Yasser Arafat and Gerry Adams

Caught in the Middle of the Struggle for Peace

By Jennifer Hitchcock Staff Writer and Copy Editor

ecent events in Isreal and Northern Ireland have seriously jeopardized the struggle for peace in those two countries. At approximately noon Isreal time on March 4, the fourth bombing in nine days took the lives of at least 14 people in front of a crowded shopping center in Tel Aviv, and hundreds more were injured. It was another suicide bombing, and once again, the militant Muslim group Hamas claimed responsibility. These bombings took place during a crucial point in the peace process in Isreal. Prime Minister Shimon Peres had been working with Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO,) to continue peace negotiations on the heels of the assasination of Yhitzak Rabin. Peres had worked with Yasser Arafat with the understanding that Arafat would be doing all he could possibly do to quell the radical disturbances within Palestinian territory and that he would help to destroy the group Hamas. However, the recent bombings shakened the faith of Isrealis in Arafat that he will do his part to ensure that the quest for peace will continue.

Gerry Adams is in a strikingly similar situation to Arafat. On February 9, a bomb exploded in an office building in London, ending a 17-month-long ceasefire by the Irish Republican Army (IRA.) Both Adams and Arafat had very radical pasts in which they were involved with groups which used radical means to achieve their goals. Arafat, as leader of the PLO, was exiled for years by the Isreali government and supported terrorist means to get the PLO's message across that Palestinians would reclaim land Isreal took away from them in 1968. Adams, as leader of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the outlawed IRA, instigated bombings in London in the early 1970's to prove to the British government that the IRA was a force to be reckoned with, and would use any means nessessary to end the British government's control over Northern Ireland. Now, both men are insiders in the peace processes in each country. They are seen by government leaders as the crucial links between themselves and the radical groups which oppose their power. The cease-fire and peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and the peace process in Isreal were made possible because these men were able to convince enough people in their organizations that an end to bloodshed was the only realistic way to make the governments consider their objectives.

Members of Arafat and Adam's organizations followed them, at least, temporarily. A great deal of pressure for Arafat and Adams to enter peace negotiations came from citizens in their home territories, which were so weary and devastated by bloodshed that terrorist actions were no longer supported by ordinary residents who supported the organizations' goals. Although radical organizations in Isreal and Northern Ireland intended terrorist acts to scare governments into complying with their demands, these governments instead took stronger positions against the organizations. Therefore, Arafat and Adams began to lead their organizations to negotiation tables, in order to preserve their missions. Jamas, an organization far more radical than the PLO is now, and radical elements within the IRA, have jeopardized the peace processes in Isreal and Ireland, respectively, because they believe that they will never obtain their goals of sovereignty by negotiating with the governments that they believe oppress them.

While the Isreali and British governments have looked to Arafat and Adams to control activity within their organizations and territories, it is apparent today that Yasser Arafat and Gerry Adams do not have very secure control over actions by residents of Palestinian territory, in Arafat's case, or within the IRA, in Adams' case. It is unrealistic to expect that they might. Shimon Peres, in Isreal, has placed tremendous pressure on Yasser Arafat to quell the unrest in Palestinian territory. Arafat has ordered members of his elite police force to patrol streets in palestinian territory and hunt down members of Jamas. However, Jamas has nothing to do with the PLO, and, as the bombings prove, wants nothing to do with the peace process. A suicide bomber blew up a double-decker bus in London, only ten days after the bomb in a London office building ended the IRA cease-fire. The IRA had lost patience with the British government, which they accused of trying to control peace negotiations too often. Despite his critical involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, one of the first people the British government looked to after the bombings was Gerry Adams, who claimed he did not know the bombing would take place.

Both Gerry Adams and Yasser Arafat are in seemingly no-win situations. Their roles are crucial to the peace process. However, they are torn between antagonistic elements. They are trying to convince their own groups that they remain loyal to their causes while working with the governments whose policies the groups are fundamentally against. In working with their countries' governments, they help to contribute to the formation of radical factions within their organizations and territories which seek to destroy their efforts. Radical elements within the IRA, and their terrorist bombings, have made it difficult for Adams to retain the fragile trust of the British government. In Isreal, Arafat's inability to stop the radical Jamas, whose members reside within Palestinian territory, has weakened his control of the region, and has spurred demands from the Isreali government that he do more to stop Jamas. Isreali Jews are quickly loosing patience; they formed demonstrations after the last bombing, in which many shouted, "kill the Arabs."

The governments in Isreal and Britain cannot afford to alienate Arafat and Adams; their influence over residents in their territories is still substantial, and their understanding of the motivations behind the radical elements within their movements is a valuable negotiating tool. Whether or not the peace processes in each of these countries continues depends on Arafat's and Adam's involvement. However, the governments should have more realistic expectations of what Arafat and Adams can do about radical organizations within their territories which seek to destroy efforts to achieve peace. If there will ever be peace in these countries, the governments, with Yasser Arafat and Gerry Adams in close contact, need to continue down the same path on which they started despite the senseless acts of violence which have provoked many citizens to call for an end to peace negotiations altogether.

© Trincoll Journal, 1996.