One simple question has always hung over the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo: What is the goal? Is it peace at all costs or is it the restoration of the multiethnic communities that existed in Yugoslavia before the country shattered in violence? If the former, then partition may be the solution to Yugoslavia's ills. But bowing to that objective would give Serb hardliners, including President Slobodan Milosevic, the victory they have sought. They must be denied.

The partition issue has hung over the decade-long conflict that tore Yugoslavia apart. Today, the focus of international attention is the city of Kosovska Mitrovica in the province of Kosovo. The city is divided between Serbs in the north and ethnic Albanians in the south. After NATO's bombing raids ended the Serb oppression of the city's Albanians, alliance troops arrived last June to keep the peace.

But the NATO soldiers, under French command, have been passive, allowing the city to be divided in two, along ethnic lines. It is hard to fault the French. They were taking the same line as the Americans, who, when forced to choose between exposing troops to danger or backing away from the force's mandate, opted for the latter, safer tack. That passivity has permitted rogues from both sides -- Serb and Albanian -- to do their worst. The violence has claimed at least nine lives.