Intentions and intransigence

THE POLITICAL INITIATIVE by Jordan's King Abdullah to salvage the West Asia peace process at this critical juncture is aimed at encouraging both Israel and the Palestinian high command to stay the course for a possible ``final'' accord. The young monarch's mission is no less designed to ease the frustration of the Clinton Administration over the persistent failure of the Arabs and the Jewish state to bridge the gap between them on the core issue of Jerusalem's status. While both sides continue to profess their matching political intentions for a peaceful settlement, each sees the other as being singularly intransigent. As the author of the Camp David process, the U.S., too, is still engaged in West Asia, with an emissary, Mr. Dennis Ross, trying to see, independent of the Jordanian King and the Egyptian President, how far the Israelis and Palestinians can be hustled towards another round of summit-level parleys under Washington's own measured mediation. For the moment, though, the U.S. State Department has clarified that another Camp David-style summit is not on the cards. While this has obviously triggered speculation that the West Asian peace process may be grinding to a halt, the latest flurry of diplomatic activity involving some Arab leaders and the U.S. itself will suggest that the last word has not yet been said on this subject. All the same, there is a message in King Abdullah's latest visit to Tel Aviv, a rare event for a Jordanian ruler, and his insistence that Israel and the Palestinians must not squander the present chance for a final settlement. It simply is that time is running out on two counts - the emotive Palestinian urge to declare the creation of a sovereign state by or after September 13, a deadline in focus for some time now for a firm peace deal with Israel, and the countdown for the inevitable exit of Mr. Bill Clinton, a man with an avowed dream of a negotiated peace in West Asia, from the White House.

The Palestinian helmsman, Mr. Yasser Arafat, is still keeping the world guessing about his gameplan for a unilateral proclamation of a sovereign state across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Central to this move is the question of Arab East Jerusalem. During his recent tour of several key countries in a quest for international support for a new Palestinian state with or without Israel's acquiescence, Mr. Arafat hinted that the September 13 timeline might not be sacrosanct and that a collective decision would be made by a group of leaders including him. While the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, indicated his general support for an independent Palestinian State, the Japanese leader, Mr. Yoshiro Mori, counselled a delay in the move to proclaim a sovereign entity. While the views of other countries too, including those of India which is being taken into confidence by Israel too as evident during Mr. Shimon Peres's latest visit to New Delhi, can make a difference to Mr. Arafat's thinking, wealthy Japan's stake in West Asia's resources and stability is well known.

The Israeli leader, Mr. Ehud Barak, is keen on a complex web of checks and balances in regard to East Jerusalem that would effectively deprive the Palestinians of the substance of sovereignty in that place. Tel Aviv has even begun to warn of a possible new conflagration if Mr. Arafat were to decree the formation of a plenipotentiary state without a prior agreement with the Israelis. While Tel Aviv feels emboldened in this regard by Washington's disposition against any unilateralism that could destroy the peace process, sabre-rattling is certainly not in order, be it of the political kind by the Palestinians or the diplomatic sort by the Jewish state, which indeed needs to cast the peace net wider to include Syria, now under a new leader.

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