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Another chance for peace

The Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire creates more cautious optimism for the Mideast. Mahmoud Abbas' challenge now will be to enforce it.

Tuesday's visual - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shaking hands across a wide table after agreeing to a cease-fire - represented another hopeful moment in the Middle East and raised the question of whether it will become just another snapshot in time or the portrait of a historic event. At the Mideast summit in Sharm el-Sheik, an Egyptian resort city, Sharon and Abbas pledged to end hostilities and give peace a chance. Abbas, who called it "the start of a new era," said his people would halt "all violent actions . . . wherever they are," while Sharon promised "at the same time, Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians everywhere."

The summit had a strong supporting cast. Egypt and Jordan sponsored the summit and announced that they would return their ambassadors to Israel. President Bush plans to invite the two leaders to visit Washington separately next month. Abbas and Sharon planned another exchange of visits, and both predicted the cease-fire would lead to comprehensive talks over refugees, borders and other outstanding issues. On her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice chose not to intrude on Abbas and Sharon's big moment. Rice did not attend the summit, but earlier visited Jerusalem and Ramallah to reassert the Bush administration's commitment to working with Europe to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back on the road to peace.

Fragile as this moment may be, it represents an important step toward reviving the peace process and ending four years of violence that has claimed the lives of more than 3,400 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, many of them innocents on both sides. By the standards of the Middle East, the very fact that Abbas and Sharon met is real progress, though it is not clear how long the cease-fire will last or whether it will lead to a broader Israeli-Palestinian accord.

The summit elevates Abbas' stature and lays the foundation for tangible progress in the Palestinian areas. If Abbas is seen as a statesman who can deliver, he will be able to broaden the popular base he needs to wage fundamental battles, from cracking down on crime, corruption and terrorism to moderating Palestinian nationalism. His toughest challenge may be trying to enforce the cease-fire. Hamas, the Palestinian terror group, made it clear it does not feel bound by the cease-fire, posing an immediate challenge for the Palestinian leader. Abbas has spoken more directly and consistently against terror than did Yasser Arafat, his predecessor, but Hamas' challenge poses a major test for him. Is Abbas willing to move aggressively against terror groups to head off Israeli military reprisals? Or does he fear a crackdown would hurt him politically by exposing his inability to keep law and order?

Israel also faces some difficult choices on military restraint and settlements. Sharon must give Abbas, in office less than a month, time to establish his authority and organize his government. That means not retaliating the first time a terror group breaks the cease-fire, as long as Abbas is making a good-faith effort to crack down on militants.

After so many disappointments in the past, it's hard to be optimistic about the chances of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But here we go again. We'll take whatever good news comes out of the Mideast these days.

[Last modified February 10, 2005, 00:26:16]