|
|
October 29, 2004/Cheshvan 14 5765, Vol. 57, No. 9
Advisers talk Middle East strategy
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Just days before the U.S. elections, the presidential candidates are sending the same broad messages about their approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the greater Middle East, but they differ sharply on the details.
In exclusive interviews with JTA, Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush's national security adviser, and Richard Holbrooke, a senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., laid out their respective candidate's vision for the Middle East over the next four years.
A second term of the Bush administration would hope to use Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as the start of new progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front.
"I think what you will see is, if Prime Minister Sharon is successful in moving forward on his disengagement plan, that could provide a new impetus for the Palestinians to move toward reform as they get ready to take responsibilities in the Gaza, and it could provide an impetus then for a beginning of negotiations between the parties," Rice said in an Oct. 26. telephone interview from her White House office.
Kerry would look to appoint an envoy to the region, not to force Israel to make concessions, but to pressure Arab governments to stop sponsoring terror, Holbrooke said in a separate interview.
"You go to Riyadh and tell these guys to stop supporting the worst anti-Israeli elements and the worst anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist literature around the world," said Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also said such an envoy could help reduce Israel's isolation in the world.
Both advisers said their respective candidate would continue the policy of not talking to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, and supported Israel's plans to disengage from the Gaza Strip and to erect a security barrier in the West Bank.
In the minds of the campaigns, the battle for Jewish votes in this election has focused squarely on which candidate will do more to protect Israel and fight the war on terrorism.
The significance of the Jewish vote is what brought both Holbrooke and Rice to Florida this week to address a national gathering of the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Both advisers are well respected in the Jewish community and could, depending on who wins next week's election, play leading roles in shaping U.S. foreign policy over the next four years.
Rice and the Bush campaign are working to boost the number of Jews, traditionally a Democratic voting bloc, who will back Bush's re-election because they like his record on Israel.
Holbrooke and the Democrats, however, are working to maintain the voting bloc, and alleviate concerns Jewish voters may have about Kerry's foreign policy, and specifically the envoy idea.
"If we have an envoy, if we have an effort in the region, it is not at Israel's expense," Holbrooke told the AIPAC gathering Oct. 24.
Some Jewish activists say they think an envoy would pressure Israel to make concessions, and that Kerry's support for a multilateral approach to foreign affairs would put more stock in the anti-Israel views of European and Arab states.
They also fear Kerry could appoint someone they see as anti-Israel, like former President Jimmy Carter and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, both of whom Kerry mentioned in a speech earlier this year as possible candidates as envoy, but has long since dismissed.
Instead, Holbrooke said, an envoy could work in the region to press neighboring states to stop terrorism, singling out Saudi Arabia.
"This is not just about the Palestinian Authority," he told JTA after the speech, saying the envoy would have immense difficulty dealing with any Palestinian leader, because Arafat would stifle the process.
Rice seemed to mock the envoy idea.
"It may well be that at some point in time, someone else can help in this process, an envoy, I wouldn't rule it out," Rice said. "But it's not the answer, just sending somebody out there to wander around the Arab states and tell them they need to stop incitement. Everyone is telling them they need to stop incitement."
While Jews across the political spectrum have praised Bush for isolating Arafat and supporting Sharon's plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip, critics say his administration has not been engaged in the Israeli-Pale-stinian conflict.
The critics say the White House should more actively push for Palestinian reforms and push the process forward.
Rice responded to the criticism, saying: "We continue to be engaged with our Middle East partners, but we have really believed since the spring that the best chance for strong re-engagement will be when the Israeli disengagement plan goes forward."
|
|
