Intifada Hits the Headlines: How the Israeli Press Misreported the Outbreak of the Second Palestinian Uprising

7. “We Have Turned Every Stone”

7 “We Have Turned Every Stone” The Palestinians do not want peace? Too bad, but never mind. Let them create their state, and Israel will cling to its holdings and see where they are headed. Should the Likud agree, a long-term unity government, with Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu , and others, may be an option. —Dan Margalit, Ha’aretz, October 12 On Monday, October 16, only four days after the Palestinians were “exposed in all their murderous ugliness,” Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat met again, at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Sinai. The newspapers reporting the planned summit, on Sunday the 15th, expressed considerable pessimism : with all due respect to President Clinton’s feverish efforts, what could possibly be expected of this summit, when Arafat showed no signs of changing his violent ways? Yediot Ahronot’s main headline says: SUMMIT—UNDER SHADOW OF TERROR ATTACK THREAT The banner and the sub-headline elaborate: BARAK, CLINTON AND ARAFAT DUE TO MEET TOMORROW IN SHARM EL-SHEIKH TO NEGOTIATE CEASE-FIRE. SHARON: WE WILL NOT JOIN THE GOVERNMENT TILL RESULTS OF TALKS ARE PUBLISHED CONCERN IN THE U.S.: TALKS MAY FAIL. LIKUD BACKS PM: SUPPORTS DELIBERATIONS FOR A CESSATION OF VIOLENCE. SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT ALERTS: HAMAS AND JIHAD WILL TRY TO BRING ABOUT A CANCELLATION OF THE SUMMIT. FORMER HEAD OF SHIN-BETH AMI AYALON: ARAFAT HAS LOST CONTROL Ma’ariv’s main headline also attempts to lower readers’ expectations: PESSIMISM ON WAY TO SUMMIT; BARAK AND SHARON PLANNING “EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT” AFTERWARDS The banner reports the latest security assessment: FEARED TERROR ATTACK INTENDED TO UNDERMINE SHARM SUMMIT TOMORROW The sub-headline elaborates: CONCERN: ARAFAT WILL RESUME “PARIS TACTICS” AT THE SUMMIT. BARAK AND SHARON ARE CLOSE TO AN AGREEMENT ON A SHARED DIPLOMATIC PLAN, INCLUDING CONTINUED STATUS QUO IN JERUSALEM. RISING OPPOSITION TO EMERGENCY GOVERNMENT IN LIKUD AND THE LEFT. Ha’aretz’s main headline reports: SUMMIT IN SHARM TOMORROW, ATTEMPT TO ACHIEVE CEASE-FIRE; RENEWAL OF NEGOTIATIONS IS NOT EXPECTED The sub-headline adds: PARTICIPANTS: CLINTON, BARAK, ARAFAT, MUBARAK, AND KING ABDALLAH; DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT IS SKEPTICAL ABOUT CHANCES FOR A COOL-DOWN Two days later, on Tuesday, October 18, a few hours after the summit ended with a bilateral cease-fire agreement, it “turned out” again that the pessimistic assessments were right on the mark: Arafat had been put to the test—and had failed yet again. He had indeed signed the agreement in Sharm, but at the very same time had ordered his people to resume shooting on Gilo—the contradiction already discussed in the opening chapter of this book. Two days later a group of settlers who had taken their children on a day trip to Mount Eival in the Nablus area were shot at by Palestinians . One of the settlers, Benjamin Herling from Kdumim, was killed. Four were wounded. Once again, the prime minister had “no choice.” On the next day, Friday, October 20, one day before the Arab leaders’ summit in Cairo, Barak announced that Israel was taking “a time-out” from the diplomatic process. On Saturday night, after the Cairo summit ended with a moderate condemnation of Israel, the prime minister’s office released the following statement: Given that the Palestinians did not comply with the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings , and as a result of the Arab countries’ summit in Cairo, this time-out is necessary. Our purpose is to reassess the state of the diplomatic process in light of the past weeks’ events. The prime minister reiterates that Israel will continue striving for peace and searching for a way to attain it. Only someone who is blind on the diplomatic as well as the defense level can think it possible to continue negotiations, as if nothing had happened. This time-out is a self-evident necessity, dictated by common sense. “We Have Turned Every Stone” | 131 And senior sources in Barak’s office added: Those who try to represent the time-out as an Israeli-initiated interruption of the diplomatic process are wrong. They weaken our position in the entire world, and mislead others in a way that furthers the arguments raised against us by the Palestinians and the Arab world. With Barak’s decision to “reassess” the diplomatic process, we approach the end of this book. The present chapter will focus on the Sharm el-Sheikh summit and Barak’s “time-out,” and will continue with a more comprehensive investigation of...