Secretary of State Warren Christopher will travel to the Middle East later this month in the hope of reviving the stalled Arab-Israeli peace talks.
The long-rumored trip, which will be Christopher’s first mission abroad as secretary, was announced Thursday by President Clinton in a statement released by the White House.
In the statement, Clinton cited his own “commitment to advance the peace negotiations” as the reason for Christopher’s trip. He said the mission is “an indication of the priority my administration attaches to peacemaking in the Middle East.”
Christopher will visit Israel and other parties connected with the peace talks from Feb. 17 through 24, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday.
Efforts to restart the peace talks, which recessed shortly after the U.S. presidential elections, have been complicated by Israel’s expulsion in December of 415 Palestinians to Lebanon.
Earlier this week, Israel agreed to take back 100 of the deportees almost immediately and reduce the terms of exile for the remaining men to one year.
But the deal which was backed by Washington, was rejected by the Palestinians, who have threatened not to return to the table until all the deportees are allowed to return to the administered territories.
‘MADE SENSE’ TO POSTPONE TALKS
The United States has been seeking to divert attention away from the dispute over the deportees and refocus it on the peace talks.
Sending Christopher to the region could help restart not only the bilateral talks Israel has had with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians, but could provide a boost to the multilateral negotiations on regional issues like water rights and arms control.
Some of the multilateral talks had originally been scheduled to resume next week, but were postponed.
Boucher, at the briefing, said that it “made sense” to postpone the talks until Christopher had visited the parties concerned.
The administration has sought to encourage the peace process through talks with Israel and Arab participants over the course of the deportation crisis.
In his statement, Clinton appeared to signal the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement and other opponents of the peace process that they would find little sympathy from his administration.
Those who oppose the peace process “through violence and intimidation will find no tolerance here for their methods,” the president said. “But those who are willing to make peace will find in me and my administration a full partner.”
Clinton said Christopher would focus on other Middle East problems, including Iraq, during his trip to the region.
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