A TEST FOR SECURE PEACE - 30-Jul-96

(Commentary by Ran Kislev, "Ha'aretz", 30.07.96, p.B1)

THE RECENT ATTACKS ARE TURNING ISRAEL'S TERRORISM PROBLEM INTO PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM.

International terrorist attacks as represented by the bomb in Atlanta or the explosion of the TWA airplane are providing the Prime Minister's arguments with convenient ammunition. Benjamin Netanyahu can send a telegram to President Clinton, not only to express his sharing of his grief but also to offer assistance. On this occasion, maybe the world will remember that our Prime Minister is an expert in the international war against terrorism and even published a book out on the subject.

Also, in terms of our international position, these attacks are not a bad thing. They are raising international terrorism on the ladder of importance and are turning our terrorist problem into part the rest of the world's problem. Maybe it will also cause the suspicions of the new Israeli government, vis-a-vis the peace process with the Palestinians or with Syria, to be forgotten.

Indeed, it is not so good that neither Arab nor Islamic terrorist organizations are even suspected of responsibility for the Atlanta attack, and that the FBI is searching for, "a white male with a southern accent,"

(and not a Middle Eastern accent). It would have been far more comfortable had the strings led to Syria, or at least Teheran, and not to some crazed American group.

But terrorism remains terrorism, and it strikes not only in Atlanta but also near Beit Shemesh, where it kills three members of one family, at almost the exact same moment as the Atlanta explosion, despite the lack of any connection between the two incidents. Atlanta is the scene of intense media attention which, even in Israel, has caused our problems to be forgotten. But ultimately, Beit Shemesh is closer than Atlanta, and the Munk family of Mevo Beitar is dearer to us than the victims of Atlanta's Centennial Park, another Olympic site.

While the Beit Shemesh attack the second since the elections, but the first of this government's tenure did not lead to any demonstrations outside the Prime Minister's residence, or calls of "Netanyahu, go home," some murmuring has already been heard about the security situation in the area and about the failure of Government ministers to attend the funerals of the victims. The Prime Minister's Office would not be wrong in fearing that, if another terrorist attack should occur in the future, these voices will become louder. Four years ago, during its last term in office, the Likud absorbed more than a little of this "blown-off steam" in the wake of the attacks which occurred then.

It can be said that these are the first buds of the great test facing Netanyahu's "making a secure peace" campaign slogan. The problem with this motto, as with the practical translation offered by Netanyahu "there will be no peace process if there is terrorism" is that it leads nowhere. The only thing that it can bring about is a halt to the Oslo process. It will not lead to the eradication of terrorism.

The fundamental truth does not change just because governments come and go. In our world, terrorist acts are almost inevitable, even in places without ethnic problems and the attack at the Olympics is proof of this. The frequency of terrorist acts intensifies, along with tensions between sections of the population. They are becoming part of the daily reality in places of struggle between peoples, as in Ireland or here. They continue parallel to reconciliation, as in Ireland and here (after Oslo). They will abate only when the process brings about a settlement acceptable to both parties.

And to the contrary, if terrorist attacks cut short the reconciliation, terrorism will not only continue but it will become even more intense. Obviously, our prisons can again be filled with thousands of Palestinians, and the IDF can return to population centers in order to, "take security matters into our own hands," but we have already been through this.