Word: barak
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Israeli and Palestinian leaders don't want a war, but they can't exactly afford to sign a peace agreement, either. And it's in the sullen no-man's-land between the two options that Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat are once again tentatively reaching out to each other. But judging from the proposals being floated by the Palestinian Authority right now, the talks both men will hold with President Clinton in Washington later this weeks are more likely to be exploratory "talks about talks" than any kind of speedy resumption of the Oslo Accord-based peace process that...
...Agreeing to negotiate at all right now is difficult for the leaders on both sides. Barak's minority coalition now governs under the shadow of its constant vulnerability to being thrown out in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. And even if they're prepared to allow his government a period of grace amid the current turmoil, the violence of the past six weeks has reduced the Israeli public's confidence in the peace process to an all-time low. On the Palestinian side, overwhelming public skepticism toward the peace process has given way to increasingly open defiance of Arafat...
...same time, it's clear that neither Arafat nor Barak wants an escalation. The fact that the cease-fire brokered last week by Arafat and former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres appears to be taking root despite the continued impetus toward violent clashes suggests both sides may be looking for a way out of their current impasse. But exploring ways to resume a dialogue will likely rewind back a lot further than Camp David. And the idea of Washington sharing the mediation duties with others may not be unappealing to the next U.S. president. After all, as Bill Clinton...
...Israelis feeling about the latest cease-fire agreement, following the latest Jerusalem bomb attack? Is it increasing the domestic political strain on Ehud Barak...
...Israelis feel a lot like their prime minister - deeply frustrated. They want to get tough, but they know they have to go on with the pursuit of peace. At the moment the bomb went off, Barak's office was waiting for Arafat to make his promised televised announcement calling for calm. But the announcement never came...