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Clinton had telephoned Arafat after the massacre and expressed optimism about the talks. "I think they want to come back" to the negotiating table, the President said. But even that seeming promise from Arafat angered some of his top lieutenants. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the P.L.O. executive committee, denied there was any such agreement in principle and demanded, to start with, a U.N. Security Council guarantee of international protection for Palestinians in the occupied territories.
As they always do, the Palestinians hope Washington will push Israel into more concessions. They may have been encouraged by a comment from Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Robert Pelletreau, who said "more than tokenism" was required from Israel. To sound out Washington's intentions, Arafat dispatched Shaath to Washington last week for talks with + Secretary of State Warren Christopher and other U.S. officials. Shaath said the peace process was "the only guarantee that we will have real security in the long run" but that the Hebron massacre had shown the need for interim measures. "We really have to protect Palestinians from settlers," he said, "and not just the other way around."
Shaath's first priority is to try to wring a pledge from the Clinton Administration that it will play an active role in the negotiations from now on. To the P.L.O., that translates as U.S. willingness to put pressure on Israel. If the talks are to resume, Palestinian officials say, Israel must provide better security -- and beyond that must be willing to begin talking soon about the ultimate fate of the Jewish settlements. "Israel," says Said Kamel, the P.L.O. ambassador to Egypt, "has to accept disarming the settlers and liquidating the settlements."
Rabin is scheduled to visit Washington next week, and the P.L.O. clearly expects Clinton and Christopher to persuade him to offer more concessions. The Secretary of State indicated that he believes the Palestinians deserve more than Rabin has offered so far. "They need to see that they can achieve a different future," Christopher said. The immediate issues of security and international observers can probably be compromised. But if Rabin refuses to talk about the settlements and the U.S. is unwilling to push him, the P.L.O. will have to decide whether there can still be a peace process.