Peace by Peace

President Clinton has invested six precious days in the weeks before the midterm elections in the fragile Middle East peace process, yet despite promised deals, discord seems to be the theme of the day.

After more than 18 months of vacation from the peace process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat have come together in Wye, Md., in an effort to broker a further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, but the negotiations have so far yielded only more tension. This atmosphere was compounded by a grenade attack early Monday morning at a bus station in Beersheba that wounded 67 people.

The peace process is being crippled by several factors. Israel's refusal, whether right or wrong, to cede certain parts of the Judean mountains because of their strategic importance in protecting against foreign attack is one of many obstacles, along with Netanyahu's acrobatic effort to appease the Israeli far right while brokering a pull-out from Israeli-occupied territory. Meanwhile, Palestinian negotiating potential has been damaged by the acts of extremists who prefer tactics of terror to dealing peaceably with the Israelis.

Despite the historic claims of both sides to the narrow strip of land on the East coast of the Mediterranean, there is a cold reality that extremists (and unfortunately moderates as well) on both sides stupidly ignore: Two human peoples, who have a history of terrible conflict, are living in the same physical space and neither is going to leave. It is time to put thousands of years of history on hold and come to terms with that fact--and to ensure a peaceful existence for those who have the fortune of not yet being born into this terrible conflict.

Netanyahu is right to insist on security, as he has repeatedly over the last few days. But he must also make concessions to the Palestinian people and agree to the 13 percent withdrawal from the West Bank which is being asked for. On the other side, Arafat must make more honest and concerted efforts to root out the terrorist factions with-in his ranks and comply with Israeli demands to turn over apprehended terrorists.

Although Clinton has staked a lot politically on these talks, it is up to the two grown men who run Israel and the Palestinian Authority to think of what is best for the future of their peoples, and not Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright, Dennis Ross or others who have proven themselves not up to the task.

If the situation in Israel were not so tragic it would be comic, to the extent that the same characters constantly prove themselves incapable of making any progress. Hopefully, as talks conclude this week, tragedy will no longer be the order of the day.