Beware the Ides

Land seizure sours the peace

For the Camp David peace process, and for the slow-paced negotiations between Egypt and Israel on Palestinian autonomy, the ides of March were something to beware. The Israeli government last week announced that it would expropriate 1,000 acres of land--68% of it owned by Arabs--in East Jerusalem. The expropriation plan calls for the construction of 10,000 housing units for Jewish citizens on the confiscated land. The residential complex will link two existing settlements--Neve Yaacov and French Hill--and thus complete the encirclement of predominantly Arab East Jerusalem with Jewish suburbs. At least in spirit, the seizure violated a Cabinet decision last October that privately owned Arab land in the occupied territories would not be taken for Jewish settlements.

Considering the timing of the announcement, there seemed little question that it was meant as retaliation for the U.S. vote in the United Nations Security Council two weeks ago against Israel's policy of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although President Carter later disavowed the vote as a "mistake," Israeli displeasure remained acute.

Washington was quick and unequivocal in its condemnation of the expropriation. "This is not an action destined to improve the peace process," said State Department Spokesman Hodding Carter III. "The status of any and all territory should be defined by negotiations."

The Israelis also did little to help the peace process with the selection of their new Foreign Minister to succeed Moshe Dayan, who resigned in October. The choice: Knesset Speaker Yitzhak Shamir, 64, a leader of the extremist Stern Gang during the struggle for Israel's independence, and a very determined hawk. Shamir abstained from voting on both the Camp David accords and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty when they came before the Knesset for approval. One opposition spokesman charged in parliament that it was "the height of absurdity" to name a foreign policy spokesman opposed to his government's major diplomatic achievement. Officials in Cairo and Washington professed not to be worried, however, arguing that the only one who sets foreign policy in Jerusalem is Premier Menachem Begin.

Administration officials expressed confidence that the debacle over the U.N. vote would blow over eventually and last week they reminded Israel to take the autonomy talks seriously. Unfortunately, the greatest damage done by the vote fiasco may be the erosion of whatever leverage the Administration had for putting pressure on Israel. Since the Israelis know that President Carter can ill afford to further offend Jewish voters, it is hard to imagine the Begin government giving in to a last-minute compromise. Moreover, the vote issue will not disappear right away. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to begin hearings this week on the U.N. fiasco.

Meanwhile, Europe is fearful that any momentum for peace could be lost because of election-year politics in the U.S. and a failure by Israel and Egypt to reach an agreement on the autonomy talks by the May 26 deadline. Two weeks ago, on a trip to the Middle East, French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing strongly endorsed the Palestinians' right to self-determination, adding that the Palestine Liberation Organization should be included in negotiations. Last week the Austrian government announced that it was in effect extending diplomatic recognition to the P.L.O. Chancellor Bruno Kreisky accepted a P.L.O. official as the organization's full-fledged representative in Vienna. Asked if West Germany would follow suit, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt hinted that it may not be far off. Said he: "Not yesterday, and not today."

As for Britain, officials said the Thatcher government has no plans to recognize the P.L.O. But London has initiated a plan for the European Community to sponsor a supplement to U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which would tend to support Palestinian demands for an independent homeland. Delegates of the Community met in Rome last week to discuss the specifics of the resolution as well as a proposal for a new international conference on Middle East peace, possibly including the Soviet Union.

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