Netanyahu Would Be Wise to Heed Clinton’s ‘Warning’

Asked at a news conference this week whether the Israeli government’s encouragement of further Jewish settlement in the West Bank is an obstacle to the peace process, President Clinton answered “absolutely.” The swift and emphatic response was a calculated departure from the administration’s bland and studiously evenhanded posture of saying nothing that might be interpreted as publicly taking sides or applying pressure in the U.S.-sponsored peace talks. Clearly Clinton intended to send a strong message of American impatience and anxiety over the stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It is exactly the message that the deteriorating situation requires.

Last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet voted to reintroduce a policy of economic incentives to induce Israelis to move to the West Bank. The action followed the murder of two Jewish settlers in the disputed territory by Palestinian gunmen. The tax breaks and other benefits approved by the Cabinet had been suspended by the previous Labor government, because it did not want to undercut the provision of the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accords that left the settlements issue for “final status” talks that are still some time away. By encouraging an expansion of settlement activity the Netanyahu government is hardening the Israeli bargaining position if those talks are ever held. It is moving to foreclose options that good-faith bargaining requires should be left open.

The impatience and worries of Washington with the negotiating deadlock, underscored again Tuesday by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, are shared by many in Israel. A recent poll found that only 23% of Israelis were satisfied with Netanyahu’s handling of negotiations, while 42% were not. Netanyahu’s position on the settlements has in fact prompted the head of Israel’s internal security service to warn him that his policy risks inviting a new explosion of Palestinian violence.

The on-again, off-again talks over ending Israel’s occupation of Hebron are on again, a modest if hardly definitive sign that the peace process still has some breath left in it. But each fresh setback--whether murderous Palestinian attacks or provocative Israeli Cabinet decisions--squeezes out a little more of its life. Clinton has properly sent a public signal about his deep concern. That he did so strongly suggests that the perception in Washington now is that the situation is or soon will be critical.