Showdown for Arafat

Yasser Arafat has survived any number of “defining moments” and “turning points” in his decades as a Palestinian leader. Now comes another, perhaps the final one. The horrific slaughter of more than two dozen innocent Israelis in attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa over the weekend makes it imperative that the Palestinian Authority president break the back of the terrorist groups that carry out such murders. Arafat’s failure to do so would open the door to an all-out Israeli war on organizations such as Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the most recent attacks, and Islamic Jihad, surely with greater suffering for the Palestinian people Arafat claims to represent.

Israel retaliated Monday, launching airstrikes on Arafat’s helicopter compound in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jenin. Israeli spokesmen also warned ominously of greater, unspecified payback.

The attack and counterattack are the latest tightening of the dreadful spiral of violence. Israel uses helicopters and foot soldiers, bullets and missiles in massive attacks that kill innocent Palestinians and inflame the hatred. Palestinian suicide bombers strap weapons around their waists and kill as many Israelis as they can.

Arafat must realize that the weekend attacks represent an assault on his own authority as well as on the tatters of the peace process, which President Bush’s envoy, retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, was trying to resuscitate. After 14 months of renewed violence, Israeli and Palestinian voices of peace have been reduced to whispers; polls indicate that average people on both sides have become more hawkish.

Many Israelis still believe that Arafat has the power to control elements within the Palestinian Authority. If so, he needs to wield that power. The authority has arrested more than 100 Palestinians in the most recent attacks, but these cannot be another round of “show” arrests, with detainees locked up in front of television cameras and let out the back door a few nights later. This must be a real crackdown. It risks rebellion by extremists, but if Arafat does not demolish terrorist organizations, Israel most certainly will try.

For now, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government should limit its retaliation until it is clear whether Arafat will act. An Israeli escalation of reprisals for the weekend killings would weaken Palestinian support for Arafat even more.

Two years ago Arafat took leave of his senses and rejected an offer for Palestinian independence. Now a far more hard-line Israeli government rules and waits to see whether it should talk with him at all or if his power is gone.

The United States and other nations have a major stake in peace in the Middle East at any time, but especially now with the continued need for support from Muslim nations for a war on terrorism that has started, but should not end, in Afghanistan. However, outside nations cannot impose peace on Israel and the Palestinians.

Last month at the United Nations Bush embraced the concept of “two states, Israel and Palestine” living in peace, a proclamation Palestinians had long sought. On Sunday Bush correctly demanded that Arafat do “everything in his power” to bring the weekend murderers to justice. It’s showdown time for the Palestinian leader.