Try and try again 

By Gerald M. Steinberg
Jerusalem Post - Friday, October 30, 1998 

(October 30) - Americans who grew up reading the comics
  are familiar with a character named Charlie Brown - a
  well-intentioned but naive boy who spends his days
  struggling with the challenges of life.

  Every year, at the beginning of football season (the
  American version), "poor old Charlie Brown" agrees to
  test his kicking skills. Lucy, his worldly wise
  neighbor, promises to hold the ball in the kicking
  position, so that Charlie Brown can take a full-speed
  run-up to it. And then, just as he reaches the ball,
  Lucy pulls it away, and Charlie Brown ends up flat on
  his back.

  The following year, Lucy promises that she has reformed,
  and is no longer interested in subjecting the young boy
  to ridicule. So, after pondering the issue for some
  time, Charlie Brown decides to trust Lucy, starts his
  run up, reaches the ball, and "wham," he falls on his
  face. Lucy, it turns out, has not finished teaching him
  the ways of the world.

  Israel and the Jewish people are a collective Charlie
  Brown, with the Clinton administration and Palestinians
  teaming up as Lucy. When the official rhetoric and
  massages from the spin doctors are stripped away, the
  Wye Memorandum, with its Palestinian pledges to halt
  terror and the hate speech that fuels it, are further
  versions of previous promises.

  We have heard it all before - at Oslo and Washington in
  1993, in the 1994 Gaza-Jericho agreement, the interim
  agreement of September 1995, and after the January 1997
  Hebron Agreement.

  At each stage, the Palestinians gain control over more
  land, making irreversible progress toward an independent
  state, while repeating the same promises. Each time, we
  are given solemn assurances that now the Palestinians
  really mean it.

  As part of the Oslo process, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak
  Rabin exchanged formal letters, in which the PLO
  renounced the use of terrorism and other acts of
  violence, and pledged to convey this message by amending
  the Palestinian Covenant. However, the terror and
  incitement continued, and the Palestinian National
  Council has yet to receive or consider an amended text.

  Two years later, the interim agreement established the
  Palestinian Police force in order to "act systematically
  against all expressions of violence and terror,"
  confiscate illegal firearms, and "arrest and prosecute
  individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence
  and terror."

  This pledge came amidst a series of suicide bombings and
  other acts of violence against Israel, and only a few
  months before the wave of terror in early 1996 that
  effectively froze the process. The Palestinians got
  their "police force," and expanded its number far beyond
  the agreed limits, but these pledges were not
  implemented.

  In the Hebron Note for the Record, signed less than two
  years ago, the Palestinian Authority promised to mend
  its ways. In the text, the PA "reaffirms its commitment"
  to complete the process of revising the Palestinian
  Covenant; to "combat systematically and effectively
  terrorist organizations and infrastructure"; to
  strengthen security cooperation with Israel; to
  apprehend, prosecute, and punish terrorists; to reduce
  the size of the paramilitary force; and to prevent
  "incitement and hostile propaganda."

  These requirements were also as specified in the 1995
  interim agreement, also signed in Washington, but had to
  be repeated again in 1997 (and once again last week at
  Wye) because they were not honored.

  In the Wye agreement, the Palestinians have made these
  pledges for the third or fourth time since Oslo,
  promising "zero tolerance for terror," a real effort to
  apprehend, prosecute, and punish terrorists, and a
  reduction in the size of its bloated armed forces to the
  level specified in the earlier agreements.

  The PA also pledged to develop a "work plan" to be
  "shared with" the US "to ensure the systematic... combat
  of terrorist organizations." In practice, this means
  that in addition to Israeli-Palestinian security
  cooperation mechanisms set up earlier, CIA officials
  will meet with Palestinian security officials on a
  biweekly basis.

  In the previous cases, Arafat and the PA made no move to
  even attempt to show that their actions might match
  their words and commitments with respect to terrorism
  and incitement. They did not attempt to disarm Hamas and
  destroy the terrorist infrastructure.

  This time, immediately after the White House signing
  ceremony, the PA launched a highly publicized raid on
  the offices of Fatah in Ramallah. This action, which led
  to protests, violence, and one fatality, may have been
  designed to show that Arafat is indeed serious this
  time. However, past behavior suggests that the objective
  was to create the illusion of action, while again
  avoiding a clash with Hamas.

  Despite the abysmal track-record, the Israeli government
  and, more importantly, the public appear to be willing
  to give the "peace and security process" yet another
  chance.

  Like Charlie Brown running up to kick the ball, hoping
  that this time, finally, his partners will fulfill their
  obligations, and he will not end up flat on his back, we
  remain cautiously hopeful.

  But unlike a fictional character in a comic strip, for
  us, there is a limit. For the Oslo process, this really
  is the last chance.