To Christopher-ize or Not : That is now the question for stalled Middle East talks

The negotiating impasse that sent a special U.S. envoy to the Middle East to try to find some basic grounds for agreement between Arabs and Israelis apparently remains. Dennis Ross has returned to Washington after meeting with key decision-makers in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Israel with little reason to believe that the deadlock in the 21-month-old U.S.-sponsored peace talks can be broken easily.

Palestinians and Israelis remain at loggerheads over the terms for interim Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel proposes yielding administrative control over most day-to-day activities to local Palestinians. Palestinian negotiators demand that Israel prepare to give up all control over the disputed territories. Neither side has been happy with a draft plan that Washington offered as a basis for an agreement on interim self-rule.

The Clinton Administration may soon raise its mediating profile by sending Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the Middle East, perhaps as soon as next week. All sides seem to still agree that an active American role is highly desirable, even essential. The key question is how just active should that role be.

The history of successful U.S. involvement at the secretarial level in trying to bring Arabs and Israelis together is a history of extended commitment. From Henry A. Kissinger to James A. Baker III, secretaries who have achieved anything noteworthy--Kissinger with the separation-of-forces agreements after the 1973 war, Cyrus R. Vance with the Camp David Accords, Baker with launching the current talks--have been prepared to spend endless hours patiently listening and talking and going back and forth between the parties.

Certainly Christopher has the skills for such a task. Is now the right time to begin investing them? If there’s a reasonable hope for success, of course he should. But only the parties to the conflict can decide just how reasonable that prospect is. If Washington believes Arabs and Israelis are ready to make compromises, then Christopher’s personal intervention could be crucial. If not, the secretary risks assuming a thankless role that would only waste his time and sap his prestige.