Note: The translations of articles from the Hebrew press
are prepared by the Government Press Office
as a service to foreign journalists in Israel.
They express the views of the authors.
Another Eleven Months
(Commentary by Chemi Shalev, "Ma'ariv", July 12, 1999, p. A3)
Yesterday's meeting at the Erez crossing was mainly a ceremonial
transition from "reciprocity" to "partnership," in the spirit of "an end
to the term of Benjamin Netanyahu and its curses, and the start of the
Ehud Barak era and its blessings." In well-orchestrated diplomatic
performances, Barak is telling the world that the era of revulsion with
the political process is over. Prior to leaving for Washington, he is
asking regional leaders to accept his credentials as a peace-maker in the
major leagues, where the late Yitzhak Rabin was considered a power
forward.
Hosni Mubarak, Yasser Arafat and certainly King Abdullah are now prepared
to cooperate with Rabin's heir-apparent, but it appears that they are
being careful not to go overboard. The three leaders in Barak's opening
hand understand that they are only a prelude to the main event that will
take place in a few days at the White House -- and they are ready,
together with Israeli public opinion, to sit back and wait for what is yet
to come.
Barak's political discussions are intentionally minimalist with much good
will and little content. Just one meeting, or half a meeting, and we are
already overcome with a dull sense of routine and of, truth be told, deja
vu. It can even be said that there is a firm basis to suspect that, just
as during the tiresome coalition negotiations, we are again at the
starting point of a multi-purpose, multi-phase Barak plan that will yet
make everyone crazy -- with the possible exception of Bill Clinton, if
Barak manages to persuade him.
The very use of the word "mapping" should trigger red lights of an
immediate association with the endless series of futile meetings in the
corridors of the Knesset. In fact, some have said that Barak even spoke of
"transparency" with Mubarak. Barak also believes in a precise and
ambitious definition of his objective within the political process, while
keeping all of his cards close to his chest in a "maturing" process with
its own internal rhythms. Here too, Barak intends to reach a stage of
parallel negotiation so that he can play among Syria and the Palestinians
as if they were Shas and the Likud. Here too, it can be assumed, Barak is
counting on the fact that the situation will be perfectly ripe just
minutes before everyone despairs of any progress.
Barak was given 45 days to form a coalition and took advantage of the full
time allotted. His new deadline is 11 months from now, when he will have
to make good on his promise to bring the IDF out of Lebanon. It must thus
be understood that a significant amount of time will still pass until we
reach the climax. All that remains is for us to hope that what was good
for the coalition is also good for the Middle East.