Robert Pelletreau, the Clinton administration’s nominee for assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said during confirmation hearings that he hoped to see “Israel at peace with its neighbors.”
In testimony Monday before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Pelletreau said the United States faces “a period of unparalleled opportunity and challenge in the Middle East.”
The opportunity “lies in the vision of Israel at peace with its neighbors, with their mutual security assured and vigorous,” he said.
Pelletreau, who is ambassador to Egypt, was nominated for the post vacated by Edward Djerejian, has served as a diplomat in nine Middle East countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Djerejian has since become ambassador to Israel.
As ambassador to Tunisia in 1988, Pelletreau was asked by the State Department to conduct a dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization, then considered a terrorist organization.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee had no comment Monday on the nomination.
Also testifying before the committee was Wesley Egan Jr., the nominee for ambassador to Jordan. Egan said one of his policy priorities would be to end the Arab boycott of U.S. firms that trade with Israel.
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