Extraordinary gesture

That was an extraordinary gesture by Jordan's King Hussein in going literally on bended knee to beg forgiveness from the families of the seven Israeli schoolgirls killed by an apparently deranged Jordanian soldier. "To me it was a loss of my children as well," the king said. With his example of personal grace, he was interrupting what is both an Arab-Israeli habit of coldness to the other's losses and a phase of surpassing difficulty and danger in Arab-Israeli talks. His mission to the bereaved was carried live and with an emotionally shattering impact on Israeli television. Were its spirit to prevail, the politics of the Middle East would be transformed.

But don't count on it. Israel's ties with Jordan -- the neighbor with which it has its most rewarding peace -- fluctuate, but within a relatively small range. It is Israel's ties with the Palestinians that are unpredictable and currently threaten to spin out of control. King Hussein so warned Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a passionate and even prophetic letter last week. He was concerned that Mr. Netanyahu has apparently foreclosed negotiation on the status of Jerusalem by undertaking to begin work this very week on a big new housing project for Jewish settlers in greater East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem issue was meant to have been submitted to Israeli-Palestinian talks that were to start on Monday but that are nowhere near even being scheduled.

Prime Minister Netanyahu replied to the king that the two of them should not give "every Palestinian-Israeli impasse the power to hurt our own relationship." But Jerusalem is not your routine abrasive "every impasse.' A suitable presence in Jerusalem is finally for both sides the most important thing. Without a Jerusalem agreement, there is no Israeli-Palestinian peace. The notion that the issue not be negotiated but decided unilaterally by one side is a treaty killer. Already it is inspiring both sides to issue scarcely veiled threats of force and violence.

In Israel on Sunday, King Hussein did more than deliver a heartfelt personal message to a mourning nation. With his showing of empathy for Israel's tragedy, he earned a respectful hearing for his belief in the mutuality of sacrifice and benefit. This is necessarily the central belief of all those who labor for peace.

-- The Washington Post