A harder line from Israel

President Bill Clinton tried, politely, to register concern on Hebron and the blockade, and on the question of planting new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

But with a U.S. presidential campaign approaching, he clearly sought to minimize any appearance of public disagreement.

Netanyahu would make a mistake if he took his warm public reception from the president, from a joint session of Congress and from American Jewish leaders as approval for the confrontational approach toward the Palestinians advocated by some of the extremist members of his cabinet.

Netanyahu suggested that Israel did not have to deliver on its promises for now because the Palestinians were also showing bad faith by failing to stamp out terrorism and by maintaining quasi- diplomatic offices in Jerusalem.

It is reasonable for him to pressure the Palestinians on both of these points, but not by withholding what Israel has already agreed to. That will only discredit the idea of negotiations and elevate the minority of Palestinians still preaching violence.

Meanwhile, the tight blockade that the previous Israeli government imposed on Palestinian communities after the February terror bombings is causing great suffering while serving no evident security purpose. Netanyahu says he wants open economic borders between Israelis and Palestinians, but defers lifting the blockade.

The visiting prime minister was also disturbingly vague on the issue of new Jewish settlements. He pointed out that the Labor government in power for the past four years had allowed the total settlement population to expand by 50 percent and suggested that he could be expected to do no less.

But he left the impression that he intended to step up the pace of expansion and plant new settlements in populated Arab areas of the West Bank.

-- The New York Times