Israelis Put Hopes In The Wall

CBS' Tom Fenton Takes The Pulse Of The Jewish State

(CBS)  Tom Fenton, in his fourth decade with CBS News, has been the network's Senior European Correspondent since 1979. He comments on international events from his "Listening Post" in London, and other parts of the world as well.

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By now, it is a reflex for many Israeli drivers. When they pull up at a stop light, they try not to stop next to a bus. And even when the car is moving, they try not to drive too close to one. Buses are prime targets for Palestinian suicide bombers.

But the Israelis continue to drive. Those who can’t afford to drive,continue to take buses. And there are still customers in the restaurants and cafes, even those that have already been bombed and rebuilt.

The Israeli half of the Middle East equation is a country that is learning to live with fear. And without hope for something better.

When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli military to kill Sheikh Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, a snap poll showed a majority of Israelis approved. Hamas is one of the Palestinian organizations that sponsor suicide bombers But an even larger majority said his murder will only make things worse, bringing on more terrorist attacks.

If you try to characterize the mood of Israel this Passover week, some of the words that come to mind are confused, resigned, directionless.

After three and a half years of the Intifada, the number of Israelis killed by suicide bombers is close to 1,000. The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces is approaching 3,000. And everyone is expecting a horrendous Palestinian reprisal for the assassination of the Sheikh.

To get an idea of what life is like now for Israeli Jews, you might read the latest book by David Horovitz, “Still Life with Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism.” Horowitz is a moderate, but like most Israelis, has shifted his position to the right. He describes how Israelis react to random violence: the anxious phone calls to relatives after news reports of another bomb blast; the awareness of children that death may lurk around the corner.

He is sharply critical of the Israeli government’s clumsy spokesmen, who manage to sound belligerent even when trying to present their country as a victim. He is even more critical of the foreign press, which he believes is overwhelmingly in favor of the Palestinians. He reserves his sharpest criticism for Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, for – he believes – deliberately rejecting a generous Israeli peace proposal at Camp David. “I do not believe Arafat made the mistake of his life at Camp David. I think he knew exactly what he was doing.”

None of this is surprising. Nor is Horowitz’s pessimism. He writes: “Not only is there no quick fix; there is also, I fear, no prospect of a negotiated solution, even in the medium term.”

It is only the Israeli peace movement that still sees light at the end of the tunnel. But where “Peace Now” could once fill the city hall square in Tel Aviv with powerful rallies, they are now a tiny fringe, no longer taken seriously by politicians or the public at large.

In difficult times, a country needs a strong leader. The tragedy is that the Palestinians have Yasser Arafat and Israel has Ariel Sharon.

Arafat is holed up in his battered West Bank headquarters, a virtual prisoner of the Israelis – unable to help his own suffering people and unwilling to make concessions that might re-open the path to peace.

Sharon is now mistrusted by most Israelis, unable either to protect them or to offer them the prospect of a negotiated peace. His political future hangs in the balance: He is facing possible bribery charges in a murky real estate deal.

Sharon’s announced decision to pull out of the Gaza Strip and perhaps remove a few Israeli settlements from the West Bank has been greeted with anger by his hawkish supporters and skepticism by almost everyone else. Is it simply a ploy to deflect attention from his own problems? Whatever it is, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians see it as a real solution to their problems.

If the Israelis believe in anything right now, they believe in the Wall. They hope the 430-mile barrier that is being built to separate Israel from the Palestinians will make it more difficult for the suicide bombers who try each day to cross the line and blow up more Israelis.

Minor variations to the border that the wall will trace are still being negotiated – not by the Palestinians and Israelis, but between Sharon and President Bush, who will meet next week in Washington. These may be the only meaningful Middle East negotiations in the foreseeable future.

In the absence of any other solution, the Wall may become the answer.