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FIGHTING OFF WAR from page 12

by the Orthodox Shas Party. Some
political pundits are warning, though,
that the holes in that net are growing
bigger every day.
Assisting Barak to stay afloat political-
ly is the plain and sobering fact that no
specific alternative policy has been artic-
ulated by the opposition, other than
Sharon's vague assertion that he could
do things better if he were in power.

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The bleak mood discernible around
Israel seems to stem from a sense that
neither Barak nor anyone else has a
foolproof solution to offer.
After the attacks Monday, the army
announced closures around all the
major Palestinian cities. But Tuesday,
Palestinian cars and pedestrians were
still moving between the cities.
"There is just no way of effecting a
hermetic sealing-off" admitted the IDF's
chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz.
The IDF pledged to strike back at the
individuals who perpetrated attacks.
Cabinet member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
said they appeared to be Islamic Jihad
activists. But Ben-Eliezer added that the
attacks were unlikely to have been car-
ried out without the assent of the
Palestinian leadership, seeming to impli-
cate Arafat and his ministers.
In that, he spoke for a hard-line
ministerial minority that tends to the
view that any thought of returning to
the peace process is fanciful at best,
reckless at worst.
Ben-Eliezer, a longtime personal friend
of Sharon, has been at the vanguard of
efforts to forge a unity coalition between
Labor and Likud. He still believes this is
both possible and desirable.
Most ministers, Peres, Yossi Beilin and
Haim Ramon among them, still hold
out hope that a negotiated settlement
can be salvaged out of the present crisis.
Increasingly of late, this group's
muted criticism of the prime minister
for his handling of Arafat and of the
peace talks has made itself heard out-
side their intimate circle.
Barak's insistence that restraint is the
order of the day, and his reported readi-
ness to give Clinton a final chance to
pull the parties together, will improve
his standing with these Cabinet doves.
Whether, however, it will improve
the chances of his own and his govern-
ment's survival is another question. The
days ahead will doubtless see redoubled
efforts in the Knesset and in the court
of public opinion to defeat the premier
and bring about new elections. ❑

For the latest on the Mideast crisis,
please see www.thejewishnews.com

