The Pressure On Sharon

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Such preparations assume a constant state of war, or something so close to it that the precise term makes little difference. But to satisfy Israel's remaining doves, Sharon also has to contemplate a sort of peace with the Palestinians, albeit one very different from that bruited at the failed Camp David summit between Arafat and Ehud Barak last year. While Barak wanted to negotiate an end to the conflict, Sharon is looking for what his aides call a "long-term interim settlement." To counter Israel's vulnerability, Sharon's advisers say he intends to insist on buffer zones both along the inside of the West Bank where it borders Israel and in the Jordan Valley. Advisers say Sharon is convinced that ground forces are decisive in war, and for that you need to keep hold of territory.

If Sharon imagines a muscular sort of peace, Peres, despite all the setbacks, still dreams of something softer. Peres and Sharon go back more than a half-century; as a defense ministry official, Peres introduced the firebrand young officer to Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, in 1948. Now--sometimes comrades, sometimes rivals--the two are vying to see whose vision for peace will triumph. In his Tel Aviv office Friday morning, the 78-year-old Foreign Minister rubbed his lined face tiredly and hunched over a cup of strong, bitter black coffee that Israelis call botz, or mud. On the shelf behind his chair stood the parchment certifying his award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Peres still yearns to live up to that legacy, but it's not easy. "It's been a hell of a week," he sighs.

Peres was instrumental in defusing the battle for Beit Jala last week--a battle that grew partially out of Sharon's need to ensure that Arafat doesn't view him as a weak leader. The Palestinian-controlled town has been the base for gunmen shooting at the Gilo neighborhood on the edge of Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, Sharon said the next time a Palestinian shot "a single bullet" at Gilo, he'd invade Beit Jala. On Monday, after an Israeli missile killed the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abu Ali Mustafa, the bullets flew. Government ministers say Sharon felt he had put his credibility on the line. Israeli tanks and infantry dug in at the top of the hill where Beit Jala sits, overlooking Bethlehem. But the shooting continued. Sharon told Peres to call Arafat again. "If they stop the shooting, we'll leave the place," he said.

It took more than a day of feverish diplomacy for Peres to bring Arafat around. Sharon updated his ministers on Arafat's commitment Wednesday night. "Of course, our working assumption must be that Arafat's going to keep his word," Sharon said, then smiled, sardonically. The Cabinet burst into laughter. At 2 a.m., Sharon called Colin Powell to tell him the Israelis were out of Beit Jala and asked him to pass a message to the Palestinian leader. "If there's more shooting, it has to be clear to Arafat that we'll go back again to Beit Jala," he said. "With much more effective force."