Peace Plan’s Test of Fire

With their coordinated attack Sunday on an Israeli army installation that killed four soldiers, Palestinian terrorist groups showed just how difficult it would be to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East. Israel showed how much it wants peace by holding its fire; on Monday, it began fulfilling its promise to remove illegal outposts of settlers on lands that Palestinians claim as theirs.

The radical groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have teamed up for attacks before. On Sunday the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, affiliated with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, joined in. It supplied a suicide gunner for the three-man attack on the Israeli military post just inside the Gaza Strip.

The assault directly challenged Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush last week and pledged to rein in terrorists. It is uncertain whether he can do that. But his chances would be greater if Arafat demanded that terrorist groups, especially the offshoot of an organization he leads, stop the violence.

Arafat, a lover of the spotlight long accustomed to being the most prominent of the Palestinians, notably did not get invited to last week’s summit. Nor did Abbas speak his name while promising to follow the “road map” developed by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia for creation of a Palestinian state that would live in peace next to Israel.

Arafat should have welcomed the summit; instead, he scoffed that Sharon did not give enough. With each petulant statement, Arafat slips further from the possible role of elder statesman and father of an independent Palestine. Now he looks like a man desperately trying to avoid irrelevance. He should accept the refusal of Israel and the United States to deal with him and join Abbas for the good of the Palestinians. Abbas’ denunciation of the Sunday incident and his attempts to persuade Hamas and the other groups to stop attacks on Israelis deserve support.

Sharon too will find the road toward peace difficult. At a meeting of his Likud Party, members shouted “Sharon, go home” and accused him of surrendering to terrorists after the deaths of the soldiers in Gaza and a fifth killing of an Israeli, in the West Bank. To his credit, he again vowed to bring both security and peace to Israel. To get there, he will have to remove Israelis from larger, more established settlements on occupied territory. Israel on Monday dismantled only a handful of desolate outposts.

Bush said Monday that Palestinians were sick of the killings and must understand that Abbas’ vision of peace would improve their lives. The president needs to keep repeating that message and ensure that the U.S. helps Palestinians rebuild their security apparatus so they can stop attacks on Israel.