An Agreement Only to Talk

Begin makes no concessions on the Palestinians

Winston Churchill once observed that "jaw-jaw is better than war-war."

Jimmy Carter last week showed that he accepted this advice. Playing host to Israeli Premier Menachem Begin in Washington, a week after conferring with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Carter won an agreement that the two sides would keep talking, on an accelerated schedule, about autonomy for the Arabs living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. That was all: there was no break-through whatever on substantive issues --but then, Carter did not seek any.

That he did not came as a relief to Begin. The Israeli Premier flew to Washington expecting to be pressed hard for concessions. He had indeed prepared a onepage, unyielding summary of Israeli positions that he handed to Carter at the start of their seven hours of intensive discussions, spread over two days. And, speaking to American Jewish leaders in Washington, Begin insisted that Jews have "an inherent and eternal right" to establish settlements in the West Bank.

Though Carter on many previous occasions has assailed the Israeli settlement policy as a "hindrance" to peace, he did not raise the issue in his talks with Begin. Nor did he respond to the other points in Begin's memo, even when the Israeli Premier asked him to do so. "Let's ask Sadat," Carter murmured.

What emerged from the meetings was an agreement that Israeli and Egyptian representatives will begin nonstop talks on West Bank-Gaza autonomy next week and continue them for the 40 days remaining until May 26, when, under the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, the two sides are supposed to come to an agreement. Sadat earlier had proposed the marathon negotiations and asked that they be held in Washington. Begin, fearing that his representatives would be subjected to U.S. arm twisting, would not agree; he proposed that the talks be held for 20 days in Israel, then for the next 20 days in Egypt. He won; Carter agreed and so did Sadat.* Israel and Egypt could keep talking after May 26, but the Egyptians are extremely unwilling to do so.

Otherwise, nothing was settled on the substantive questions. The most important is what authority will be exercised by a self-governing council to be elected by the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza. As Carter noted in his press conference last week, "If we can accomplish that, then the details of exactly how to administer land and water rights and how to administer other specific elements of security, like controlling terrorism, I think will be resolved without delay." Sadat wants the council to act as a legislature. Begin is adamantly opposed, contending that the council should have only narrow administrative functions. Making it a legislature, he believes, would lay the groundwork for a Palestinian state that might harbor terrorists, whom he described to American Jewish leaders as "two-legged beasts." If Israel does not retain full control over security in the occupied territories, he said, "peace itself would be murdered."

There was a brief flurry of hope in the Administration last week that the basic questions could be evaded temporarily by referring them to a "continuing committee" provided for by the Camp David accords. The thinking went that Egypt and Israel could sign something by May 26, and even permit the election of a self-governing council with its powers to be spelled out later. Begin promptly squashed that speculation. He insisted, and Carter's aides reluctantly agreed, that the committee would be able to decide only relatively minor questions, like water rights; the authority of a Palestinian council would have to be agreed to in advance by Israel and Egypt before it could be elected.

How difficult that may be is illustrated by some Egyptian tales of Israeli intransigence. Egyptian Premier Mustafa Khalil has complained that when Egypt proposed that the Palestinians run their own health clinics, the Israelis protested that doing so would pose a security risk. Their reasoning: if an epidemic broke out in the West Bank, it could spread into Israel; thus Israel must continue to run the clinics. Similarly, according to Khalil, the Israelis asserted that the Palestinians could not be allowed to operate their own radio-TV broadcasting network for security reasons. While these stories are obviously one-sided, they do show the multitude of matters that must be settled in defining what Palestinian autonomy means.

There remains the possibility that Carter and Sadat soon will be dealing not with Begin but with a successor. Begin's popularity is slipping badly in Israel, both because of domestic concerns (the primary one is triple-digit inflation) and because of his stand on the peace negotiations. Polls last week found that only 21% of the Israelis queried think he is the best man for the job, though no one else tops that figure. Moreover, Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, whose popularity is second to Begin's in the government, asserted in a bombshell interview on Israeli TV that because Begin's Cabinet had lost the confidence of the public, it should resign. Such a move would force new elections long before the term of the present Israeli parliament runs out in late 1981, but it is unlikely to occur. Weizman was immediately condemned by Housing Minister David Levy as a "deep disappointment," and a clamor for his resignation arose.

Strained though the relations between them are, Weizman and Begin cooperated on one project last week that demonstrated the explosive tension in the Middle East. As Begin was flying back to Israel Friday morning, Weizman launched Israeli forces on a seaborne raid against a headquarters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the southern Lebanese town of Sarafand. The Israelis blew up houses where they said terrorists were being trained. Palestinian sources reported that 18 people were killed: six P.F.L.P. fighters, three children and nine adult civilians. qed

*Actually, because the talks will not begin until April 27, only 30 days are left, not 40.

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