Word: baraker
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's strategy of imposing a "unilateral separation" on the Palestinians if Yasser Arafat declares statehood [WORLD, Nov. 6] reminds me of South Africa's semantic maneuvering to replace the word apartheid with words like "separate development." Of course, the Middle East and South African situations are totally different. But Barak and Arafat can follow Nelson Mandela's and F.W. de Klerk's example and not only talk but also work together and walk the whole mile of transformation to democracy without outside mediators. JAN MAARSCHALK Florida Hills, South Africa...
VLADIMIR PUTIN Russian President gets Barak and Arafat on Middle East peace party line. Carter stews quietly...
...Ehud Barak's reelection campaign is not going well. Conventional wisdom has it that a peace breakthrough with the Palestinians is the key to the Israeli prime minister's chances of winning the election he was forced to call last week, and Monday's fierce gun battles in Bethlehem and Ramallah were a reminder of just how elusive such a deal may be. Israeli helicopter gunships fired on a Palestinian neighborhood in Bethlehem after Israeli troops guarding the Jewish shrine of Rachel's Tomb were fired on, while the Ramallah firefight capped a weekend of clashes that followed the mistaken...
...latest incidents come despite renewed efforts at implementing previous cease-fire agreements, which last week had more optimistic spokesmen on both sides cautiously chewing over prospects for resuming talks. Worse news for Barak's reelection effort may be the go-ahead he gave over the weekend for an international commission of inquiry into the current violence to begin its work - the Israelis had previously insisted that the commission should wait until after the current violence abates, but under encouragement from President Clinton Barak agreed in principle that it should begin work immediately. The commission, constituted by Clinton as part...
...danger for Barak, of course, goes beyond the fact that Israelis are uncomfortable with the very idea of subjecting the conduct of their security forces to foreign scrutiny. Inquiries by such respected human rights agencies as Amnesty International and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights have harshly criticized Israel for responding with excessive brutality to the Palestinian uprising, and Senator Mitchell's inquiry when it delivers its report in March may create pressure for Washington to be more critical than it has been until now of the conduct of its Israeli ally. That could easily have the effect of driving...