Editorial: Israel had better tread carefully

In the minds of many Israelis there is no distinction between the Palestinian Authority and the Taleban Government that ruled Afghanistan. This week the Israeli cabinet declared the Palestinian Authority to be a "terror-supporting entity", a phrase with clear echoes of September 11.

Israel is cruelly accustomed to terror of civilians. Another spate of bombings at the weekend killed 25 people and left nearly 200 wounded. Fifteen of the dead were on a bus in the city of Haifa when it was blown up. Most of the others were in a crowded Jerusalem street, victims of two suicide bombers and a car bomb. There were echoes of September 11 in that, too.

Israel's reaction to the attacks on the World Trade Center was different from that of other countries. Israel said it was a taste of the threat Israel faces constantly. As it watched the United States retaliate against the entity harbouring the suspected culprits, Israel took note. Early yesterday, when Israeli helicopter gunships attacked the Gaza headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the US was in no position to urge restraint as it used to do. A White House spokesman simply said: "Israel has the right to defend itself and the President understands that."

Those words will be received with great comfort in conservative Israeli circles, possibly to the exclusion of the more conventional sentiments the White House spokesman went on to express. "It is important, whatever action is taken," he said, "that all parties consider the repercussions of their actions so that peace can be achieved."

The message needs to be given loudly to Israel that there is a world of difference between the attacks on the United States and those that occur all too frequently between Israelis and Palestinians. Their strikes and counter-strikes have been going on so long that no sensible outsider dares attribute primary blame. At least the Israelis at times have aimed their reprisals at paramilitary figures in the Palestinian enclaves. The Palestinian groups, fighting what they regard as an occupying force, continue to target the civilian population for random carnage. Groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, thought to be responsible for the latest bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa, are terrorists by any definition. But Israel is not in a position comparable to the United States when Arab hijackers chose one sunny morning in September to crash airliners into New York and Washington. Israel, whether all of its citizens acknowledge the fact or not, was created out of Palestine. Israel bears an obligation, whatever happens, to try to reconcile the tensions that its existence has created.

Israel, in other words, should be the most enthusiastic participant in any effort to negotiate a secure peace. One side of Israeli politics lives up to their obligation; the other, which in in power, is more interested in pushing on with the settlement of the occupied territories and treats all peace proposals as a threat to Israel's security.

Though that side of Israeli politics has its own heritage of terrorism, it maintains an abiding distrust of the Palestinian leadership and particularly Mr Arafat. Despite his participation in the Oslo accords, and his acceptance of a good deal less of Palestine than he believes his birthright, the Israeli Government suspects he is condoning the continuing acts of terror.

His security forces jailed 110 Palestinians after the weekend bombings, but not the ones the Israelis want him to jail. Mr Arafat walks a fine line between the demands of Israel and the aspirations of his people. Even as Israel was firing missiles at him yesterday, it demanded that he crack down on militants. The demand was echoed by President Bush, who was hosting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House when Israel suffered the latest attack.

The risk now is that Mr Sharon may believe his Government has American approval to remove the Palestinian Authority and, with it, the last vestiges of progress in the region. The US may need to dispel Mr Sharon's belief quickly. Israel is a source of widespread tension which contributed to the events of September 11. That is a connection Israel ought to to find chastening.

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