[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4485-S4486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             U.S. POLICY AND THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I commend the courage and decisiveness 
displayed by President Clinton and the Secretary of State, Ms. 
Albright, in attempting to get the Arab-Israeli negotiations back on 
track. The attacks by some in the other body are disappointing and not 
helpful. If there has been coercion and strong-arming or unreasonable 
tactics on the matter of negotiations between Israel and the 
Palestinians over the last year or so, Mr. President, in my judgment, 
it has not been on the part of the United States.
  The unfortunate reality as I view it, is that the Israeli Prime 
Minister has pursued a policy of paralysis in the peace process. I 
think it is unwise for any responsible American leader to suggest that 
this practice should continue, and the United States should not 
intervene to get the negotiations underway again in a meaningful way. 
The Israeli Prime Minister has traveled to Washington before, totally 
empty-

[[Page S4486]]

handed, with no proposal for moving the negotiations forward. In so 
doing, he has catered to the forces working against progress. He has 
embarrassed the United States, and all who have supported a peaceful 
constructive resolution of the issues on the table regarding Israeli 
and the Palestinians. It is no wonder, given his track record on the 
negotiations since he became Prime Minister, that the administration 
has seen fit to require some assurance that another visit to Washington 
will produce something more than empty rhetoric and more stonewalling. 
I cannot support more strongly the position of Secretary Albright, that 
if the Israeli Prime Minister is unwilling to accept some moderate 
specific American proposals for progress on the West Bank that there is 
not much point in another fruitless trip to Washington, which might 
further inflame the situation in the Middle East.
  As to the Israeli Palestinian problem, Mr. President, it has always 
taken three to tango. All parties, the United States, the Palestinians 
and the Israelis must want the negotiations to move forward, and it is 
only through compromise that success can be achieved. The United States 
has used its good offices to broker the negotiations and has burnished 
substantial financial resources to ensure the stability of Israeli on 
an unstinting basis. Any one of the parties can derail the negotiations 
and so it is a measure of the tremendous difficulty the United States 
has had with the Netanyahu government that the administration has felt 
it necessary to take specific steps to get the negotiations back on 
track.
  Therefore, Mr. President, I commend the President for this initiative 
in the interests of getting the negotiations jump-started. I hope that 
cooler heads will prevail and that all Americans will see the wisdom of 
supporting a reasoned but decisive approach to the negotiating effort.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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