A Fresh Push for Middle East Peace

In his debut speech before Israel's parliament as the country's new Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin suggested that Arab heads of state come to Jerusalem to talk peace. Actually, Arab leaders have long had a standing invitation to do that, and Rabin was just repeating it -- predictably, to no avail. But the Prime Minister followed up with an extraordinary appeal to his own countrymen to shake off the siege mentality that until now has made the concessions required for peace too scary for them to contemplate. "No longer is it true," Rabin said, "that 'the whole world is against us.' We must overcome the sense of isolation that has held us in its thrall for almost half a century."

In so saying, Rabin sought to prepare his people for meaningful negotiations aimed at establishing Palestinian self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. For the first time in a decade, a government exists that appears able to deliver such a deal. Rabin had originally pledged to form a centrist administration, but having failed to attract the ultra-nationalist Tzomet party into his coalition, he wound up with a left-leaning bloc, the most dovish in Israel's history. Labor's major alignment partner is Meretz, a constellation of peacenik organizations that favors allowing the Palestinians to decide their own fate.

Immediately after hearing Rabin's message, the Bush Administration moved to reconstruct ties that were badly strained under Rabin's predecessor, Yitzhak Shamir of the right-wing Likud party. Bush dispatched Secretary of State James Baker to meet with the new Israeli administration and arrange for the next round of regional peace talks, scheduled to take place in Rome in a month or two. Given Rabin's pledge to slow construction of settlements in the occupied territories, Israeli and American officials expressed confidence that Washington would approve at least part of the $10 billion in loan guarantees Jerusalem is seeking to help resettle Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Egypt, the only Arab country to recognize Israel, was upbeat about Rabin's speech -- so much so that President Hosni Mubarak invited the new Prime Minister to Egypt for a summit this week. The reaction of the rest of the Arab world, however, was markedly jaundiced. The cool response in part reflected a realization that the Arab side is on the spot. When Shamir was in power, the peace process was a bit of a joke. Now that Israel appears to be serious about it, the Arab parties are in the unaccustomed situation of having to get serious about peace themselves. (See related story on page 48.)