How to stop the Israelis?

Despite last week week's call by the United Nations' Security Council, Israeli troops, helicopters and tanks have continued to push into other West Bank cities, launching predawn incursions on Wednesday. Battles also took place at the Church of the Nativity -- built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus -- with Israeli troops firing from helicopter gunships and from tank-mounted machine guns.

The problem here, as it has been whenever armed conflicts break out between the Israeli occupational forces and Palestinians, is who can end the hostility and who can force Israelis to immediately implement Resolution 1402. The resolution, adopted Saturday, calls on both sides to "move immediately toward a meaningful cease-fire" and on Israel to pull its forces out of cities including Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is under siege in his headquarters.

The only man the Israelis are still willing to listen to is the man in the White House. But George W. Bush seems lately to have lost his sense of honor and -- lamentably -- the sense of humanitarianism. At the moment it is beyond every one's wildest imagination that the UN Security Council, who meet again on Wednesday, will impose a harsher measure against the aggressor because it will be vetoed by the United States. So there is no solution in sight within the foreseeable future and the Israelis hold all the cards. At this stage the Israeli leaders seem to care so little about world public opinion. According to the leader of the American Jewish Society, the threat to Jews in the world is greater than in the 1930s.

Only finally, after years of this stupid and bloody conflict will the Israeli leaders realize that they cannot root out what they call Palestinian terrorism by counterterrorism because the Arabs are fighting for justified rights. And the present Israeli leader should acknowledge that occupying another country for 35 years is also a form of terrorism.

Now what should Indonesia do to help extinguish the blaze? Since we are not a member of the UN Security Council we can only play a role outside the body by persuading other member nations to push a decision that will force the Jewish state to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Palestinian land and accept a United Nation's peacekeeping force to guarantee that a peaceful situation prevails.

This government effort is important, otherwise our young people will react to our inaction toward the world body by expressing their sympathy to the Arab cause without consideration as to whether their concept is workable or not.

The government should show sympathy toward the Palestinian cause or anti-American demonstrations throughout Indonesia could result.