Caving in to Hamas?

The latest snag in Israeli-Palestinian talks is serious -- serious enough to derail the talks.

By the guiding Oslo accords, the Israelis were supposed to withdraw from "populated areas" in the West Bank so that Palestinian elections could proceed. But the Palestinian terrorist groups have taken a toll on Israeli lives, confidence and political will, and, to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat's dismay, the Labor government is backing away from its withdrawal commitment on grounds that it wouldn't be able to protect the Jewish West Bank settlers.

The resulting stalemate, of course, could have been expected. It is what Hamas has openly sought, and it is what Israeli, Palestinian and other partisans of peace have repeatedly warned against.

The right response would have been for Israelis to demand that the PLO tighten up its policing of Palestinian killers, and for Palestinians to expect Israel to keep to its promise to peel back the occupation of the West Bank. That was the core bargain of Oslo, and, difficult as it is to put into effect, there was and is nothing wrong with it.

What is wrong, however, is that the Clinton administration seems to have lost its nerve about implementing an agreement of which it is the leading patron and a direct signatory.

Oslo did not say that if one or the other side had trouble making good on its commitments, the United States would show an understanding of the political difficulties and allow delivery to lapse. On the contrary, Oslo said that everyone had to hold hands and make the tough decisions. Incredibly, this is the commitment that Secretary of State Warren Christopher now appears ready to breach.

Yes, it is painfully hard for Israel to keep dealing with one group of Palestinians while another group is murdering its citizens. But the PLO's own constituency -- forget its critics for a moment -- is already inclined to believe that the talks have brought only symbolic and insubstantial gains. For the Israelis to halt withdrawal is to pull the rug out from under the whole Arafat strategy of abandoning armed struggle and negotiating a settlement.

Is it really possible that President Clinton is going to cave in to Hamas? If his administration cannot stay true to its own agreement, which it signed on the White House lawn and hailed as a premier achievement, then what can it be relied on to do?

-- The Washington Post