The Wye River accord
After nine days of intense and laborious negotiations marked by on-and-off threats of collapse, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat finally struck an interim peace deal on Friday at the secluded Wye River Plantation, 110 kilometers east of Washington D.C. in Maryland.
The agreement, signed by Arafat, Netanyahu and key Middle East peace initiator U.S. President Bill Clinton, covers among other things Israel's long-sought withdrawal from 13 percent of the West Bank, the phased release of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli government and the abolition of a clause in the PLO charter which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
The peace accord also stipulates that both Israel and Palestine need to take "all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities" against each other and hold further talks on economic cooperation and final status of borders, Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.
Considering the centuries-old animosity between the two peoples, last Friday's agreement, at least for the time being, seems to be a major breakthrough in achieving peace in the Middle East. Reality, however, gives us a different picture.
In contrast to the warm welcome the international community gave the Wye River peace deal, Israeli and Palestinian hardliners, overwhelmed by distrust of each other, reacted very negatively.
Sheik Ahmad Yassin, Arafat's key opponent and leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, said the peace deal was a sellout of the Palestinians. "Gaza is separated from Nablus," he said. "Politically speaking, we are in a situation that does not make it possible for an active or independent Palestinian entity." Yassin was referring to the historic 1993 Oslo agreement which gave the Palestinians the right to establish a state by May 1999.
Yassin even threatened to continue attacks against Israelis, saying that the peace deal could not erase Hamas. "It is an illusion to think the agreement will put an end to our military work," he said, as quoted by several news media.
Meanwhile many Jewish settlers and hard-liners, feeling betrayed by Netanyahu whom they had believed to be a defender of the "Land of Israel" vowed to oust him. Worse still is the presence of right-wing extremists who, as is witnessed by what happened to former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin just over two years ago, would not hesitate to assassinate a leader who dared to clinch a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Against this backdrop, both Netanyahu and Arafat will certainly have their work cut out to implement the agreement and see to it that the safety of their people are fully guaranteed.
What was reached on Friday is only the beginning of a long strenuous journey toward a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Arafat needs to persuade his people, especially those who oppose the peace process and the Hamas militants , that peace is indispensable to the attainment of an independent Palestinian state, particularly now that they have gained another 13 percent to add to the current 27 percent of the West Bank territory which is already under Palestinian self-rule.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, should strive to convince his people that the Israelis will never live peacefully as long as they continue to reject the existence of a free, sovereign Palestinian state.
In the final analysis, both the Palestinian and Israeli leaders seem to be fully aware that disputes between countries can be best settled through dialog rather than military forces, as is reflected in the adage that "the pen is mightier than the sword".