[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

  Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, the latest round of violence in the 
Middle East has dealt more pain and suffering to the people of that 
region, as well as another blow to the peace process. And though I 
remain firmly convinced that a final status agreement--which provides 
firm and enforceable security guarantees for Israel--remains not only 
the most desirable way out of the cycle of violence but indeed the only 
way to achieve lasting peace and security for all of the people in the 
region, the fundamental problem at present is whether or not Yasir 
Arafat is capable of ever becoming a reliable partner in the peace 
process. The answer, as unfortunate for future generations of 
Palestinians as for Israelis and for all of those who crave peace in 
the Middle East, would seem to be an emphatic NO, as indicated by his 
dismissal of the historic compromise offered by then-Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Barak late last year. Unless and until Chairman Arafat, 
or a successor, can demonstrate the capacity to make peace as well as 
war, the outlook for the Middle East peace process will remain bleak.
  Thomas Friedman makes this case effectively and forcefully in a May 
22 editorial in the New York Times, entitled ``It Only Gets Worse.'' I 
ask unanimous consent that the Friedman editorial be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, May 22, 2001]

                           It Only Gets Worse

                        (By Thomas L. Friedman)

       The long-awaited Mitchell commission report about Israeli-
     Palestinian violence was released yesterday, and now there is 
     a debate over what to do with its recommendations. I have a 
     suggestion. It's kind of a two-for-one deal. Take all the 
     Mitchell reports, make a big pile out of them, and set them 
     ablaze into a gigantic bonfire. It would surely generate 
     enough heat, and light, to make a small contribution to the 
     Bush energy plan.
       Am I being unfair? Yes, just a bit. George Mitchell is a 
     good man, and the central argument of his report is right, in 
     the narrowest sense: If you want to stop the latest Israeli-
     Palestinian slide into the abyss, first there must be a 
     cessation of all violence, and then confidence-building 
     steps, including a settlements freeze and Palestinian 
     security measures.
       My problem with the Mitchell report is that it 
     fundamentally ignores how we got into this abyss and the only 
     real way out. It is not because of Israeli settlements. The 
     settlements are foolish, and their continued expansion is a 
     shameful act of colonial coercion that will meet the fate of 
     all other colonial enterprises in history. The inability of 
     American Jewish leaders or U.S. governments to speak out 
     against settlement expansion--which should be stopped under 
     any conditions for Israel's sake--is a blot on all of them.
       But the settlements are not the core problem. The core 
     problem right now is Yasir Arafat--the Palestinian leader who 
     cannot say ``yes'' and will not say ``uncle.''
       President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak put on 
     the table before Mr. Arafat a historic compromise proposal 
     that would have given Palestinians control of 94 to 96 
     percent of the West Bank and Gaza--with all the settlements 
     removed, virtually all of Arab East Jerusalem, a return to 
     Israel of a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees and 
     either the right of return to the West Bank and Gaza or 
     compensation for all the others.
       Not only would Mr. Arafat not take it, he would not even 
     say: ``Well, this was insufficient, but this is the most far-
     reaching and serious proposal Palestinians have ever seen. 
     Now, I want to enter into a dialogue with the Israeli people 
     and government to see if I can get them to 100 percent.''
       No, instead, Mr. Arafat launched this idiotic uprising. He 
     did so because he is essentially a political coward and 
     maneuverer, who apparently has not given up his long-term aim 
     of eliminating Israel and who was afraid in the short run 
     that if he took 99 percent, he would be killed for the 1 
     percent he left on the table. Mr. Arafat has never been 
     willing to tell his people he got them most of what they 
     wanted and now is the time to end the suffering of as many 
     Palestinians as possible and move on.
       This truth is what the Mitchell ``investigation'' should be 
     telling the world and the Palestinians. There was an Israeli 
     leader, and a slim Israeli majority, for a fair historic 
     compromise. But there was no Palestinian equivalent, and 
     unless there is a Palestinian partner, and a Palestinian 
     leader, for a historic compromise roughly along the Clinton 
     lines, no cease-fire is going to hold.
       The best Hebrew biography of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel 
     Sharon is entitled ``He Doesn't Stop at Red Lights.'' Mr. 
     Arafat's biography should be entitled ``He Doesn't Go at 
     Green Lights.''
       Now Mr. Sharon--who was elected in the Israeli backlash 
     against the failure of Camp David--is trying to pummel Mr. 
     Arafat into submission. That won't work either. Because Mr. 
     Arafat is as afraid to say ``uncle'' to Sharon as much as he 
     was afraid to say ``yes'' to Clinton. He fears he would be 
     killed for saying uncle as much as he would be killed for 
     saying yes to 99 percent. The Palestinians will never be 
     bombed into submission. One hundred years of Palestinian 
     history tells you that.
       The real problem is that the Palestinians are leaderless 
     today, and that is what the U.S., the U.N. and the Arab would 
     have to face up to. Deep down, they all know it and they 
     admit it to each other in private. There is no Palestinian 
     leader right now willing or able to say yes to a fair 
     historic compromise, and we simply fool ourselves with 
     commissions that don't acknowledge that. Unless the Arabs can 
     stiffen Mr. Arafat by supporting him in any grand compromise, 
     or by creating a context in which an alternative leadership 
     can emerge, this bonfire will rage on and it will consume 
     many, many others.

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