Mideast peace talks

The latest round of negotiations at the highest level between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority has been the least satisfactory since the Middle East peace process began in 1993. That is partly because the Oslo agreement itself left the hardest parts of an eventual settlement until last but it is also because of the deeply disturbed political background to the latest nine days of negotiations at the Wye Plantation in Maryland.

The core provisions of the latest agreement have aroused doubts about their likely effectiveness. They are widely seen to have an inbuilt flaw, which makes failure likely.

Arafat will never be able to guarantee complete absence of anti-Israeli terrorism, any more than Netanyahu can promise there will never be any more violence by Israeli extremists. If this central part of the new agreement is to have any meaning, it will have to be carried out with great flexibility and understanding by both sides and an overriding concern to see the whole peace process realized rather than frustrated.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald