JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned triumphant from the Washington summit conference yesterday, but disappointed Palestinians warned violence will explode again unless new talks yield swift progress in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The summit decision to hold further talks on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron without setting a pullout date, along with reiterated pledges to avoid violence, marked a clear victory for Netanyahu. His cabinet secretary, Danny Naveh, called the Washington meeting "a great success from the point of view of the government of Israel." Clearly agreeing, knots of Netanyahu supporters cheered the prime minister as he drove from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem.
By consenting to focus immediately on Hebron, however, Netanyahu set up a new and clearer-cut litmus test of his ability - and willingness - to carry forward the landmark peace agreements reached between the preceding Israeli government and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.
With full-time negotiations to begin Sunday at the Erez checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu has reduced his ability to maintain that he supports the peace accords while simultaneously failing to carry them out fully. This ambiguity has run through his dealings with the Palestinians since he took over from the former prime minister, Shimon Peres, last June, leaving supporters and foes alike unsure of his real intentions.
Benjamin Begin, hard-line son of the late prime minister Menachem Begin and minister of science and technology in Netanyahu's cabinet, told Israel Radio that the safety of Jews living in Hebron requires continued Israeli military control over security there, adding that the upcoming talks thus constitute a test for Netanyahu's resolve.
"I'm pretty sure the government will meet the test and assume its responsibility," he said.
Similarly, but from the opposite direction, Palestinians - from unemployed laborers to senior Arafat officials - said the Erez talks will go a long way toward determining whether they continue to believe in the possibility of peace with Israel as outlined in the Oslo accords.
"I believe (the round of talks starting) Sunday is the last chance for the peace process," warned Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab and adviser to Arafat on Israeli affairs.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, known by its Arabic acronym as Hamas, issued statements in Beirut and Jerusalem calling on Palestinians not to wait and see, but to organize more "marches and total confrontations" with Israeli authorities after prayers today. Israeli and Palestinian sources said Arafat's Palestinian Authority has urged patience, however, and Palestinians interviewed at random seemed willing to give the new discussions a chance.
"Arafat said don't do anything, so nobody's doing anything," said Amin Rayan, 28, an unemployed worker walking the calm streets of Ramallah, a West Bank town 10 miles north of Jerusalem that was the scene of armed clashes last week.
In fact, Arafat was strangely silent, with no public declarations reported since the summit ended in Washington Wednesday afternoon. He traveled to Morocco overnight for talks with King Hassan II. News agencies reported he planned to stop over in Tunis last night and hold discussions today in Paris with President Jacques Chirac, seeking international support for the new round of talks.
"As long as there is hope, the people will remain calm," predicted Ghazi Hamad, a member of Arafat's Palestine National Council who was visiting al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah, "but if the people lose hope in these new talks, I guess they will explode."
A few rock-throwing incidents were reported yesterday in Hebron, where Israeli troops killed a demonstrating youth Wednesday, and Palestinian boys burned an American flag in the nearby village of Saeer. But Israeli authorities said the West Bank and Gaza for the most part remained calm in the face of a military presence reinforced since last week.
In an effort to encourage the calm, Israel Radio reported, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai ordered commanders to pull tanks back from around Bethlehem and to consider pulling them back from other West Bank towns as security conditions permit. Similarly, the Israeli government underlined Netanyahu's pledge, made in Washington, to ease travel and other restrictions in Gaza and the West Bank if the situation remains calm in coming days.
Netanyahu issued an appeal on Israel's Arabic-language television channel, calling on Palestinians to be patient and to avoid repetition of last week's violence. "If we struggle against each other, if we return to the bloody disturbances, both of us will be the losers," he said, looking straight into the camera.