The Courage of His Compromise : Rabin demonstrates commitment to peace

What was Baruch Goldstein, the murderer of 30 Palestinians in a Hebron mosque, trying to kill? Was his target solely those Palestinians?

Perhaps no one ever will know what compelled him to this atrocity. But it is possible to imagine that Goldstein also had in mind Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the “Declaration of Principles” that Rabin signed last September with Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The Israeli right wing has vilified Rabin--a war hero and a man who enjoys a unique level of public trust in his country--as a traitor because of that agreement.

All that was necessary to sabotage the agreement, many on both sides believed, was for Israel to miss the April 13 target date for the withdrawal of its troops from the Gaza Strip. If that first, visible step could be halted, then the entire political transformation intended to follow it could be sabotaged and Rabin could be brought down.

If that in fact was what was on Goldstein’s mind, then there was indeed method in his madness. This is why so many Israeli leaders have refused to characterize him as an isolated crazy. If his massacre did not have the prior approval and sponsorship of Jewish extremists in Israel, it clearly had their posterior endorsement. A pilgrimage to his grave on Thursday by at least 10,000 Jewish militants has made that grimly clear.

Goldstein’s gambit--their gambit--almost worked. The mosque rampage touched off horrendous violence in the streets of Gaza, a mini- intifada with foreseeable answering violence by the Israeli army. It looked for a week or two as if Goldstein’s act indeed had blasted the April 13 withdrawal date off the Israeli-Palestinian peace calendar.

But that was not the case. Peace talks suspended after the Feb. 25 attack have been resumed. A marathon effort by the negotiators is being matched by a logistic prodigy on the part of the Israeli army, which will have left Gaza by April 13. Israel has made its apology for the mosque murders in the most painful and convincing way possible, by acknowledging and accepting a U.N. resolution of condemnation. Steps are rapidly being taken toward organizing a Palestinian police force for newly autonomous Gaza.

And in the most important symbolic step of all, Israel has consented to the presence of international observers in Hebron, where Goldstein’s attack took place. The presence of international observers often suggests that the affairs of more than one nation are concerned. By strong implication, this move underscores that the Palestinians’ interests are true national interests.

Goldstein has lost. Rabin has won. And under Rabin’s leadership, Israel is staying the course to the only kind of victory that can last: a victory built on peace.