Israel "We Don't Knuckle Under"

By JON D. HULL JERUSALEM

Even as tough a character as Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir could have been excused for wavering under the pressure last week. Instead of concentrating its ire on Iraq, the U.S. joined in a United Nations condemnation of Israel, intensifying fears that the gulf crisis may ultimately be linked to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All the talk of a peace deal in Kuwait sent another shudder through Shamir's government, leading many members to conclude that they may not get to see Baghdad burn after all. To make matters worse, Israeli officials had to watch as the U.S. Senate voted last week to cancel Egypt's $6.7 billion military debt, marking the first time that Egypt will receive a better deal than Israel from the U.S., a stark reminder to Israelis of their diminishing importance as a strategic ally in the region.

None of that, however, softened Shamir's defiance. He managed to widen the U.S.-Israeli rift by shrugging off a personal letter from President Bush asking him to accept a U.N. investigation of the Temple Mount riot, in which Israeli police killed 20 Palestinians. Bush advised Shamir to get out of the headlines and let the spotlight return to Iraq. When Shamir refused to budge, the U.S. supported a unanimous Security Council resolution "deploring" Israel's intransigence, the second U.N. condemnation of Israel in just 12 days. Keeping up his barrage of harsh talk, Secretary of State James Baker called the censure "a matter of principle."

The U.N. vote, which was intended both to punish Shamir and to mollify the Arab states aligned with the U.S. against Iraq, offered the strongest indication yet that the gulf crisis may gradually forge a new U.S. approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Frosty stares and stiff messages between Washington and Jerusalem are hardly rarities. But the gulf crisis is fundamentally altering American interests and alliances, strengthening ties to Arab states that will expect more evenhandedness from Washington in return. Officials in Jerusalem and Washington -- one side in fear, the other in hope -- are privately predicting that if Bush prevails against Iraq, he will be emboldened to pressure Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians.

If so, the latest feud between the U.S. and Israel suggests that Bush may need to rethink his strategy. Shamir's ideological commitment to the status quo remains unshakable, and the threat of Iraqi missiles and Palestinian support for Saddam has only reinforced his views. Although the Administration's strong-arm tactics generated plenty of anger and anxiety in Jerusalem last week, the U.S. notably failed to elicit even a hint of flexibility.

Then again, Washington did not exactly send an unequivocal message. Not only did the Senate overwhelmingly (76 to 23) approve Israel's $3 billion-plus annual aid package, but it also tacked on an additional $700 million worth of military hardware. With a carrot like that, Shamir can hardly be blamed for ignoring Bush's stick. As long as those funds keep flowing, the Israeli government is unlikely to change course despite the growing animosity between the two leaders. Says Shamir spokesman Avi Pazner: "We've shown that we don't knuckle under to pressure."

But Shamir is not the only obstacle to compromise. The gulf crisis has reduced the conflict between Arabs and Jews to its basest level of hatred and anger. Even before the Temple Mount tragedy, moderates on both sides were running for cover as the region's turmoil radicalized the Palestinians and hardened Israeli attitudes. Frustrated by their inability to budge Israel after three years of revolt, many Palestinians have embraced Saddam's militancy on the mistaken theory that they have nothing to lose. In turn, a growing number of Israelis have concluded that Palestinian treachery somehow excuses Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, ignoring the corrosive damage to their own country and the U.S. alliance.

The Temple Mount riot stripped the conflict to its molten core and convinced many Arabs and Israelis that there is nothing left to talk about. The clandestine leadership of the intifadeh has called for the "liquidation" of Jewish soldiers and settlers, while hard-line Israelis have demanded harsher countermeasures against Palestinians. When a West Bank Arab took revenge by stabbing three Israelis to death in a quiet Jerusalem neighborhood last week, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official heralded the new "war of daggers." An angry Israeli mob responded with assaults on Palestinians and even Israeli leftists.

As the violence quickly spread, Defense Minister Moshe Arens barred all 1.7 million Palestinians from entering Israel. Arens had intended to enforce calm and appease public opinion, but he also threw Israel's division along the pre- 1967 borders into sharp relief. Faisal Husseini, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian leader, even welcomed the ban as "the first step toward independence." In Jerusalem, Israel's dream of peaceful coexistence was refuted by the stifling presence of 2,000 police.

The spasms of violence offered yet another demonstration of why Israelis and Palestinians cannot be left to their own devices, which too often include stones, knives, tear gas and bullets. The logical alternative is dialogue, but that seems increasingly unlikely as fear and hatred grow. By refusing to discuss a territorial compromise, Israel has convinced Palestinians that statehood can be won only through bloodshed. By stabbing Jews, Palestinians are rapidly transforming the remaining Israeli doves into hawks. If Bush really thinks he can break this stalemate, the U.S. is going to have to get tougher -- a lot tougher -- with both sides.

With reporting by Christopher Ogden/Washington