Israel: Let the People Speak

It may well be remembered as the summit that provided no footholds and no escape. Barely two days after President Clinton met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Clinton faces a snowballing impeachment movement and Netanyahu faces early elections, probably in the spring. The prime minister announced Wednesday that he would take his hard-line peace policies to the electorate if he could not muster support for them from the Knesset next Monday. Netanyahu's right wing is in shambles over how much hard line and how much peace there should be in those policies. "We're going to elections," predicted confidently dovish opposition Labor party leader Ehud Barak.

A lot can happen between now and then, however. "It's likely to be a close contest, and who will win is unclear because the country still remains split down the middle between right and left," says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. The country has developed a strong consensus for peace, but the devil is in the details over what concessions should be made. The immediate impact of elections "will be to put the whole process on hold," says Beyer. "Netanyahu, who is not eager to implement the latest Wye agreements, will use the election campaign to delay matters until the electorate speaks." So much for this week's summit.