Opinion - Editorials

Handshake in the desert

AS THE MIDDLE East sets out on another long march, charted by the so-called road map, there are two primary reasons why the unlikely partnership of the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli convert to peace, Ariel Sharon, gives rise to the hope that this time the flicker of light may survive in the holy land. The first reason is the region's desperate need for a halt to the meaningless bloodshed that has impoverished both sides in the last two and a half years since the Palestine President, Yasser Arafat, declined a workable Israeli offer and indirectly ignited the second intifada or uprising. As Mr. Arafat watches from the sidelines, his collaborator of two decades and current favourite of Washington, Mr. Abbas has taken some bold initiatives, including the fashioning of a ceasefire with the militant Islamic outfit, Hamas, which can for now mean a suspension of the horrendous suicide bombing campaign. The second reason why hope (as against optimism) is justified in the present juncture is the powerful prop that the peace effort is receiving. The Bush administration, ideologically harbouring close affinity to the leadership of Mr. Sharon, is demonstrating a rare determination to support the just Palestinian cause, giving up its earlier reluctance to lean on the ultra right regime in Israel which has met every act of desperation by the dispossessed Palestinians with bullets and tanks and ever more land grabbing. The hesitant Abbas-Sharon handshake in the desert sands off the Red Sea, in the presence of a beaming American President, was followed by some vague promises by both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The next few months will show whether the two sides are ready to make the painful concessions that peace will require and ensure that enemies within do not derail the process. An Israeli Government composed of parties that have been the most vehement opponents of peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians and now pledged to coexistence is the best guarantee of results. Mr. Arafat, by spurning the generous offer of Ehud Barak during the Clinton Presidency, eased the path for Mr. Sharon and his extreme rightwing groups to come to power. The Sharon Government, whose mandate was renewed earlier this year, has gone on to marginalise the liberal Labour party and launch a vicious twin campaign of grabbing Palestinian territory and expanding Jewish settlements in occupied land. For Mr. Sharon, the more burdensome task at home will be to convince his partners from the orthodox fringe groups. He needs also to come to terms with himself. His remarkable change of heart in recent weeks has shocked not just the outside world but Israelis themselves. Regarded as the father of the illegal settlements which dot the occupied West Bank, he performed an about-face when in an extraordinary speech to his party's parliamentary deputies he called for an end to "occupation," the first time an Israeli leader had used this adjective to qualify the settler landgrab. That acknowledgement was a clear signal that the Bush administration was exerting intense pressure and that its ally, Israel, was bowing to it.

The basic feature of the road map is the requirement of simultaneity of action by the Palestinians and Israelis. At the Aqaba summit, Mr. Sharon committed Israel to the creation of a viable Palestinian state on contiguous territory — of vital importance to the Palestinians — and Mr. Abbas declared an end to the intifada of the past 33 months which has claimed more than 3,000 lives and led to retaliatory action that has seen the destruction and reoccupation of Palestinian towns. Mr. Abbas also promised to combat terrorism. Doubts have been raised about the capacity of the two intimate enemies to keep their promises. But with the U.S. appearing determined to pursue peace and ready to lean heavily on Israel if needed, there is no reason why the new flicker of hope should not begin to spread and end the Palestinians' half a century of agony.

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