Our Problem With Iraq Is Not Israel: Center Roundtable Suggests that Euchring Israel for Concessions Won’t Bring Peace — in Either the Levant or the Persian Gulf

(Washington, D.C.): In its desperation to find someone to blame for one dismal policy failure in
the Middle East, the Clinton Administration has evidently decided it will compound another one:
Mr. Clinton is publicly pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make further
territorial concessions to Yasser Arafat. The rationale for doing so — even though Arafat’s
Palestinian Authority has not met the conditions precedent (notably, a sustained crack-down on
terrorism), conditions that have been explicitly recognized by the American government — is that
Arab nations will be pleased, and therefore more likely to support the United States in its ongoing
crisis with Saddam Hussein.

A recent High-Level Roundtable Discussion on “The Future of the Middle East ‘Peace Process'”
suggests that the nature of the problems afflicting the Israeli-Palestinian relationship is such that
the hand-over of additional territory to the Palestinian Authority and/or the accelerated
negotiation of a “Final Status” agreement may well serve to undermine, not improve, the
chances for peace in the Levant.

Even if the Netanyahu government were to make concessions, it would be unlikely to engender
fresh support for the U.S. among Arab states of the Persian Gulf. After all, their diffidence has
more to do with a lack of confidence in President Clinton’s ability to deal decisively with
Saddam than it does with the current status of the so-called “peace process.” This is true
even though the Arabs find it far preferable to claim that their public reluctance to support
American military action against Iraq at this time is a function of unhappiness with Israel, rather
than terror of Saddam.

The Center’s highly topical Roundtable Discussion occurred on 17 September and involved over
forty past and present U.S. and Israeli government officials, internationally recognized Mideast
specialists, leaders of the American Jewish community and influential journalists. The Lead
Discussants were: former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy; former Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith; Representative Michael Forbes (R-NY), a
member of the influential House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee; Dr. David
Pollock, Middle East specialist on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; and Dr. Daniel
Pipes, editor of Middle East Quarterly.

Other highlights of the program were a discussion of the politics of the Mideast “peace process”
with key congressional aides and a videotape documenting recent evidence of official Palestinian
statements and actions inconsistent with a commitment to peaceful coexistence with Israel —
without which there can be no prospect of a real and durable peace.

Click here for copies of a six-page summary of this important Center Roundtable Discussion.