Recognizing Israel--Building a Peace : Moscow should now go whole diplomatic route

Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander A. Bessmertnykh murmured something the other day about how an Israeli acceptance of the superpowers’ invitation to peace talks would speed up restoration of full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Thursday’s acceptance of that invitation by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir is, of course, the most encouraging sign to date that something might actually come of the U.S. and Soviet invitation to negotiations. It is also a very good reason the Soviets ought to put their process of recognition into fast forward.

OBSTACLES: Of course a real peace conference is not a done deal. Shamir still could reject the delegation that the Palestine Liberation Organization puts together. Hard-line members of his Cabinet will fight to block even a conditional agreement to talk about swapping land for peace, although Shamir should be able to muster enough votes to attend the conference.

And even if Israel did meet with President Bush, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and enemies such as Syrian President Hafez Assad, years of rancor, of Arab threats to push Israel overboard, of ancient animosity, will not be overcome easily.

Even so, Israel has about run out of options to serious discussion of giving up land it captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war in return for Arab guarantees of the security of its borders.

The United States and the Soviet Union are no longer on different sides on the issue of peace in the Middle East. Syria is no longer Moscow’s surrogate in the region, free to stir up trouble. Soviet Jews are by and large free to emigrate to Israel.

Bush has put Middle East peace high on his foreign policy agenda and Secretary of State James A. Baker III has invested more time and travel in trying to get what Bush wanted than in any other goal.

Furthermore, Israel’s relations with Washington have changed. The Bush Administration has been less reluctant than other U.S. administrations since 1948 to insist on getting something from Israel in return for economic and military aid. Washington, for example, made it clear to Israel a month ago that it will not guarantee loans to help settle a flood of Soviet Jews unless Shamir freezes settlement activities on the West Bank.

PRESSURES: Saudi Arabia offered to drop its world boycott of companies doing business with Israel. Syria and Jordan--and eventually the Saudis--committed themselves to taking part. As if these were not reason enough to make Shamir think seriously about negotiations, a recent poll of Israelis found that 69% approved the idea of conceding land on the West Bank as part of a move toward peace.

Singly, none of these events could have prodded Shamir to a bargaining table. But together, they seemed overwhelming.

The invitation from Bush and Gorbachev was issued with no guarantee of success. But Shamir surely must recognize that there may be no better chance to let the Middle East come to a formal and binding conclusion that Israel belongs where it is.