August 22, 2001
New Middle East Peace Bid Set in Motion by a German
By CLYDE HABERMAN
JERUSALEM, Aug. 21 — Relations between Israel and the Palestinians have so thoroughly deteriorated that any glimmer of diplomatic action, however faint, is seized as a possible path toward a truce.
That was the case here today with announcements that the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat, and the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, were prepared to meet soon to discuss how to put a declared but completely ignored cease-fire into effect.
No one on either side has suggested that the planned meeting, brokered by the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, necessarily qualifies as a breakthrough. On the contrary, Israeli and Palestinian officials have expressed skepticism, with an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon saying, "We don't have exaggerated expectations."
Even so, the stated willingness to at least sit down and talk was the first peaceful step that the two sides have taken after weeks of especially intense violence in the pummeling conflict that is now 11 months old.
As if to punctuate the difficulties that lie ahead for the negotiators, a small bomb exploded today beneath a car that was parked near Israeli police offices in a district of central Jerusalem known as the Russian Compound.
The area is also thick with restaurants and bars, which have become favorite targets for Palestinian suicide bombers. Two weeks ago, only 300 yards away, one such bomber blew himself up in a crowded pizzeria, killing 15 people besides himself and wounding about 130 others.
No one was hurt in the explosion, on Hirkanos Street, aside from a woman who suffered slightly from shock. But the police said a major disaster might have been avoided when officers opened the trunk of the parked car and found what they described as a much larger bomb, weighing 20 pounds or more.
Mickey Levy, the Jerusalem police chief, said the smaller device might have been a decoy, intended to lure officers to the scene, only to have the big bomb go off and kill them.
The bomb squad spent hours trying to deactivate the material found in the car trunk, eventually detonating it in a controlled explosion. While the police worked, a group calling itself the Popular Army Front - Return Battalion issued a statement in Beirut saying it was responsible.
[The continuing violence flared again in the early hours of Wednesday, when four more Palestinians were killed, Reuters reported. Palestinian officials said they were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in a gunfight between the two sides near the West Bank city of Nablus. The army had no immediate comment. Israeli Radio, citing military sources, said a squad of Palestinians were ambushed by soldiers who believed they were laying a bomb.]
No time or place was set for the Arafat-Peres meeting. Given that both men will be traveling for the next few days, nothing seems likely to happen before next week.
Berlin has loomed as a potential site, if only because the middleman in this latest attempt to stop the fighting is Mr. Fischer, who has been here for the last two days, shuttling between the two sides. Mr. Arafat suggested Berlin, but Israeli officials said other locations were possible.
The German foreign minister has emerged as a pivotal figure in the hopes for peacemaking, in part because he helped bring about a lull in the violence after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 21 Israelis at a Tel Aviv disco in early June.
His intervention led to an announced cease-fire arranged by George J. Tenet, the United States director of central intelligence. But that truce exists in name only. If anything, the level of mutual mistrust is higher than ever.
Still, Mr. Fischer has commanded the respect of both parties. Mr. Arafat clearly welcomes European involvement, for it brings closer the possibility of international intervention in the conflict, which he has sought for months. And Israeli officials acknowledged that they were not about to slight Germany, viewed by many in the government as the country's best friend in Europe.
From Israel's perspective the immediate goal is to stop terrorism and other attacks. It was not lost on some in the Jewish state that Germany, of all places, is the country now being asked to help put a stop to Jews getting killed.
After meeting with Mr. Arafat in Ramallah, a West Bank city just north of Jerusalem, Mr. Fischer noted that mechanisms for a truce already existed. He was referring to recommendations made four months ago by an international commission led by former United States Senator George J. Mitchell. That panel proposed an immediate cease-fire that would lead to a "meaningful cooling- off period," which in theory would create a climate for talks on the substantive issues.
The truce declared in June was supposed to be the first step in that process. But it has led nowhere. Indeed, Mr. Sharon has repeatedly said that nothing is going to happen until he first sees seven days of absolute quiet. So far, it has been almost impossible to see seven hours pass without a shot being fired.
It is not clear if Mr. Fischer had Mr. Sharon's stand in mind, but he asserted today that "what we need is the beginning of the implementation" of the Mitchell proposals. "Not the invention of a new wheel," he added, "but to make the existing wheels run." His efforts to ease the crisis were endorsed by the United States. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was reported to have spoken to his German counterpart, and a State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said in Washington that "the Germans of course are trusted friends and close NATO allies, and we welcome their constructive efforts with the parties."
Virtually no one here expects the talks to be easy. Mr. Peres and Mr. Arafat have met twice before, in late June and mid-July, without achieving true progress.
Palestinian officials, including Mr. Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, have spoken dismissively, even scornfully, of Mr. Peres in recent days. They questioned the use of talking with him, saying he lacked a mandate from Mr. Sharon to make the political compromises that they insist are necessary for any deal.
For his part, Mr. Sharon, who shares none of his foreign minister's dovish views, does not seem to hold out much hope for success.
Zalman Shoval, one of the prime minister's advisers, said: "We don't have exaggerated expectations, not just because of Arafat's record in the past, but also because his strategy is not to come to a peaceful settlement with Israel. He regards the present violence as part of his long-term strategy. I would be very careful about being overly optimistic about a hopeful ending to this meeting."
Obviously, what the two sides will talk about looms even larger than the where and when. Without elaboration, Mr. Fischer said the discussions would be based on "new ideas" by the Israelis.
That was an apparent reference to reports here that Mr. Peres is recommending a cease-fire that would be put into effect in stages, starting in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip where violence has not been great.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
