A New Lull, and New Hope

Israeli tanks and bulldozers rumbling north out of the Gaza Strip should offer Palestinians hope of more freedom and better economic times -- this after nearly three years of conflict has beggared them. Security forces raising the Palestinian flag on a Gaza outpost should enhance the vision of a Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel. These hopes and visions are fragile and require support from Israelis, Palestinians, the U.S. and Arab nations.

Palestinian radical groups agreed over the weekend to temporary halts in attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis since the uprising began in September 2000. In exchange, they demand that Israel, among other things, free Palestinian prisoners and stop assassinations of militant leaders.

There have been a dozen or more cease-fires in the last 33 months. Few lasted long, and Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,000 Palestinians. Soon after the latest cease-fire was declared, a Palestinian splinter group claimed it killed a foreign worker in the West Bank and said it would not honor the truce in the territories that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war with Arab nations. Israel must exercise discipline not to retaliate when provoked by terrorists who hope to maintain the cycle of violence. Palestinian security forces, given new authority with the Israeli withdrawal, must do all they can to prevent terrorism.

President Bush intervened personally in the generations-long Middle East conflict, meeting in Egypt and Jordan last month with Arab leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, the new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell followed up with a visit to Israel; national security advisor Condoleezza Rice arrived last weekend in the region. That top-level engagement will be needed to make a success of the “road map” to peace and an eventual Palestinian state.

Rice reportedly protested to Sharon about construction of a West Bank fence that Israel says is needed for security but that Palestinians complain will take land from them. The Bush administration has seldom criticized Sharon’s government; it needs to be sure it does not give Israel blanket approval for its actions. That’s especially true on Israeli settlements, which the road map says should not increase. For their part, Egypt -- helpful in negotiating the cease-fire -- and other Arab nations need to assist Palestinian security forces to promote the prospect of a widening peace.