By
Jill Critchley

Peace

DECEMBER 15, 1998

While the agreements made at the Wye Summit are not being met, peace still may be attainable. James Luchese, a Middle East expert, said that while the result of the Wye Summit was impotent, it was successful in other ways.

"It was not the result that counted, it was the guarantee that the process would continue moving forward," Luchese said.

Similarly, Luchese said he believes the Oslo Accords cannot be written off as a failure either. As long as both sides continue to meet, the purpose of the peace talks is being served. "The Oslo Accord did not fail…Are the parties still meeting face-to-face, trying to find a solution? The obvious answer is yes. Therefore, it has not failed yet. When war breaks out or the peace dissolves completely, then it will have failed," Luchese said.

The parties are meeting face-to-face once again, this time in the Middle East. President Clinton traveled to the area to survey the scene and push forward the deadlines agreed upon at the Wye Summit. Yet, some, like Brian Kedersha, who has a degree in International Affairs, argue that the President will not accomplish anything by doing this. "When presidents get into trouble at home, it is common for them to go abroad and focus on international affairs. This does not mean, however, that Clinton will be successful in speeding up the peace process," Kedersha said. Luchese agreed, stating that with the current predicament he is in, Clinton no longer has the ability to make major foreign policy decisions.

"Due to the ongoing impeachment hearings, Clinton is basically a lame-duck president at this time. He might be able to get the process moving forward again, but only for a limited time," Luchese said.

According to Luchese, however, the U.S. must remain actively involved in the peace process if it is to be successful and Clinton is doing just that. "We can only have patience. Without U.S. involvement the end result can only be war, a devastating war that would affect half the nation’s people," Luchese said. Kedersha argues that U.S. involvement may be necessary to mediate between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but he questions the willingness of the parties to accept whatever comes out of this mediation.

"Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are truly ready for peace talks yet. As a result, Netanyahu and Arafat both have to put on a show for their people and look tough in front of their opposition," said Kedersha. "Yet, peace accords between the two leaders are invalid if their people do not agree with them," he said.

Furthermore, Kedersha said there are times when it seems as if both sides are taking advantage of U.S. support. "Both sides are stalling the peace process in the hopes that they will receive better offers in the additional agreements that will follow. This way, both parties can try to make it look as if the other is not willing to reach peace, while they each hold out for a better deal," said Kedersha.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Netanyahu also said the Palestinians were emboldened to incite street riots and threaten to declare statehood because they believed they had Clinton "in their back pocket."

According to a CNN article, Netanyahu said he did not believe the United States was siding with the Palestinians, but his sharply worded remarks sent a strong signal that he would like Clinton to intervene and lower Palestinian expectations prior to his trip. Kedersha said this request evolved into Clinton’s agreement to travel to the Middle East in a helicopter rather than Air Force One. "He did this so that the Israelis would have no reason to believe that the U.S. considered Palestine sovereign," said Kedersha.

Luchese commented that Clinton’s decision to travel by helicopter was not a result of Netanyahu’s request, but also a safety precaution. "The helicopter can fly lower to the ground to allow the President to get a better vantage point of the areas of dispute. It also is safer because the engine doesn’t create as much heat, which makes it harder to detect by heat-seeking missiles. The fighter escort planes would have hotter engines that could draw the missiles away from the helicopter," Luchese said.

In addition to the stall tactics implemented by the Israelis and the Palestinians, the Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement to Israeli occupation, is also trying to stop the peace process. According to Luchese, Hamas has the Israelis number. "They (Hamas) know that no matter what agreement is reached, all they have to do is conduct a terrorist attack and the Palestinians will receive the blame and the process will stall again… They (Israelis) count on the attacks and use them as an excuse to stop the peace process," said Luchese.

Kedersha agrees that these terrorist attacks hit a sore spot with the Israelis who were the most concerned with the aspect of the Wye Agreement that required a security plan to crack down on violence cause by terrorists. "Terrorism has been focused on as an aspect of the peace talks which failed," said Kedersha. "Yet, terrorism is not the main issue here. A deeper underlying issue sparked the terrorist attacks. The Israelis and Palestinians must discover and correct that issue before they can expect the terrorism to come to an end," he said.

Narrowing the focus from the superficial compromises to the underlying issues is the only hope for the future according to Luchese. Luchese said, "What can be done? Have patience. There is no alternative better than being more patient than the other guy. The peace talks aren’t working because we are trying to diffuse a time bomb that has existed for over four thousand years. What we have to do is wait for the Israelis and Palestinians to decide they have had enough of the violence. Only then will talks of peace be effective."