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ish your

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Detroit Jewish News

Maccabi Games

Special Section.

ISSUE DATE: August 14, 1998
AD DEADLINE: July 29, 1998
SIZES/PRICES
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signaled the Israelis that they'd better
accept it, or else.
But they never spelled out a credible
"or else," and at the first sign of resis-
tance from the Jewish community and
the Republican Congress, the adminis-
tration bolted for cover, only to repeat
the cycle with more vague deadlines,
more retreats.
Polls showed that the Israeli public
would have accepted modest, fair pres-
sure clearly aimed at Israeli policy. But
they were certain to respond unfavor-
ably to pressure that seemed to reflect a
personal animosity toward Netanyahu,
or to a policy that ignored Yassir Arafat's
role in prolonging the dangerous stale-
mate.
Ditto for American Jews. Most con-
tinue to favor the peace process, but
surveys show that a majority also have a
positive view of Netanyahu. The
administration was desperate to avoid a
political backlash at home, a major rea-
son for its flip-flops, but its animosity
toward Netanyahu and its failure to
express equal concern about Arafat's
failings increased the likelihood of such
a reaction and complicated the effort to
break the impasse.
The Clinton administration has

failed to define American interests in
the current negotiations. Instead of
reinforcing the constituency for peace in
Israel by showing consistency in strategy
and flexibility in tactics, the administra-
tion has reinforced the most hard-line
elements there by adding to the fear of
misguided U.S. arm-twisting and
imposed solutions.
With the talks now entering yet
another "end game," administration
officials insist that this time they mean
business. But they shouldn't be sur-
prised if nobody in the region — Bibi
Netanyahu, Yassir Arafat, or a long list
of Arab leaders — takes them seriously.
The administration's non-policy has
sent out all the wrong messages.
Netanyahu is convinced he can roll
the administration at will; Arafat
believes he can get away with holding
out endlessly. The Israeli public senses
indecision and pique in Washington,
not steadfast and pragmatic policymak-
ing.
What Israeli citizens need is reassur-
ance that Washington will be steady,
true and fair in the quest for peace.
Instead, what they see is an administra-
tion that lacks direction and the politi-
cal will to get the job done. ❑

Core Ties

A few months ago,
American impatience
with Israeli
procrastination was
boiling. In June, the heat
disappeared.

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DR KENNETH W STEIN
Special to The Jewish News

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ecretary of State Albright is
willing to wait to obtain Israel
Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's answer about the
next Israel withdrawal.
Why did Washington's policy-makers
ultimately curl up on Netanyahu's lap
again? Why does the world's most
powerful country push Israel into the
conclusions it desires?
The answer: special status and special
handling. Israel's relationship with the

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1998

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Dr. Kenneth W. Stein is the director

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of the new Institute for the Study of
Modern Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu met earlier
this year in Washington with President
Clinton.

United States is different, in a class by
itself not possessed by any other state.
Other countries have longer ties, such as
England or Canada, but none has the
unique U.S.-Israeli relationship.
In June, in as varied places as the
Baker Institute at Rice University in
Houston, at Ben-Gurion University in
Beersheba, and at the America