Surviving Yet Another Threat

Israel’s year-old “national unity” government--the appellation describing a wish rather than a reality--has survived yet another threat to its existence, this time over Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s effort to fire a cabinet minister for indirectly talking with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The possible breakup of the Likud-Labor coalition was averted when Shamir agreed to keep Science Minister Ezer Weizman in the government and the dovish official, under pressure from fellow Labor Party leaders, agreed to drop out of the 12-member inner cabinet, where most decisions or, more typically, most deadlocks are reached. So the government endures, and the prospect of holding early national elections fades. Meanwhile, though, Israel’s inconsistent policy about talking with the PLO remains unresolved.

Since 1986 it has been a crime for any Israeli to have unauthorized contact with the PLO. Abie Nathan, the well-known peace activist, is currently serving a six-month jail term for doing just that. Few Israelis, with memories of past terrorism seared into the national consciousness, think of the PLO with anything other than scorn and loathing. But an increasing number seem to be moving reluctantly toward the view that any negotiations about the future of the West Bank and Gaza Strip will one way or another have to involve the PLO. The Israeli government itself has sanctioned some talks with the PLO, and Weizman says his own contacts took place with the full knowledge of Shin Bet, the domestic security agency that reports directly to the prime minister. If that’s true it puts the flap over his activities in a different light.

However emotionally charged and politically explosive the question of talking with the PLO may be, the more fundamental issue dividing Israelis and their government is what the future status of the West Bank should be. Shamir and most members of Likud remain dead set against any change that would lessen Israel’s claim to sovereign control over the entire territory. Labor is prepared to consider trading land for peace, although officially it, too, opposes creation of a Palestinian state. There are many strands to this tangled problem, including legitimate security concerns, but at its core is the question of whether millions of Palestinians are to remain indefinitely under occupation, or whether Israel is prepared to yield some occupied land and accept some risks to preserve its democratic traditions. It seemed for a time that the Weizman affair might bring early elections that could see this question decided. Instead, in another compromise, it was tacitly agreed to further delay facing the issue. Indecision has again proven to be the preferred decision, even though it leaves primary policy matters very much up in the air.