Clinton's Middle East legacy comes in for sharp criticism
By Wolfgang Koydl
WASHINGTON (DPA): The most biting criticism can often be dished out in language which actually sounds harmless and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is a master of this art. The evening before the new Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon arrived in Washington on a state visit, Powell gave a speech to the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in which he explained that Washington was ready to "assist, not insist" in the ongoing search for a solution to the problems in the Middle East. It all sounded harmless enough, even banal.
Behind his choice of verbs, however, lurked caustic criticism of the efforts which President Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton, had made on behalf of the Israelis and the Palestinians in the final days of his term in office. Bush and his team made it clear at the time that they had no intention of taking similar steps. George W. Bush will not be the kind of U.S. president who will basically drag the Palestinian leader and the Israeli prime minister into each other's company as Clinton did at Camp David.
Sharon has been in office for 14 days and is currently traveling the globe meeting and greeting his closest friends and brothers-in-arms. Powell's remarks can only come as music to his ears. This old hawk has his own peace plan in mind as well as a whole host of possible steps towards normalization. All he needs from the United States is its assistance, although some good advice and a few good ideas would probably do him little harm.
As far as Bush's team in the White House is concerned, they could not have hoped for more. The message appears to be that the Palestinians and the Israelis should quietly settle their differences themselves -- but then get in touch with Washington when it is time for peace to be sealed with a final handshake -- in the presence of the U.S. president, of course -- on the lawn in front of the White House.
When Sharon met U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CIA head George Tenet as well as Powell, he left nobody in any doubt that he believes he can achieve what no-one else has: a settlement with the Palestinians.
"I know them and they know me," said Sharon after his meeting with Rumsfeld. He said the Palestinians know they can take him on his word and added that he has a real yearning to solve the problem, even if it is not going to be easy.
Bush and Sharon are on a similar wavelength on a range of issues, for example, as opposed to Clinton and Ehud Barak, neither of them believes in the possibility of one single leap forward solving the Middle East's problems. Instead, they see progress being made in smaller but concrete steps -- a much more realistic approach, they believe.
The fundamental precondition to even the smallest step, however, is an end to violence -- another point on which the United States and Israel agree wholeheartedly.
It was reported that Sharon and Condoleezza Rice went as far as discussing a common anti-terrorism program in the course of their talks. Sharon also has something he can offer the Palestinians -- for example, a halt to the construction of settlements on the Gaza Strip, or, possibly more important -- a coherent territory on the West Bank in place of the rag-tag tapestry which Yasser Arafat is currently in charge of.
One unitary Palestinian territory would also be in the interests of the Israelis given that it would mean fewer crossing points and therefore fewer potential trouble spots. It would also mean that the border between the Israeli and Palestinian areas would become shorter -- much to the relief of the Israeli security forces.
Sharon said that, up until the Six-Day War in 1967, the border was 309 kilometers long and practically impossible to patrol. If Barak's plan were adopted, Sharon said, the border between the two areas would then be 700 kilometers long -- and who could control a border like that?: "That is just not realistic."