The host was Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader. Now comes the reality test. Starting this Thursday, the two leaders will hole up at the Wye Plantation, a retreat in rural Maryland, for a summit loosely modeled on the 1978 Camp David talks that led to an Egyptian-Israeli peace. 40 percent of the area. In return, Israel wants tighter controls on Palestinian gun ownership, the closure of Islamic charities that allegedly fund suicide bombers, efforts to prevent anti-Israeli incitement in mosques, and prompt prosecution by Arafat's administration of Palestinians accused of killing Israelis.
Palestinian officials hope to keep such commitments vague.
They say they fear that Netanyahu will cite minor infractions as an excuse to renege on the troop withdrawal. Israelis say the commitments must be airtight because Arafat has a history of promising security cooperation but doing nothing to stop terror. Before attempting to cut a deal at Wye, Netanyahu moved last week to shore up his flank, naming Ariel Sharon as foreign minister. For Sharon, the post represents a long-awaited comeback. He had been ousted as defense minister in 1983 after Israel's Lebanese Christian allies massacred civilians at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon.