It was one of the best of times and the worst of times for the Palestinian people. Yesterday had a Dickensian tinge in Gaza City. At the very moment the US, through no less a personage than President Clinton, was formally establishing a partnership with the Palestine Authority, ordinary Palestinians were asking what they had gained by irrevocably cancelling anti-Israel provisions in their National Covenant.
This is because the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared to be reneging on the commitment he made in October at the Wye Plantation summit to undertake a second withdrawal of Israeli troops from 5 per cent of West Bank land on December 18th. A high-ranking Palestinian source, Dr Assad Abdel Rahman, told The Irish Times that the Palestinian Authority did not expect this withdrawal from territory under full Israeli control until after the Israeli coalition crisis was resolved. A western diplomat said, gloomily, that he did not see this taking place before Christmas, seriously setting back the Wye timetable and putting the peace process in jeopardy once again. Aware of the push-and-pull of politics in this part of the world, Mr Clinton called upon Israelis to follow the Palestinians along the path of peace. He said that Palestinian leadership on this path, established by yesterday's decision, amounted to a "challenge" to the Israeli people. He believed that the Palestinians had sent a "message, not to the government but to the people of Israel", thus exerting pressure on the Netanyahu coalition to get on board the peace process.
Indeed, throughout his speech, Mr Clinton made it absolutely clear that the onus was on both the Israeli government and people to understand the predicament and plight of the Palestinian people. "I want the people of Israel to know that five years after Oslo the prospects of the Palestinians are bleak." He called for "mutual understanding", rather than insisting only on Palestinian understanding of Jewish suffering. He praised the Palestinian Authority for not abandoning the peace process when it had "100 good reasons to do so". Mr Clinton also leant his weight to the Palestinian demand for the release of politically motivated prisoners held by Israel, rather than that of common criminals. The first release, which had a majority of criminals amongst 250 prisoners freed, precipitated violence in the West Bank.
The President appealed to both sides to "get beyond the stage where every step forward is like pulling teeth". He called for them to create the momentum necessary to carry the peace process forward to an agreement which would permit Palestinians and Israelis to share the Holy Land they inhabit, and live peacefully side by side.
The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, set the stage for this feast of love and understanding when he pledged to pursue peace patiently without engaging in violence. "Our people have no choice but peace," he stated. "I hope that at the end of the century, we will correct the injustice done to the Palestinian people and enter the peace of the brave . . . We will not allow any violence and will confront any violence whatever," he promised. And, uncharacteristically, the autocratic Mr Arafat also promised his people "the rule of law, political pluralism, an independent judiciary and a separation of powers" in the authority. His listeners rumbled and stirred noisily on their chairs because none of these elements have characterised the rule of the authority so far.
Meanwhile, Gaza's teeming streets were empty but for security men and women, wearing new US army-issue uniforms of blue and green.