Rock Vs. Hard Place
Personal, practical considerations are tearing at Sharon.
tive restraint in the face of violent
Palestinain provocations demonstrate his
desire.
At the same time, Sharon has not aban-
doned his fundamental support for the
right of Jews to settle everywhere in the
Greater Land of Israel.
Add in the U.S. pressures on Israel to
back off from its military operations in
the West Bank
DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
D
oes Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon intend to depose
Yasser Arafat and dismantle
the Palestinian Authority?
This question was being asked around the
world as Israeli tanks and infantry dug
into positions deep inside the West Bank.
Compounding international concerns,
Internal Pressure
Sharon and other Israeli officials are
Domestic politics exacerbate Sharon's
comparing the Palestinian Authority to
dilemma. He wants to maintain the
the Taliban, saying both are harboring
and helping terrorists.
unity government and his partnership
with Peres. But he does not want to
The implication was clear: Just as the
alienate his core constituency — the
United States is resolved to destroy the
Likud, the Orthodox and the settlers —
Taliban in Afghanistan, so, too, Israel is
especially with former Prime Minister
justified in making war on the
Binyamin Netanyahu ready to compete
Palestinian Authority.
for leadership of the Likud.
During his visit to Washington this
At Monday's demonstration in
week, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Jerusalem, the leader of the National
Peres assured U.S. officials that Israel will
Religious Party, Rabbi Yitzhak Levy,
not remove Arafat or bring about the col-
demanded that Sharon make his choice:
lapse of the P.A.
If the P.A. harbors terrorists, as Sharon
But does Peres speak for Sharon any-
has claimed, then the premier must fire
more? Relations within the national unity
Peres. One government cannot speak
government — with the Likud and its
with two voices, Levy said.
hawkish allies on one side, and Peres' Labor
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the
Party on the other — approached the
Israel, Our Home Party — which
breaking point this week as the two sides
deferred its planned secession from the
wrangled over Israel's military operations.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon joins others in observing a minute of silence in
government following the killing of
The U.S. State Department issued a
memory of Rehavam Ze'evi at the beginning of a meeting of his Likud party
Ze'evi — demanded that Sharon formal-
sharp statement Monday demanding Israel
faction in the Knesset, Israel's parliament on Oct. 22. The photograph on the
withdraw "immediately from all
ly declare the P.A. a terrorist entity and
wall is of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
order the army back into Palestinian
Palestinian-controlled areas." The U.S.
areas of Hebron.
clearly wants to defuse the Israeli-
Hamas Scenario
Otherwise, Lieberman said, his party would quit
Palestinian violence as it seeks to maintain Arab sup-
port for its anti-terror coalition.
After more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence, — as he announced when Israeli troops withdrew
from Hebron last week.
Jerusalem was taken aback, but the Prime Minister's there is little love left for Arafat among Israeli mod-
Yet to do either of these would trigger an ava-
Office rebuffed the U.S., saying the military opera-
erates. But the prospect of a Hamas-led Palestinian
lanche of American condemnation, and could push
tions would continue, with the aim of apprehending
entity no longer worries some Israeli hard-liners.
Labor out of the coalition.
terrorists and preventing acts of terrorism.
They argue it would not be wooed by Washington
U.S. officials have come down hard on Arafat,
Israel has demanded that the Palestinian
to support the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.
too. They are demanding that he act against the
Authority extradite members of the
Moreover, they say, if Arafat is toppled,
PFLP. If Arafat takes some credible action, it could
Popular Front for the Liberation of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip might be
Palestine responsible for last week's assas-
divided into fragments, in which local war- partially defuse Sharon's dilemma.
He could order the army out of the West Bank
sination in Jerusalem of Tourism Minister
lords — some amenable to Israeli influence
cities, claiming that the military incursions had
Rehavam Ze'evi.
— would divide up power.
achieved their goal.
Monday night, 100,000 people demon-
In the eyes of these hard-liners, this
strated in the streets of Jerusalem to
would represent an improvement.
demand the government "Get rid of Arafat and
Where does Sharon stand in this debate? One
Fighting Continues
fight terrorism." The event was originally planned
well-placed source says there is more than one
Six Palestinians were killed when Israeli tanks entered a
as an anti-Sharon demonstration.
Sharon.
West Bank village Wednesday. Israel said the six opened
As for deposing Arafat, the conventional wisdom
On the personal level, Sharon does not want to
fire on Israeli troops entering Beit Re'ema, and the
among Israelis has been that any successor would be end his long career leading an open-ended war. He
worse. The fundamentalist Hamas, growing increas-
has repeatedly declared that he would offer "painful
ingly popular in the territories, would seize power.
concessions" for real peace. His eight months of rela- HARD PLACE on page 16
NE WS
ANAL TSIS
10/26
2001
15