A stick needs a carrot

Editorial

The decision by Likud's central committee to back off from the policy of working toward an eventual Palestinian state is wholly understandable. The terrorist per- petrators who have waged war against Israel should not be tempted with even the suggestion of reward for their murderous actions. The Palestinian leadership needs to understand that the more terrorism Israel is subjected to, the further a Palestinian state moves from the realm of the possible.

Understandable the decision may be. But sensible it is not. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has defiantly said he will not be bound by his party's vote. He will continue with the strategy he has engaged, which combines both carrot and stick.

This is the wisest move. Any diplomat will say that nothing can be removed from the table before negotiations begin. While Palestinians need to have an inescapable understanding that violence will not get them a state, there should remain enough carrot to encourage them to renounce violence and return to the negotiating table. By precluding the idea of a Palestinian state, Likudniks attempted to remove that carrot.

In terms of international opinion, the move was particularly impolitic. The theoretical support for a Palestinian state is part of what gives Israel the high ground in this conflict. Israel has always been willing to negotiate a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians took up arms instead. To refuse to entertain the idea of a Palestinian state, that high ground is lost. If Sharon accepted his party's stand, Israel – not terror – would appear to be the main obstacle between Palestinians and their national aspirations.

Sharon was correct to stand his ground.

Of course, the real issue may not have been Palestinian sovereignty at all. The subtext of the exercise was, in fact, a power play by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his supporters to undermine the leadership of Sharon.
The irony should be obvious. Sharon was elected as the hard-liner, but found he could not operate diplomatically from an inflexible position.

Netanyahu is now playing the hard-liner, though back in office, he would almost certainly return to the flexible position necessary for successful diplomacy.

The whole incident was more of a political ploy than a serious policy disagreement. It is sad that Likud's internal machinations will harm Israel's foreign reputation.

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