Gallows Humor

There's not much to laugh about in the Middle East these days. Even so, a bizarre thing is happening in Lebanon starting tomorrow.

In a much-ballyhooed gesture, the 22 members of the Arab League -- 19 of which do not recognize the state of Israel and maintain no diplomatic relations with Jerusalem -- will sit down in Beirut to discuss the so-called Saudi plan for peace. The funny part is that Israel, which is by any account a central figure in any plan to bring about peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, is not invited and not welcome at this particular gathering. Indeed, the Arab League had a good chuckle about the whole thing when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked for an invitation.

Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who called the suggestion a joke. He parodied Mr. Sharon's reaction to the request that Palestinian terrorist Yasser Arafat be permitted to go to Beirut, saying that the League would consider whether he could come, and if they let him, they would then decide whether they would let him go home again. Ha ha.

The joking didn't stop there, either. The Lebanese minister for refugees chimed in with a little snicker about how Mr. Sharon should think carefully about the last time he went to Lebanon before he decided to return, referring to Israel's military campaign to drive Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization out of Lebanon in the early 1980s. We're not sure we get the joke, since the Israeli campaign achieved its primary objective.

All kidding aside, though, anyone interested in weighing the seriousness of this new Saudi-sponsored push for peace would do well to ask what it means when those who profess to be interested in "dialogue" engage in the diplomatic equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and sticking out their tongues when the other side tries to speak.

Of course, the Arab League is having its fun with Prime Minister Sharon in part because he has yet to say whether Arafat will be given permission to attend the confab in Beirut. Yesterday, as the Israeli cabinet debated the question, the U.S. government continued to pressure Mr. Sharon publicly to allow Arafat to go. It has on the other hand apparently ignored the prime minister's suggestion that the White House encourage the Arab League to talk to Mr. Sharon about its peace plan, rather than New York Times columnists.

The latest emanation of the Saudi "plan" surfaced in the column of the New York Times' Thomas Friedman. The Saudis again propose to trade Arab recognition of Israel for Israeli withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders. As Jerusalem Post Editor Bret Stephens recently explained on these pages1, the proposal is not new, but since Mr. Friedman publicized Saudi interest in it, it's been seized as evidence that the Arab world is newly serious about being a constructive force for peace. Not quite so serious about it, however, that they are prepared to talk to Mr. Sharon. They would prefer, it would seem, to present Mr. Sharon with a fait accompli accompanied by international support, and force him to accept it under fire.

Despite being snubbed himself, Mr. Sharon has in fact offered to let Arafat attend tomorrow's gathering -- provided Arafat puts a stop to a campaign of violence he called down on Israel nearly 18 months ago. But meeting this demand would require acknowledging that the terrorist campaign being waged against Israel is orchestrated at the highest levels in the Palestinian Authority, and so would undermine the strategic ambiguity Arafat has so carefully cultivated.

Since it seems unlikely that Arafat will call a halt to the terror as long as he continues to wring concessions out of Mr. Sharon -- the latest being this weekend's offer to negotiate a cease-fire while the terrorist attacks continued, something the prime minister had previously ruled out -- Israel has begun to plan for other contingencies.

In an interview published in the Washington Post Saturday, Mr. Sharon said Israel was capable of dismantling the PA's terrorist infrastructure militarily if necessary, but wanted to avoid a widening of the conflict. Sunday, the Post reported that Israel is in fact drawing up such a plan in case peace talks fail to produce a cease-fire in the coming days.

The ball is firmly in Arafat's court, a fact that the U.S. should make abundantly clear to him and his Arab allies. He must stop the violence. If the Arab world continues to have its fun with Israel while encouraging and in some cases actively facilitating Palestinian terrorism, it will leave Mr. Sharon with little choice.