Word: netanyahu
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...didn?t even have to make a campaign contribution. Why the elaborate courtship? The President badly needs a durable Middle East settlement to crown his legacy, and Barak is the first Israeli leader since Yitzhak Rabin who seems able to deliver. Clinton was never comfortable dragging Benjamin Netanyahu kicking and screaming into land-for-peace agreements, and he?ll welcome Barak?s intention to energetically pursue the process himself...
Despite the lovefest, says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer, "the relationship won?t be entirely free of friction. Under Netanyahu the U.S. became intimately involved in negotiating agreements and refereeing their implementation. Barak wants the U.S. to step back from that role and allow Israel to settle disputes directly with the Palestinians." That?s not as simple as it may sound, because the Palestinians have very little leverage and could therefore become obstinate if they feel steamrollered by Israel. "Reducing the American role gives Israel a natural advantage as the stronger party, and that makes the Palestinians edgy about...
...peace agreement based on United Nations resolutions recognizing Syrian sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights. He also repeated his campaign pledge to get Israeli forces out of Lebanon within a year. And Barak vowed to implement the Wye River agreement signed - and then suspended ? by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. But in a sign of possible tensions looming down the road, he also affirmed Israel?s demand for undivided sovereignty over Jerusalem, and there was no mention of ending Jewish settlement in the West Bank...
...question of refugees are exceedingly complicated, and there are no quick solutions." Barak plans to meet with President Clinton and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat shortly to jump-start the peace process. And while the atmospherics of those meetings will seem light-years away from the sullen exchanges with Netanyahu, don?t expect the deep substantive differences to melt like the morning mist...
While the collapse of the peace process may have been accelerated by Netanyahu, it was already in trouble even before the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin -? and Barak had been considered a hawk in Rabin?s cabinet. After taking office as prime minister next week, Barak plans to visit Washington and to meet with Yasser Arafat. The atmospherics of those meetings will seem light-years away from the sullen exchanges with Netanyahu, but don?t expect the deep substantive differences to melt like the morning mist...