More daring approach in Mideast

With trust disintegrating and violent confrontation resuming, the entire step-by-step approach to peace no longer seems promising. If there is no other route open, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Arafat, with a powerful push from Washington, may have to return to the phased peace plan outlined in the original Oslo agreements three years ago.

But another, more daring option may be available if the White House is willing to bear the risks involved. It is to move directly to intensive negotiations on a final settlement. That would mean negotiating permanent boundaries between the areas of Israeli and Palestinian control and defining the respective rights of the two peoples in Jerusalem.

It would require deciding whether the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza should be uprooted, annexed to Israel, or transferred to Palestinian rule with security guarantees. Final settlement talks must also determine whether the Palestinians win a full-fledged state of their own, or must accept some limits on their sovereignty.

A drive for a final agreement would probably require continuous high-level talks, with active American participation, not unlike the 1978 Camp David marathon led by president Jimmy Carter.

Although the drive may seem improbable in the tense climate that now prevails, it should not be dismissed.

-- The New York Times