A Step on Settlements

Delivering on a campaign promise and following his own political instincts in a complex issue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has edged open the door for renewed Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The general reaction was predictable and largely on target. An official of the opposition Labor Party called the decision, announced Friday, a dangerous one that “might bring about an outburst of violence and terrorism.” Yes, it could, but Netanyahu told voters last spring that he would take that risk, before his Likud Party’s eyelash victory over peacemaker Shimon Peres and Labor in May. How he implements the new policy lifting the four-year-old freeze on settlements will be the measure of his political wisdom.

Symbolically, he did what he had to do. Practically, he is playing with the delicate balance that keeps on course peace negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, as well as the already frayed relations with Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza. Politically, he has pulled it off so far.

There are an estimated 140,000 Israelis living on the West Bank, many of them in settlements established for military advantage, others who built small homes or condos there for economic reasons, some in strongly religious redoubts. What Netanyahu’s announced development would do is thicken the settlements, not create a rash of new ones. Palestinian militants might not see the difference. Nor might the hard-pressed Arafat, who is still relying on a land-for-peace strategy, hoping that a Palestinian state would include settlement land.

Having put his settlement pawn into play, Netanyahu stepped onto the regional field Monday with his first trip to Amman, the Jordanian capital. There he announced that his government had forwarded to U.S. officials a plan for renewed talks with archenemy Syria. The prime minister is showing confidence. Movement is important, but each step bears consequences.