Hope from the Gaza Strip

The handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in their first summit on Wednesday may have appeared cold, but it is a milestone in the long struggle for peace in the region. Nothing concrete came out of the summit because each man simply restated his respective position. Nevertheless, the meeting was symbolic in that it revealed a glimmer of hope that the peace process based on an agreement signed in Oslo in 1993 will now be revived.

That Wednesday's summit in Erez, Gaza Strip, took place at all was something not envisaged even a week ago. The meeting was agreed to less than 24 hours before it took place.

Netanyahu was elected by a slim margin -- ousting Shimon Peres, one of the architects of the peace process along with Arafat -- after promising to take a hardline position on the Palestinian question. True to his words, he rolled back various concessions pledged to the Palestinians by the previous Labor government that were part of the 1993 peace agreement.

He played around with words when it came to the peace process, stressing that the security of Israelis must come before anything else. The bottom line then was that he would not meet with Arafat. He further angered the Palestinians when he encouraged the building of new homes on Jewish settlements in occupied territories. The last straw came on Friday a week ago when he prevented Moslems from entering East Jerusalem for mass prayers and protests at the Al Aqsa mosque. This prompted Arafat to threaten another uprising, or intifada, by Palestinians. If security was indeed his chief concern, Netanyahu's policies seemed contradictory.

It is encouraging to see that Netanyahu eventually agreed to attend the summit with Arafat. Some analysts attribute his change of heart chiefly to foreign pressure, especially from Egypt and to a lesser extent the United States. Egypt made it clear that the warm relations Israel has enjoyed with Cairo and several other Arab states could be jeopardized unless Netanyahu met with Arafat. There was also pressure from within Israel, particularly from foreign minister David Levy and from President Ezer Weizman. U.S. President Bill Clinton did not prod Netanyahu as hard as he could have, which is understandable because he needs the Jewish vote for his re-election bid in November. But the message from Washington was clear -- the peace process must be revived, and this meant Netanyahu meeting with Arafat.

The dramatic change in the Middle East shows that international pressure can have an impact on Israeli leadership. Gone are the days when a country could completely ignore international opinion and defy the United Nations without facing reprisals or threat of reprisals.

International pressure, which has been strong since Netanyahu's election, must not stop there, especially now that the ice has been broken with the Netanyahu-Arafat summit.

A long and difficult path lies ahead. The two sides have not even regained the ground that has been lost since May. Netanyahu has not backed down from his position against the creation of a Palestinian state. He has vowed to never let Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope will become their capital, be divided. Under pressure from the right-wing hawks, Netanyahu is continuing to endorse new settlements in occupied territories.

More pressure must be put on the current Israeli leadership to revive the peace process. The symbolic handshake in the Gaza Strip may have raised some hopes, but the Middle East situation remains shaky at best.