The United States remains committed to Israel’s current aid levels and qualitative military edge, President Clinton assured Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during a meeting in the Oval Office this week.
The assurance, often stated by U.S. officials in the presence of visiting Israeli leaders, carried particular significance this week since Rabin’s three- day visit to the capital followed in the wake of hostile statements by some incoming congressional leaders about Israel’s peace policies and foreign-aid levels.
The visit also came one week before donor countries were scheduled to meet in Brussels to discuss fulfilling aid pledges to the fledgling Palestinian Authority.
After the meeting, Rabin acknowledged the difficulties in the peace process but vowed to press ahead.
“There are problems, but we are continuing this process of reconciliation and solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Rabin said.
During a 30-minute private session before being joined by aides, the two leaders reportedly discussed the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, Iran’s involvement in terrorism, and the peace process.
According to senior administration officials, Clinton and Rabin focused primarily on the need to get financial aid to the Palestinians and on the Syrian-Israeli peace track.
Clinton reaffirmed his support for U.S. troops on the Golan Heights if Syria and Israel sign a peace treaty.
If asked by Israel and Syria to send troops to the Golan, “I will come to the American people, I will come to the Congress, and I will make the case at that time based on an agreement that they would reach,” Clinton said.
Clinton cautioned, however, that “there has been no agreement of any kind about this. We are jumping the gun here.”
Clinton responded directly to recent comments by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who is slated to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and who has called the “entire peace process a fraud.”
Helms has also said he is opposed to sending U.S. troops to the Golan and that the whole foreign aid program should be re-evaluated.
“The prime minister has already said the process is not a fraud, it has been quite successful,” Clinton said. “It has been the most successful process since Israel became a nation, and we’ll just keep working at it to try to make it work better.
“I don’t think I should say or do anything that would undermine the possibility of the parties reaching a peace,” Clinton added, with a clear shot at Helms: “I think that ought to be the position that all Americans take.”
During their meeting Monday, Clinton and Rabin finalized plans to pursue the third stage of the joint American-Israeli development of the Arrow anti-missile defense program.
On Monday, Rabin also met with Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) the majority leader-to- be.
Over the weekend, Dole said he opposed sending U.S. troops to the Golan Heights.
Speaking on ABC Television’s “This Week with David Brinkley,” Dole said, “I don’t think that’s a wise idea at all (and) I don’t think we ought to be putting American troops there.”
Rabin also met with Secretary of State Warren Christopher on Monday to discuss the peace process. Christopher plans to return to the Middle East for another round of meetings in Damascus and Jerusalem early next month.
On Tuesday, Rabin was scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary William Perry, as well as a number of congressional leaders, including Rep. David Obey (D- Wisc.), Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.).
Moynihan, like Dole, has recently spoken out against sending U.S. troops to the Golan.
When asked at the news conference why he was not meeting with Helms, Rabin said that in part, the reason is that the senator is out of town.
During the visit, Rabin also planned to meet with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros and senior officials with the Development of Transportation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
