Excessive back-patting premature

For nearly a year Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in postponing what many would deem the inevitable compliance with the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord on troop redeployment from Hebron, which would set up the framework for an Israel pullback from sizable portions of the West Bank.

Finally, with the interim accords and the future of the peace process hanging by a thread, an agreement was hammered out that hands over roughly 80 percent of Hebron, the home of more than 120,000 Palestinians, to the Palestinian Authority.

But even before Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu had finished shaking hands, staunch right-wingers in Israel accused the prime minister of reneging on his campaign promises and being the first hardliner to hand over Jewish land to Palestinians voluntarily.

Others have praised the agreement, arguing that Netanyahu's signature indicates a new, pragmatic side to the Israeli prime minister that has rarely been seen.

Excessive back-patting at this time, however, may be premature.

Still to be conducted are the final-status negotiations, which will place a host of thorny issues in the balance. Netanyahu has repeatedly proven to be an unwavering hardliner in the right-wing tradition.

Placed in perspective, the troop redeployment -- though an important step -- will amount to little if the momentum of peace is not maintained.

And this momentum, as has been noted time and time again, must be fueled by mutual trust and cooperation.

In short, peace means that, like it or not, Netanyahu must seriously entertain and embrace the idea of an independent Palestinian state.

However, he is leaning toward setting up a social enclave that is politically and economically dependent on Israel.

And this -- to no one's surprise, except perhaps for the staunch Zionists -- is not the basis for a just and comprehensive peace or, for that matter, even the peace-with-security pledge from Netanyahu's election platform.

More than ever, a brand of real-world pragmatism must prevail, not the kind of wavering that Netanyahu would have tried to fool the world into believing is strong leadership.

A leader, in the end, does that which will ensure the security of his people, and this security comes only from making the necessary concessions to guarantee a lasting peace.

-- Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo