For Israel, a new risk of isolation

After initially anticipating that the terrorist atrocities in the United States would work to its advantage, Israel is now realizing that it faces new risks from Washington's efforts to forge an international coalition against terrorism.

A decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to block a meeting planned for last night between his reputedly dovish foreign minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has reinforced the new sense that there is a divergence of interests between Mr. Sharon and the US, which had backed the session. The talks had been aimed at consolidating cease-fire efforts that began last week.

For Israel, the implications of the push by its American ally go far and wide: They range from a possible boost in the standing of longtime Israeli enemies Iran and Syria, to new pressure on the military and diplomatic confrontation with the Palestinians.

"If the US wants to bring in Iran, Syria, and the Palestinians, then they are bringing in a lot of terrorists who, for their own convenience, just want to ride the wave," says Ephraim Inbar, director of the Besa Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. "I think that it's a misguided policy to appease terrorists, but this is what we may see."

Immediately after the attacks in the US, Israeli leaders predicted they would have more leeway to pursue devastating military actions in the occupied West Bank in the name of combatting terrorism. "It's a fact that in one night we killed 14 of them in Jenin, Tamoun, and Arabe, and no one in the world is talking about it," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said in the Sept. 14 issue of Yediot Ahronot daily newspaper.

But things have since become more complicated. It now seems that the US and Israel do not necessarily see eye to eye on how to define a terrorist or agree on who the enemy is in the new battle.

While Sharon has tried repeatedly to lump Palestinian leader Mr. Arafat in the same category as Osama bin Laden, the US sees a vital role for Arafat in de-escalating the Middle East conflict. Such a cooling off is viewed as crucial in order to diffuse regional resentment against America and its pro-Israel policies.

Secretary of State Colin Powell had mounted pressure on Sharon to endorse the meeting between Arafat and Peres. He had also implored Arafat to adhere to the cease-fire. But after being pressured by extremists in his cabinet, Sharon reportedly told his ministers that the meeting planned for last night would not proceed because of Palestinian shooting incidents.

If Arafat is seen by Washington as keeping his end of the cease-fire, there will be little American tolerance for Israeli military forays, analysts predict.

"Israel's role now is to share any intelligence discreetly and not to call attention to the Arab-Israeli conflict by having big [military] operations in the midst of all this," says William Quandt, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former National Security Council staffer. "As far as the US is concerned, this is no longer a border dispute, and anyone playing the game has to realize the high stakes involved."

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