Editorials
Saturday, December 19, 1998

Netanyahu in trouble
over Wye accords

IT took a lot of arm-twisting by President Clinton to get Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the interim peace agreement with the Palestinians at the Wye River Plantation last month. The accords quickly became a victim of renewed hostility as soon as Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat returned from the United States. Clinton's visit to the Middle East last weekend failed to break the latest impasse.

Now Netanyahu is paying a price for his acceptance of the accords in his standing at home -- a loss of support from conservatives that probably will force him to hold early elections.

Netanyahu's term is supposed to end in November 2000, but his prospects for surviving a no-confidence vote next week are poor. Conclusion of the Wye River agreements, under which Israel is to cede a further 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, set off a backlash among conservatives that is tearing apart the ruling coalition.

If elections are called for next spring, as expected, further Israeli troop pullbacks will probably be suspended until a new government is formed.

Similarly, negotiations on a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement -- including the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian statehood -- may have to be deferred.

Netanyahu says he is prepared to initiate early elections "in order to receive from the people the mandate necessary to achieve true peace." But his victory is far from assured.

The leader of the Labor opposition, Ehud Barak, is running neck and neck with Netanyahu in public opinion polls. Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, accuses Netanyahu of caving in to right-wing extremists on the peace issue.

To further complicate matters, both Netanyahu and Barak could face challengers in their own camps for the premiership. Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai are both considered potential challengers to Netanyahu. Barak may face a strong rival if former army chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, who has high poll ratings, decides to run.

With both Clinton and Netanyahu in deep trouble, and the Palestinians chanting "Death to Clinton" over the bombing of Iraq after cheering him a few days earlier, the peace process is once again in distress. It may take new leaders in both the United States and Israel to salvage the situation.

Savings on gasoline

NOT only are Hawaii's private citizens paying a lot more for gasoline than the national average, as the Star-Bulletin's Rob Perez reported previously, the state of Hawaii and the city and county of Honolulu were also paying too much. That's changed.

The state and city-county have revised their fuel purchasing practices to reduce their costs, buying gasoline jointly. The city-county figures it could save as much as $275,000 a year, the state somewhat less because it uses less on Oahu.

The state formerly based its price on changes in the average dealer wholesale price for Honolulu, a benchmark that critics charged was inflated. Now the price is pegged to what the local supplier, Aloha Petroleum, pays its out-of-state supplier. Unlike the old system, the state and city-county now benefit if oil prices on the mainland drop.

Aloha is the only local supplier that imports its gasoline. Aloha is also the only major supplier that wasn't named in the state's antitrust lawsuit, filed last October.

According to the state Department of Accounting and General Services, the change has resulted in a saving to the state of about nine cents a gallon. The city and county, which was using a different benchmark, says it's saving about 11 cents a gallon for regular unleaded and 10 cents a gallon for premium. This amounts to a lot of money because the county uses about 2.6 million gallons a year.

Of course, Hawaii's private motorists would like to see savings on their gasoline purchases, too. That could happen if the state's suit succeeds, but a final resolution could be years away. The oil companies deny the state's claim that they have conspired to keep wholesale prices artificially high here, and they can be expected to contest the charges vigorously.

Capital improvements

JEREMY Harris asserts that the city and county's current fiscal problems shouldn't stop projects aimed at making life better for Honolulu residents in the future. In a meeting with Star-Bulletin editors, the mayor defended the city's proposals to develop a sports complex at Waiola, purchase land for a park on the North Shore and restore the Waikiki Natatorium despite the massive prospective shortfall in the city's operating budget.

As Harris pointed out, these projects fall under the capital improvements budget, which is entirely separate from the operating budget. They are financed by long-term bonds, to be paid off over as long as 30 years. This has nothing to do with the current difficulties in meeting the city payroll.

Moreover, this is a good time for the city to be buying property and developing facilities because property values and construction prices are down. There are a lot of bargains to be had these days, and there is no reason why the taxpayers should not benefit from them. To defer such decisions would run the risk of paying considerably more at a later time, when economic conditions might improve and prices would be higher.

The basic justification, of course, is that the city government must look beyond the current year to plan for the community's future needs. To drop all capital improvement projects because the city is facing a budgetary shortfall would be short-sighted and irresponsible.

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