye
woman from the
cracking down on terror-
Memorandum to be carried
scene o f a car bomb ists claiming responsibili-
out, and the Oslo peace
that exp loded in
ty for these attacks.
process to continue, albeit all
ferusale m's Mahane
Arafat also made a
with safety from terrorism.
Yehuda market.
point
to profess his good
Netanyahu cannot defy such
intentions to the Israeli
overwhelming popular will.
public, initiating an interview with
And unlike after previous bomb-
Israel Television after the Mahane
ings, the blame for these last ones is
Yehuda attack, in which he promised to
not falling so heavily on Palestinian
"pursue and imprison" the terrorists
Authority President Yassir Arafat's
and noting that he called Netanyahu to
head. It has not been missed that
"express my pain" over the bombing.
Arafat placed Hamas' powerful spiritu-
al leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, under
BOMBS THAT FAIL on page 43
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