Lose-Lose Choices

Clinton administration may find silence
the best policy on Israeli elections.

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

Whatever diplomats think about
the administration's Mideast perfor-
mance, opinion is just about unani-
Washington
mous that Clinton's stated preference
resident Bill Clinton and his
for Shimon Peres in the 1996 race
Mideast team may be getting
backfired, boosting Netanyahu in the
what they want if Israeli elec-
vote and setting back a peace process
tions prematurely end Prime
that has been the administration's top
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's rule.
Mideast priority since 1993.
But officials here suggest
The meddling also tainted
that if they signal their prefer-
the new Prime Minister's rela-
Comme ntary
ences in the upcoming contest
tions with his U.S. counter-
& Anal ysis
— indeed, if they take even
part from the outset, compli-
routine diplomatic actions that
cating U.S. mediation effoi
are perceived as interference with
Officials here say it is extremely
Israeli politics — they may find they
unlikely they will repeat that cost];
are helping Netanyahu's reelection
blunder in 1999 by publicly defining
chances.
this election, too, as a referendum on
And that poses a daunting challenge
a peace process that bears the unmis-
for administration officials who worry
takable stamp of the United States.
that Israeli-Palestinian relations are in
But avoiding the perception of a Li,
freefall, and that any delay in imple-
will be difficult.
menting the terms of October's Wye
For months, officials here have pur-
River agreement may trigger a regional
sued a two-tiered policy. On the sur-
explosion. A diplomatic rescue effort
face, they continue their tenacious
could generate the perception of an
efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian
anti-Netanyahu tilt, they say.
talks. That includes pressing for fur-

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ther Israeli troop redeployments and
better compliance by the Palestinians.
But in reality, U.S. policy has
become mostly a matter of trying to
keep the Oslo process on life support
until a new Israeli government can
take over and resuscitate it.
Implicit in that strategy is the expec-
tation that a new government will be
more favorably disposed to the peace
process formulations worked out under
former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
The rapid deterioration of the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which
officials here worry will accelerate the
spiral toward all-out confrontation,
may make it harder for the adminis-
traion to remain on the sidelines,
ob,ervers say.
Adding to the dilemma is a grow-
in worry over the May 4 deadline,
when the Oslo interim period is due
to expire and when Yasser Arafat has
threatened to unilaterally declare a
Palestinian state.
The result is a lose-lose situation
for the administration.

Yassin: 'Continue To Holy War'

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28 Detroit Jewish News

Spiritual leader of Hamas.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, center,
receives wellwishers at his
Gaza City home Dec. 23
a er Palestinian officials
-eed him from two months
of house arrest. Yassin- arrest,
which deeply angered his
following, was one of Yasser
Arafat's strongest steps yet
against Hamas. The radical
group opposes any peace. with
Israel and has carried out
more than a dozen suicide
bombings over the past sever-
al years. "We must continue
on our path to holy war,"
1';7ssin told a rally marking
the 1 th anniversary of the
Hamas movement one day
after his release.

Photo by the Associated Press/Add liana