What Albright Learned in the Middle East

...This time the danger of renewed violence in Israel's capital—recently rocked by two bloody acts of Arab terror—arose when three ultra-Orthodox Jewish families provocatively occupied an empty house on a piece of land purchased some time ago by a Miami resident, Dr...

...In March 1996, shortly before Israel's elections, Hamas suiciders hit hard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, causing a panic that may have assured Netanyahu's victory...

...Since the last time Arafat collaborated with Israel against Hamas, Gillon continued, the economic and political condition of the Palestinians has deteriorated...

...Although both sides continue to pay lip service to the Oslo peace agreement signed on the White House lawn four years ago, each accuses the other of violating it, and neither is doing much to revive it...

...Not surprisingly, former Prime Minister Peres, the architect of the Oslo Accords, put the matter in a more partisan framework when he asked during Albright's visit, "Why should Arafat endanger his position, perhaps even his life, if he cannot trust Bibi...

...A pro-Oslo Israeli political scientist said straightforwardly, "If the Palestinian leadership were convinced that working with the Israelis would lead to a Palestinian state, they could bring the terror to an end...

...Yuval Elizur, a past NL contributor, was for many years the deputy editorin-chief of the Israeli daily Ma'ariv...

...That we would have to sit down to discuss the same issues we face today...

...Which brings us to the main question raised by Albright's trip: Will the world's only superpower sit quietly and let the Middle East slide down the slippery slope to another war, or will it apply political, economic and military pressure on the Palestinians, the Israelis, the Egyptians, and the Jordanians—who are totally dependent upon American support—to prevent a conflagration...

...Assuming he wanted to, could Arafat "take apart" the infrastructure of terror...

...But they told her they might attend if the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is in full swing by then...

...But what would be the result of the bloodshed and destruction...

...Still, an Arab-Israeli armed conflict would involve, at least indirectly, American interests in the region...

...dominance of the Middle East is no longer threatened...

...They constitute a significant minority, as the Secretary probably noted, and cannot all be easily dismissed as far-Rightists...

...Netanyahu, for instance, in his public statements and in his private talks with the Secretary, said his policy of a "Secure Peace"—actually the slogan that helped him win the Israeli elections in May 1996—requires Arafat to prove his commitment to fight terrorism is genuine...

...Writing from Jerusalem early in the Secretary's tour, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman suggested that unlike some of her predecessors—notably Henry Kissinger, who felt his Middle East shuttle diplomacy had to achieve tangible results during the Cold War, and Warren M. Christopher, who vainly sought to smooth feathers in 25 trips to the region —Albright did not have a credibility problem...

...It may be true that with the disappearance of the Soviet Union, U.S...

...The Albright entourage was clearly pleased, too, by the praise the Secretary received from Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Hussein and Saudi Arabia's rulers...

...What Albright no doubt learned from touring the region herself was how real the danger of a breakdown in relations between Israel and the Palestinians is, how complete the impasse between Israel and Syria is, and how apparently insoluble the bloodletting in Southern Lebanon is...

...In both camps the possibility of renewed violence or even full-scale war is increasingly mentioned as unavoidable...

...POST-OSLO PASSIONS What Albright Learned in the Middle East By Yuval Elizur Jerusalem Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright's plane was still in the Middle East when trouble again broke out here, threatening to erase even the minute accomplishments of hermuch awaited first visit to the region...

...The Prime Minister refused to evict the settlers, however, out of fear of antagonizing the Right wing of his coalition...

...But small steps are better than no steps...

...So, why not do so now...

...position on many of the Israeli and Palestinian accusations and counteraccusations...

...Whether or not Albright held a similar view no one can say...

...In the case of Ras al-Amud not only Netanyahu but his senior ministers, Foreign Minister David Levy and Defense Minister Yitzchak Mordecai, declared that the extremists' move was "bad for Israel and bad for Jerusalem...

...Friedman concluded: "Great powers should never get involved in the small politics of small tribes...

...But she did define the U.S...

...interests" were no longer at stake, she was "doing the parties here a huge, morally responsible favor by trying to help resolve their feud...

...Prior to leaving Beirut, her last stop, she also said candidly: "I have accomplished some small steps when big steps are needed...

...From the Israelis she drew promises "to stop expanding settlements unilaterally," to release another third of the Palestinian assets it has frozen, and to initiate another substantial lifting of the closure of Palestinian territories that has denied residents the ability to earn a livelihood...

...Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to suppress the defiant acts of his own extremist fringe and has repeatedly been forced to make compromises that merely expose his weakness...

...Irving I. Moskowitz, in the heart of Ras al-Amud, an Arab neighborhood on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem...

...The Arabs nevertheless see the Ras al-Amud incident as "another illegal step designed to promote the Judaization of Jerusalem," despite Israel's having agreed in theory—at Camp David and Oslo—to negotiating the Holy City's future...

...Those who fear such a state, or who simply have serious doubts about the course the peace process has taken, have been equally vocal...

...Instead, he had Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani arrange another compromise: The three families were replaced by 10 Jewish religious students who are to guard and maintain the property...

...Nor has the Secretary's visit put an end to these dire warnings...

...Contrary to all predictions, and perhaps even to her own inclinations...

...Indeed, talk of "imminent war," or "wars," could be heard from Israelis at all levels...

...Carmi Gillon, a former chief of the Shin Bet, Israel's security service, said in a television interview that he believes Arafat could now stop the terror if he were convinced this would improve the lot of his people...

...The "small steps" Albright had in mind probably include a meeting scheduled to take place during the last week of September in the U.S...

...The apparently trivial incident assumed major proportions because of a curse that has become a paramount factor in Middle East politics: Both the Palestinian Authority and Israel are led by incompetent men who are either unwilling or unable to curb the reckless elements in their midst...

...Secretary Albright told reporters in her plane on the way home that the Middle East situation "was probably even worse than I thought...

...Since "vital U.S...

...One Israeli columnist, Joel Marcus of Ha 'aretz, complained: "She left her stick at home...

...In addition, she demanded and secured a Palestinian commitment "to take apart the infrastructure of Hamas," meaning not only to seek out the perpetrators of this summer's acts of terror in Jerusalem, but also the political arm of Hamas and the social institutions sponsored by it and other Right-wing Arab organizations...

...Perhaps...

...It can be said, however, that she rejected the advice of Israel's President, Ezer Weizman, "to knock Netanyahu's and Arafat's heads together...

...If anything, it has served to strengthen them...

...Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres' successor as the opposition Labor Party's leader, has been moved to respond: "We would win any war in the offing today...

...at which Israeli and Palestinian officials will try to get the peace talks back on track...

...Secretary Albright may be paying another visit to the Middle East much sooner than she expected—with her stick...

...Why didn't Arafat stop Hamas then, when he had every reason to do so...

...Each insisted, though, that the other move first...

...The Saudis would not give her their promise that they will show up at the regional economic conference due to take place in November in Doha, Qatar, where Israel is supposed to be a participant...

...And the two sides did not openly resist her dictates...

...Chairman Yasir Arafat has failed to put an end to Hamas terrorism...