Netanyahu appeals direct to US public on Israel's behalf

AS FRESH violence flared in the West Bank yesterday, the Israeli Prime Minister took his case for improved security guarantees direct to American opinion with a forceful plea for "security as the foundation for peace". He also warned in no uncertain terms against any unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians as a move that would pose "a mortal danger to Israel" and "wreck the peace".

Under strong United States pressure to break the 16-month deadlock in the peace process, Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing the pro-Israel Washington Institute for the Near East in a hastily arranged breakfast speech, before embarking on a new round of talks with the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. The new talks were scheduled after a meeting on Wednesday produced no agreement.

Speaking with determined clarity spiked with flashes of passion, Mr Netanyahu said the 1993 Oslo accords had "failed miserably" to guarantee Israel's security, and he gave the most detailed account of the Israeli position yet to have emerged into the public domain.

Citing the successful precedent of peace with Egypt and Jordan, he called for a "territorial buffer" to be preserved to the east and the west of Israel. He demanded guarantees from the Palestinian authorities, possibly in the form of legislation, that would outlaw incitement to violence and ethnic and religious hatred in Palestinian territory and proposed a three- party monitoring body. Acknowledging that a land "buffer" would not deter missiles, he responded: "The fact that they can fly in through the window doesn't mean you open the door."

Mr Netanyahu dismissed Ms Albright's earlier upbeat assessment of Palestinian attempts to rein in terrorism, saying - also with reference to yesterday's violence - that the Palestinian authorities could "whip up violence" when it suited them and "this is not a pressure tactic we can accept". He lambasted the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, for not securing a change in the Palestinian Charter, which calls for the abolition of Israel.

Mr Netanyahu had hinted before leaving Israel that he would make his appeal direct to the US public and politicians and he was expected also to address meetings on Capitol Hill before leaving for New York today. The prospect of "megaphone diplomacy" appeared to have prompted Ms Albright to defend publicly the US position, as she did at short notice earlier this week, giving assurances about Israel's security but accepting that in matters of national security, Israel's elected leaders had the last word.

Yesterday, Mr Netanyahu made no bones about the conceptual gap between himself and Washington, saying that while "others" might see "normalisation", economic exchanges and people-to-people contacts as conducive to peace, for Israel "normalisation" was "a bonus"; only security could guarantee peace. However, he described these as merely "disagreements around the dinner table, in the family".