CLOSE-UP
An Israeli border
policeman
questioning
Palestinians.
President Bush said
he favors some sort
of Palestinian
homeland.
statements out of Israel that I am en-
couraged about.
FELDMAN: Israel maintains that the
officially-sanctioned settlements were
built for security reasons. Why don't you
accept that explanation?
BUSH: Because they now are expand-
ing and going further and further all the
time. It is long-established U.S. govern-
ment policy that such moves are counter-
productive to peace.
FELDMAN: But if Arabs are permitted
to live in Israel with full citizenship rights,
why can't the reverse be true?
BUSH: In any peace process we can try
to work out the complications that still
exist, but new settlements which contin-
ue to be built, in the face of U.S. policy,
are not conducive to peace. Even some of
Israel's strongest supporters know this.
And the polls show that many people in
Israel know it, too.
FELDMAN: What do you consider se-
cure boundaries for Israel?
BUSH: That must be worked out in ne-
gotiations, and has to be resolved be-
28
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1991
tween the parties. The U.S. can't set
those boundaries nor are we trying to.
FELDMAN: King Hussein (of Jordan)
once told me that if anyone could bring
peace to the Mideast, it would be you. So
how will you begin to take on his chal-
lenge?
BUSH: We've had our differences with
the king over the Gulf War. He knows
what they are, and we know what they
are. But he is an important player in the
region. I want to see him come to the
peace table and I'm still hoping he will.
FELDMAN: What are the chances of
your being the first U.S. president to break
the deadlock in the Mideast?
BUSH: Well, right now, I don't know.
But the ingredients are there because our
credibility has been enhanced by what we
did in the Gulf.
We defended Israel, in a sense, by tak-
ing out its number-one enemy, and we did
that definitively. The people of Israel
seem to be appreciative.
We came to the defense of the Saudis
and the Kuwaitis. People in the Gulf give
us a new degree of respectability and
credit.
I think even Syria and Jordan under-
stand — Syria being on our side, Jordan
being on Saddam's side — that the word
of the U.S. means something.
So I think we have a chance. But I
don't look at this on personal terms.
As we deal with this multifaceted prob-
lem, I need to look at what is best for
world peace, and always have in mind
what's best for the security interests of
the U.S.
We are on the right track, but we have
difficulty convincing those three coun-
tries to move forward more briskly.
FELDMAN: Can you understand Is-
rael's reluctance to permit the United Na-
tions a role in the peace process as long as
it (the U.N.) is on record as defining
Zionism as a form of racism?
BUSH: I can understand wanting to
get rid of the resolution that "Zionism is
Racism." That is an absurd resolution
that the U.S. strongly stands against.
However, having seen the success of
the recent U.N. diplomacy, I hope the Is-
raelis will take another look.