Broken promises 

By ESTHER WACHSMAN 

(July 9) - For many Israelis, the word "reciprocity" is at best
another cliched slogan; at worst, an excuse not to continue with our
retreat as part of the peace process. For us, the bereaved parents,
reciprocity means the Palestinian Authority handing over to Israel
the Palestinian murderers of Israelis.

In a recent newspaper article, Aryeh Bachrach - father of the late
Ohad, who was killed by terrorists in Wadi Kelt - stated that
President Ezer Weizman had "misled" him and other bereaved families.

Bachrach quoted the president as having promised to raise the issue
of the extradition of terrorist murderers with Egyptian President
Mubarak, and he accused Weizman of not having done so.

Bachrach went on to say that these murderers are subsequently drafted
into the ranks of the PA security forces, and have the potential
capability of carrying out further attacks, as was the case with the
murderer of David Boim, who later carried out the suicide bombing in
Jerusalem's pedestrian mall.

If Israel had demanded his extradition, that tragic bloodshed could
have been prevented. Bachrach expressed the hope that Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu would not give in on his demand for reciprocity,
and the handing over murderers of Israeli citizens.

I, too, join Aryeh Bachrach in his wish, and I too am the bearer of
grandiose promises which were broken.

The first person who "misled" me, in the words of Bachrach, was the
president of the US, Bill Clinton. We met President Clinton about a
year after my son's murder, at his graveside on Mount Herzl. At that
meeting, along with the president, were then-premier Shimon Peres,
and the US ambassador Martin Indyk, now under-secretary of state.

On a rainy day, under huge black umbrellas, Clinton placed a stone,
which he had brought with him from the White House, on Nachshon
grave, and assured us that the arrest and extradition of Mohammed
Dief, mastermind of our son's kidnapping and murder, was a top
American priority.

He went on to tell my husband and myself that indeed, the very
continuation of the peace process was contingent on Dief's
apprehension and arrest.

Peres nodded in agreement, and we were moved by their determination,
and we believed them. About six months later, my husband met with a
very senior figure in the PA in Gaza, who informed him that Mohammed
Dief was free in Gaza, and that he - this senior figure - could
arrest him at any time, but Chairman Arafat would not allow it.

I flew to the White House, and transmitted that information to
Anthony Lake, who was then the national security advisor. He promised
to look into it. A week later, Lake called me at home in Jerusalem,
and said that the Palestinian minister in Gaza had denied the entire
conversation with my husband and that Dief was not in Gaza - this
after the translator who was present at their meeting, had been
jailed and tortured. And so, Mohammed Dief is still free, and his
subordinates (according to the Israeli press) are serving in senior
positions in the PA.

The American president, who made that solemn promise to us at our
son's grave, is pressuring Israel to go forward with the peace
process without reciprocity in the form of extradition, and our prime
minister is portrayed as the one who breaks promises.

Not long ago, I received a letter from a number of senators who wrote
me they had raised the issue of Mohammed Dief with Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, who responded that she was not familiar with the
case at all!

I immediately contacted Martin Indyk, her under-secretary who was
present when the president made his promise, and got no satisfactory
answer, beyond the mundane reply that the US condemns terror, and was
doing its utmost to apprehend known terrorists.

Thus, was I "misled" by the world's top leaders. My conclusion is
that it is very easy to make promises in moments of emotional
vulnerability, when facing bereaved parents at the fresh grave of
their son, yet fulfilling those promises is another issue altogether.

President Clinton and prime minister Peres broke their promise to me,
and so my dear Mr. Bachrach, why are you surprised at President
Weizman's breach of his promise to you? The name of the game is
politics.