The Missing Peace by Dennis Ross

Author:Dennis Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Day 5

After going to sleep at 2:30 a.m., I was awakened at 3:15 by Sandy: there had been a terrorist act in Israel, and he wondered what I thought the impact would be. That, I said, depended on the circumstances—where the attack was, how many victims there were—but in all likelihood Bibi would relax and Arafat would grow defensive. We could at least take advantage of that with Arafat.

I sagged as I went back to bed, feeling depressed and fearing again that terror might trump whatever we were doing. Four hours later I found out what had actually happened: a grenade attack in Beersheva at a bus stop had wounded sixty-seven people, including more than twenty soldiers, but had killed no one. The attacker had been captured. Things seemed to be under control in Israel. Israeli President Ezer Weizman had said that the attack made it more important for the negotiations to succeed, and Bibi had not threatened to leave—not surprising, I told the Secretary, for Bibi could not leave with nothing lest he appear unable to provide either peace or security.

While I expected Bibi to go on the offensive this morning, I suggested that Madeleine see him, offer condolences on the attack, hold her ground, and emphasize that we must keep working toward the full deal.

Madeleine agreed; she wanted to press ahead and, in her words, to stop having all “these nice discussions and tell them we have to get something done or this is over.” The Secretary and I went and saw Bibi on the deck outside River House. Predictably, he told us this attack proved the Palestinians had to produce on security or there would be no agreement. Thus provoked, Madeleine turned combative, telling Bibi: “If you keep going the way you are, you will have no peace and no security, is that what you want? You treat the Palestinians with no respect and no dignity; you just always make demands. And we are not going to continue this way. We may just have to admit it is over.”

Bibi angrily denied he disrespected the Palestinians, prompting me to say, “Well, what about this morning? Arafat tried to call you this morning to express condolences and you would not take his call; a small example, perhaps, but you should not underestimate the impact on the other side of such slights.” He said he would take the call, and when I suggested he call back now, he did so, and while making the point that Palestinians must do more to stop such attacks, he did thank Arafat for his concern.

By the time he finished the call, Bibi was all business. He quickly approved a draft statement we would issue on behalf of both sides condemning the attack. Then he asked to go over the elements of the partial deal, arguing that “we must leave here with something.”

The discussion, however, broke no new ground, but shortly after Madeleine and I left, I got a message that Bibi wanted to see me.

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