Terrorists who killed and injured scores of innocent people in a crowded Jerusalem marketplace are trying to impose their nihilistic agenda on the Middle East once again.

The horrific incident caused by two suicide bombers is a replay of the Tel Aviv killings more than a year ago by the Islamic militant organisation, Hamas. Those outrages left deep wounds from which the peace process and Israeli confidence in it have still not fully recovered. Although another group, Islamic Jihad, has also claimed responsibility for the latest bombings, there is no mystery about the perpetrators' purpose.

Their actions have been timed for precisely the week when glimmers of hope had arisen over the resumption of formal talks between the Israelis and Palestinians after a four-month hiatus. Any talks, however tentative, will have to be postponed in the present atmosphere of heightened emotions. But there is only one way to defeat a fundamentalist minority, which uses terror to force its will on the overwhelming majority of Palestinians and Israelis committed to non-violent methods, and that is by sticking to the peace process.

This both sides know well and acknowledge but until Israeli security concerns, aroused afresh by the Jerusalem mayhem, are addressed, negotiations will have to take a back seat. Close coordination between Israeli and Palestinian security and intelligence agencies is essential to foil terrorist plans. However, the kind of security cooperation which the Oslo process calls for has not been in evidence during the last few months of mutual recrimination and suspicion. Chairman Yasser Arafat's latest condemnation of terrorism and the rounding up of suspects in the West Bank and Gaza fall short of what the Israeli Government says it wants to see by way of action from the Palestinian Authority. This indicates that Arafat will have to address some of the specific and long-standing issues raised by the Israelis. The sooner the Palestinian Authority acts to remove alleged members of militant organisations from its security forces, seizes illegal arms and ammunition and curbs the propaganda of hot-heads, the sooner can confidence be built again. There can also be hope then of an early lifting of closures of the West Bank and Gaza. Such security measures have been ordered after every major terrorist incident within Israel. The latest closures redouble the hardships of 140,000 Palestinian workers who have only recently been able to return to work in Israel.

The harsh reality of the world today and one widely recognised is that the terrorist threat can never be eliminated completely. But it can be reduced by vigilance, by appropriate security preparations and, above all, by denying these agents of all that is negative and destructive any justification for their actions. This puts a special responsibility on politicians in the Middle East and elsewhere not only with regard to their public discourse but also for educating the people about the appropriate methods for resolving disputes.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.