Center Roundtable on the Future of the Mideast ‘Peace Process’ Illuminates, Responds to the Need for Fresh Thinking

(Washington, D.C.): Today, in the
aftermath of the latest incidents of
terrorism in Israel and Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright’s dismal trip to
the Middle East — and on the eve of a
confirmation hearing for Martin
Indyk, President Clinton’s
controversial nominee to become Assistant
Secretary of State for Near East Affairs href=”97-P138.html#N_1_”>⁽¹⁾
— the Center for Security Policy held an
important stock-taking session. This
High-Level Roundtable Discussion focusing
upon “The Future of the
Middle East ‘Peace Process,’“
was held at the Park Hyatt Hotel in
Washington, D.C. and involved some forty
past and present U.S. government
officials, nationally recognized
specialists, leaders of the American
Jewish community and leading journalists.

In light of recent interest expressed
by the Israeli and American governments
in moving expeditiously to so-called
“Final Status” negotiations,
the Roundtable’s participants were asked
to consider several pertinent questions.
Under the leadership of former Assistant
Secretary of State Richard Murphy
and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense Douglas Feith,
the discussion first
considered “A Final Status
Agreement: What Would it Look Like, Will
it Promote Peace?” Representative
Michael Forbes (R-NY), a member
of the influential House Foreign
Operations Appropriations Subcommittee,
made an intervention from his
congressional perspective in which he
expressed a view shared by a number of
participants, namely that “The
‘peace process’ is dead.”

The Roundtable also featured a film
clip presented by Israel’s former top
counter-terrorism official, Yigal Carmon,
showing footage of Palestinian maps,
Arafat speeches, cultural events and
other official commentary that bespeak an
abiding determination on the PLO’s part
to destroy Israel. This material took on
special significance in light of the
interest expressed repeatedly by
participants in the significance of
bellicose “rhetoric” in the
Arab world.

The discussion then turned to
consideration of “The Prospects for
Breakdown of the Oslo Process: Might
‘Failure’ be Better than
Success?” The lead discussants for
this portion of the Roundtable were Dr.
David Pollock, Middle East
specialist on the State Department’s
Policy Planning Staff, and Dr.
Daniel Pipes, editor of the
prestigious Middle East Quarterly.
Particularly informative was the
conversation that ensued about the
security implications for Israel should a
Palestinian state emerge on the West Bank
and Gaza Strip.

Over a working lunch, the growing
willingness of Congress to challenge the
Clinton Administration’s conduct of the
“peace process” were considered
under the leadership of former
congressional staff member and author, Thomas
Moore, together with
representatives of several Senate and
House offices.

The Center for Security Policy was
pleased to use this occasion to pay
tribute to Morton Klein,
President of the Zionist Organization of
America, for his principled, courageous
and tenacious efforts to assure that
those who purport to be making peace are
held accountable for actions inconsistent
with the letter and spirit of the
“peace process.” Center
Director Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
took pleasure in observing that the
positions Mr. Klein and his organization
have taken since the Oslo Accords were
signed — notably, documentation of
ongoing PLO support for terrorism and
other non-compliant behavior — have, of
late, become mainstream positions
embraced not only by virtually the
entire American Jewish community but
even by the Israeli and American
governments. Such a development is a
testament to the Zionist Organization of
America’s role as “the indispensable
organization,” one whose continued
service to both America and Israel, the
Center for Security Policy joins in
celebrating during this 100^th
anniversary of ZOA’s founding.

The Center will shortly release a
summary of this Roundtable Discussion. If
you would like to receive a copy, please
contact the Center.

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1. See the
Center’s Decision Brief
released earlier today entitled Martin
Indyk: Wrong Man, Wrong Job
(No. 97-D 137).