Middle East In the Eye Of a Revolt

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Israeli military authorities have found to their dismay that they cannot stop the rioting of the shabab by cutting off its head. The youth movement is so fluid that the arrest of some 2,000 "leaders" of the uprising seems to have had little effect. There are now some 6,500 soldiers in the occupied territories, five times the number on the ground when the unrest broke out in early December. "We can go on like this for a long time," says army Chief of Staff Dan Shomron. "But I know very well that the influence on the forces is a negative one. My main lesson for the future is that such things can and will erupt quickly, so we must be ready to react swiftly."

Israeli political leaders are beginning to learn a different lesson, best expressed by Minister of Economics Gad Yaacobi, a Labor Party member: "The true sources of the recent events are the pent-up fury and hatred of 20 years of occupation, the swelling frustration over diplomatic stagnation, and the sense of impotence and hopelessness stemming from this." Added Ezer Weizman, a former Defense Minister and Likud bloc member who recently defected to Labor: "If we do not advance now toward a political solution the situation will only deteriorate rapidly."

Members of Israel's national-unity government, a coalition of the center- left Labor Party and right-wing Likud bloc, have begun moderating their positions, partly in anticipation that the Palestinian unrest will be a major issue in national elections scheduled for November. Even Prime Minister Shamir said last week he "would not object to the idea" of negotiating with non- P.L.O.. Palestinian leaders. But he also continues to insist with more fervor than ever that Israel will never give up the West Bank, and never consider altering the settlement policy that has allowed 65,000 Jews to set up homes in the West Bank and 2,700 more to do so in Gaza. Foreign Minister Peres, who switched jobs with Shamir in October 1986, has once again begun talking up his proposal for an international conference, and says he intends to reactivate the peace process "soon." Yet few believe, even in the face of the worst Palestinian violence in 20 years, that Israel's politically paralyzed government can generate the will to find a diplomatic solution.

As for the Palestinians, they have drawn world attention to their plight by making martyrs of their sons and burning tires in the streets. Their spasm of violence has no practical objective and is accompanied by no political program. "It's all been lost on them," says Benvenisti. "All they've got is a new myth of the children of the stones."

The real tragedy of all this fury is that neither side is any closer to settling the violent struggle for the same cherished rocks and hills. Israelis and Palestinians, except for the extremists among them, know that only a political compromise can end the agony. But neither side possesses the courage to begin. And so the Palestinians seem destined to continue futilely flinging stones, while the Israelis remain committed to fighting back with bullets. And time keeps slipping away.