From Israel via the wires comes the news that the heir apparent to Yasser Arafat as the Palestinian Arab terrorist-in-chief, Mahmoud Abbas, is promising that his government-controlled press and broadcast outlets will refrain from inciting violence against Israel. This may be better than the present alternative, which is a Palestine Liberation Organization-controlled press that spreads hatred against Israel and Jews. But it is not so good as the third possible alternative, one that is all too often left by the wayside in such discussions – that is, a Palestinian Arab press that is free to formulate its own editorial positions and content without taking orders from the terrorist-in-chief.

This is the way it works for television channels and radio stations and newspapers in America and, for the most part, in Israel. But, with few exceptions, it is not the way it works in the Arab world, where editors are routinely hired and fired by kings and dictators. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair made this clear earlier this month in a joint statement, in which they said, “there will be no lasting solution without a Palestinian state that is democratic and free, including free press, free speech, an open political process, and religious tolerance.”

For our part, we’d be happy to see an end to incitement in the Palestinian Arab press. But in the long run, as Messrs. Blair and Bush said, the foundation for peace will be stronger if the Palestinian Arabs have an independent and free press, not one controlled by a political leader who can choose at his whim whether to stifle or whip up incitement against Israel. Such a press will serve as a check on the tendency of leaders like Arafat to amass power unchecked and to loot international aid funds.

During the Clinton administration, grave mistakes were made on this front, with American taxpayer dollars being spewed into subsidies for Palestinian Arab press outlets that were little more than megaphones for Arafat. A proper role for the American government would involve providing printing presses and radio transmitters to the Palestinian Arabs on the express condition that the Palestinine Liberation Organization have no control over their content. And then it would involve bringing Palestinian Arab journalists to visit America to see Fox News Channel, Air America, Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Nation, the National Review, and the whole unruly press, which serves as a powerful check on any government figure in America with dictatorial ambitions.

It is a reason that the First Amendment grants Americans special protection from the Congress’s ambitions over the press. And it is a reason that the news of new restrictions on incitement, while not unwelcome, leaves American observers of the Arab war against Israel thinking of the bigger picture recognized by Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair when they spoke of how a lasting peace will require a free press for the Palestinian Arabs.