This time Israeli television watchers needed no explanation of what the bearded men were doing with paint scrapers and plastic bags at Beit Lid junction in central Israel. They were representatives of the rabbinate, scouring the decimated bus stop for bits of human flesh blasted apart last week by Palestinian suicide bombers. Under Jewish law, the entire body must be given a proper burial. Viewers had seen the same ghastly task performed when another kamikaze bomber eviscerated a Tel Aviv bus, killing 22, only three months earlier.
Such scenes have been filling the airwaves like instant replay: four times in the past year, Palestinian militants have slipped into Israel and set off bombs killing a total of 60 and injuring 194. But Israel's agony is palpably greater over this latest atrocity. These victims were so young: all but one of the 21 dead Israelis were between the ages of 18 and 24. And all except one were soldiers, mainly members of the vanguard paratroopers unit. That may have made the attack seem like a legitimate act of guerrilla warfare to Palestinians. But the act of terror was especially shocking to Israelis: these fallen were the very men and women who were supposed to safeguard the rest of the nation from such assaults.
More than anything, though, Israelis responded out of a sense that they had simply had enough. As Eli Landau, the mayor of Herzliya who had lent support to Israel's rapprochement with the Palestinians, said, ``If the peace process is paved on the bodies of dead Jews, then I take it back.''
When he took the brave step of entering into a self-rule agreement with Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization 16 months ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin promised his countrymen peace with security. Ever since, Israelis have enjoyed little peace and less security. Rabin's political stock has plummeted, and many citizens question whether the experiment in peacemaking should go on. The negotiations are stalemated by growing ill will and Palestinian anger over Israel's continued building of West Bank settlements. As the terrorists take the psychological initiative, the maneuvering room for both Rabin and Arafat is fast running out.
The continued killing of Israelis inside the pre-1967 borders is especially damaging. No less a figure than President Ezer Weizman called for a halt in the implementation of the peace accords. It was a stunning pronouncement coming from so dovish a leader. Though several members of Rabin's Cabinet quietly backed the suggestion, the Prime Minister ignored it and insisted that the process of establishing Palestinian self-rule would go on. But his aides are skittish about the prospects for progress. Said Uri Savir, director-general of the Foreign Ministry: ``We need a profound change of direction to make the next stage a success.''