U.S. Takes the Plunge

After months of dipping a toe into the turbulent waters of the Middle East--and then only reluctantly--the Bush administration plunged in this week, with a Washington-driven U.N. resolution, the dispatch of mediator Anthony C. Zinni and a chastisement of Israel for its military offensive in the occupied territories.

President Bush’s comment that the Israeli sweep through refugee camps and enclaves in the occupied territories was “not helpful” was overdue. Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism. But the two-week onslaught of helicopter gunships, tanks and foot soldiers in the largest military campaign in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since their capture in the 1967 Middle East war is more likely to provoke retaliation than discourage the killing.

The army’s invasion of Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians, was more than a search for terrorists and weapons. It was a humiliation of Palestinians in their most important city, the one where Israel kept Yasser Arafat under virtual house arrest for months.

The suicide bombings by Palestinians and the Israeli offensive make Zinni’s job of pushing both sides toward a cease-fire much more difficult. He was brought home in December when violence became so bad as to make his task seem impossible. Since then, the violence has gotten worse. Last week at least 67 Palestinians and 31 Israelis were killed, the largest numbers since the conflict resumed in September 2000. The death toll has increased this week. But Zinni and Bush should show patience and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat as often as necessary until the killing ends or at least lessens. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials said they were ready to work with the mediator on producing a truce, and this would not be the first war in which cease-fire talks went on simultaneously with bloodshed.

The U.N. Security Council’s resolution this week endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time also was helpful, reemphasizing to those in the occupied territories the goal of the peace process. Bush said the United States “helped engineer” the resolution, which agrees with his announced support for a Palestinian state and Israel living in peace inside secure and recognized borders. It is important that Washington emphasize that goal as a counter to Arab complaints that U.S. support for Israel, including arms supplies, fuels the violence. Those complaints ignore Arafat’s refusal to accept generous peace terms at Camp David and his refusal or inability to stop the suicide attacks on Israel.

Vice President Dick Cheney too is in the Mideast, hoping to talk about possible action against Iraq but being confronted in Arab countries with demands that the U.S. get more involved and stay involved in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The danger is clear: Violence can spill over to other countries in the region. The United States has laid out plans for a cease-fire before; it needs to keep pushing now to get both sides to quell the carnage.