Barak Vows to Pursue Peace--but War at Home May Hinder Him

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak came home from the failed Camp David summit Wednesday, pledging to push tirelessly for peace but turning immediately to a struggle for his own political survival.

The choices facing Barak are stark. His willingness to negotiate with the Palestinians cost him his government. Depending on how he builds a new one, his ability to continue negotiations may be hamstrung.

Even as his Israeli air force jet was touching down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Barak was being inundated with demands from foes and former allies for new elections or, at the very least, a complete overhaul of the government.

Barak declined to outline his plans. He used a red-carpet arrival ceremony at the airport to express dismay at the summit’s failure, to blame his Palestinian counterpart and to plead for support and understanding from his divided nation.

“In your names, and in the names of the millions of eyes that continue to look on in hope and in prayer, I promise not to give up, not to despair and not to stop working in pursuit of peace,” Barak said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“I gaze into the millions of eyes that followed me and say we did everything we could . . . exhausted every possibility of ending the conflict and bringing a safe future for Israel . . . and, sadly, we did not succeed. So far.”

Barak’s first act upon arriving was to give a bearhug to his wife, Nava, who awaited him at the foot of the plane’s staircase. Then he gave a curt handshake to Foreign Minister David Levy. Under rules of protocol, Levy was acting prime minister in Barak’s absence and was required to greet him upon his return.

Emblematic of the revolt Barak is facing, however, Levy has become one of Barak’s critics, and he refused to accompany him to Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. Six other Cabinet ministers deserted Barak on the eve of the summit, and he lost his majority in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament, which makes getting approval for any peace deal, or passing other laws, extremely difficult.

“The prime minister must form a coalition from scratch,” one of Barak’s remaining loyal ministers, Haim Ramon, told Israeli television Wednesday night.

Barak may be forced to attempt to reunite the same fractious coalition that fell apart. It included the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party and the staunchly secular leftist Meretz Party, which made for constant bickering and occasional paralysis. Or he could form a more narrow coalition, calling especially on leftist parties that would support his efforts to reach a peace treaty with the Palestinians.

Or he could form what is called, inaccurately, a unity government by turning to the right and inviting in the Likud Party, the largest opposition bloc. This would be a larger coalition, but Barak’s supporters believe it would spell disaster for the peace process because Likud leaders are among the most vociferously critical of the concessions that Barak was willing to make to the Palestinians.

Barak is teetering precariously scarcely one year after he came to power, swept into office in a landslide victory on a platform of making peace with the last of Israel’s Arab enemies. He succeeded in pulling Israel out of Lebanon after more than two decades, but settling decades of conflict with Syria and the Palestinians has proven elusive.

If none of the configurations for a new government work, Barak could be forced to call early elections. It is not clear whether he would be able to repeat the success of last year’s vote.

Ariel Sharon, head of the Likud Party, convened a closed-door meeting of opposition parties Wednesday and then called for new elections. He said the Likud had ruled out joining a “unity” government.

“We have reached the conclusion that we must call upon the prime minister to go to elections, immediately,” Sharon said. “Now that the true positions of both sides [Barak and the Palestinians] have been revealed during the summit, we have to hold early elections.”

The first test comes Monday in the Knesset, where Barak already faces two no-confidence motions, one sponsored by Sharon and based on what Sharon calls Barak’s “amateurish” handling of the Camp David talks.

In the likely event that Barak survives the no-confidence votes, he will probably survive the summer. The Knesset recesses next week and does not resume its sessions until the fall, after the Jewish new year. Barak cannot be deposed while the parliament is not sitting.

Barak treated himself to a morale-booster Wednesday night. Despite recent threats against the prime minister’s life from right-wing extremists, he waded into a crowd of pro-peace demonstrators outside his Jerusalem residence. He thanked them warmly and called out greetings to right-wing demonstrators across the street.

“We understand your pain, and we hurt together with you,” he told them.

Barak could barely be seen above the security guards who stood three deep in a circle around him and who, in their haste to keep up with him, bowled over spectators and journalists, scattering and toppling a bank of television cameras.