Seeking A

REMEDY

Israelis confounded by Palestinians as intiMa
shows no sign of abating.

Ducking TheBUTALLTS

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

or months, the Israeli government, backed by
American Jewish groups across the political spec-
trum, have blamed Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority (PA) as violence against Israelis surged.
This week, the State Department officially
acknowledged those charges in its annual Patterns
of Global Terrorism report, but stopped short of
endorsing them.
Some Jewish groups blasted the report as another
official whitewash; others expressed surprise that it
seemed to contradict an earlier report and presiden-
tial statements that were much more explicit in their
charges about PA involvement._
The report noted Israeli accusations that the PA
has shirked its counterterrorism commitments and
that PA security officials and Fatah members actual-
ly took part in attacks against Israeli targets.
But U.S. officials did not evaluate those charges,
or add the PA or its affiliates to the list of terror-
sponsoring organizations.
Edmund Hull, the State Department's acting coun-
terterrorism coordinator, said the report means the
U.S. government acknowledges the Israeli charge "has
some credibility. It may be that we're not able to
address the question or resolve it, but we think it's
worthwhile to at least raise the issue."
That was seen as a warning to Arafat delivered
with padded gloves, not brass knuckles.
"It's characteristic of the State Department: it
can't make a simple, declarative statement," said
Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum
and a critic of the Oslo process. "It has to hedge to
keep the lines of communication open and hope
for a new round of diplomacy."
Last month's annual PLO Commitments
Compliance Report for June-December, 2000, was

F

BULLETS ,)n page

2001

26

GIL SEDAN

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem
srael doesn't understand the Palestinians,
lamented a former official who has spent
years trying to do so, and this is why Israel
doesn't know how to deal with them.
The speaker was Ami Ayalon, until recently the
head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, which
fights
an ongoing
e, b war against Palestinian terrorism.
e,
Ayalon, who became a go-between for former
Prime Minister Ehud Barak with Palestinian offi-
cials, suggested a "simple" solution to the conflict
with the Palestinians when he was interviewed
this week by Israel's Channel Two Television.
Give the Palestinians an independent state and
the seven-month intifada will be over, Ayalon said
in the interview broadcast Monday night.
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat
chose the path of violence over diplomatic negoti-
ations because "Barak lost all the confidence the
Palestinians had initially given him," Ayalon said.
Israel is "strong enough militarily, and I would
like to believe morally, to give the Palestinians
their own independent state," he said.
The interview was noteworthy because the
comments sympathetic to the Palestinian cause
came from a man who once stood at the core of
the Israeli security establishment.
It also was noteworthy because of how isolated
Ayalon is in his analysis of Palestinian motivations.
Not only hawkish members of Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's government would disagree with
Ayalon; many leftists, disenchanted with Arafat,
also consider Ayalon's analysis naive.

I

No Signs Of Waning

Across the political spectrum, Israelis feel they
have good reason to suspect the Palestinians.
While many, Israelis had believed that the violent
Palestinian uprising that began in late September
would burn itself out, it shows no signs of abating.

Time and again, Arafat pledges to reduce the
violence, and Palestinian attacks intensify.
Shooting and bombing attacks continue at the
rate of dozens a day.
This week, for example, just as Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres was announcing that Israel
and the Palestinians were nearing agreement on
the terms of a cease-fire, Hamas terrorists killed
an Israeli in a West Bank ambush. The victim's
father had been killed in another West Bank
drive-by shooting in January ,.
Do the Palestinians really want ro end the vio-
lence? Some Israelis thought there was light at the
end of the tunnel last week, when the two sides
discussed reopening the casino in the West Bank
city of Jericho.
. Immensely profitable for the Palestinian
Authority,, which is a joint owner, the casino was
among the first casualties of the violence that
erupted last September. Before that, it provided a
living to more than 1,000 Palestinians, drawing
thousands of Israelis for whom gambling is illegal
within Israel's borders.
If Israel would let Israelis come back to the casi--;
no, Palestinian negotiators promised, the
Palestinian Authority would bring an end to
attacks on the Jordan Valley road, a major traffic
artery between Jerusalem and the Galilee. Israeli
drivers have all but stopped using the road for
fear of roadside ambushes.
Many Israelis were outraged, saying the
Palestinians should not be permitted to keep the
peace where it is profitable for them to do so,
while attacking Israelis elsewhere. Others noted
that the offer seemed to resolve doubts about
whether the Palestinian Authority can control the
anti-Israel violence if it chooses.
The talks broke down when Sharon said he
would not rescind an order preventing Israelis
from traveling to the West Bank. Without Israelis,
who were the leading patrons of the Jericho casi-
no, there was little point in pursuing the idea of
reopening the gambling mecca.
Israelis also were optimistic that the violence