JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s policy of “no talks under fire” increasingly is coming under fire within Israel.
Initially, Sharon’s refusal to hold diplomatic talks with the Palestinian Authority until Palestinian violence against Israel ceases completely was supported by Israelis virtually across the board.
Increasingly, however, it is being criticized by Israeli opinion-makers, who cite examples of other nations that simultaneously fought and talked with their enemies.
Five months into Sharon’s term of office, pundits note that the prime minister has restored neither peace nor security to Israel — and they are wondering if it is time to change tactics.
This week, Sharon finally budged. Amid talk that a frustrated Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was considering leaving the government, Sharon agreed to let Peres meet with the Palestinian leadership to discuss a cease-fire.
However, Sharon stipulated that a senior army figure must be present, ensuring that Peres does not negotiate anything of broader diplomatic significance.
At the same time, however, Sharon was assiduously courting both the settler-oriented National Religious Party and the moderate Center Party. In fact, just as rumors flourished that Peres might pull Labor out of the government, stories began circulating in the Israeli media that Sharon would offer the Foreign Ministry to Center Party leader Dan Meridor as an incentive to join the government.
In any case, Sharon’s new-found diplomatic flexibility has had little practical effect, as the Palestinians now refuse to talk to Israel.
Palestinian officials said this week that as long as Israel maintains its occupation of Orient House, the Palestinians’ unofficial headquarters in Jerusalem, there is nothing for the two sides to discuss.
The Security Cabinet ordered Israeli security forces to seize Orient House and Palestinian Authority offices in Abu Dis, located just outside the Jerusalem city limits, after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Aug. 9 in a Jerusalem pizzeria, killing 15 people, many of them children.
Along with two other Labor ministers, Peres opposed the largely symbolic seizure of Orient House, saying that it would set back any hope of resuming diplomatic contacts with the Palestinians.
But the Cabinet majority — including Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, also of Labor — preferred this form of reprisal to a large-scale military action that could result in heavy casualties.
Sharon allowed Peres to launch the new diplomatic overture after a wave of unrest within Labor ranks appeared to threaten the stability of the national unity government.
Last week, interim Labor leader Peres found himself repeatedly challenged by party loyalists to demonstrate how Labor’s presence in the Cabinet was influencing Sharon’s policies.