Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 08:56:42 -0800 (PST)
Subject: The Clinton Years


INFORMATION BRIEF
Number 61
19 January 2001

Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine / 2425-35
Virginia Avenue, NW / Washington, DC 20037 / Tel:
202.338.1290 / Fax: 202.333.7742 /
<http://www.palestinecenter.org>


The Clinton Years:  U.S. Policy
Toward Israel and Palestine, Part One

Cheryl A. Rubenberg

Overview:  The key characteristic of U.S.-Israeli
relations since 1967 has been steadfast U.S.
political, diplomatic, military, and economic support
for Israel.  Regardless of how egregious Israel's
behavior, and despite the occasional, highly
publicized U.S. "wrist-slaps," Washington has been
consistent in providing Israel economic and military
aid and defending it in international venues.  The
Clinton administration has been no exception.

Clinton's Middle East Team:  When President Bill
Clinton assumed office in January 1993, he signaled
his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
through his high level administrative appointments. 
Martin Indyk, a former head of the pro-Israel think
tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
(WINEP), was positioned as senior Middle East advisor
on the National Security Council (later serving as
two-term ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary
of state for Near East affairs).  Prior to serving at
this post, he worked as an advisor to former Israeli
Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.  Although Indyk
was an Australian citizen, he was sworn in as a U.S.
citizen in an act of peremptory executive privilege at
President-elect Clinton's express wishes.  Dennis
Ross, who served temporarily as interim director of
WINEP after Indyk, was given the post of special
Middle East coordinator.  At the time of the Al-Aqsa
intifada, some of the original players remained-most
notably, Ross.  (The Washington Institute announced on
January 16 that Ross will return to WINEP as counselor
and distinguished fellow on March 1.)

Early Support for Israel's Harsh Policies:  In
December 1992, Israel expelled 400 Palestinians for
allegedly being Hamas supporters.  Despite outrage
from every quarter of the international community,
Clinton refrained from criticizing Israel and worked
closely with Tel Aviv to develop a face-saving device
for then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  The U.S.
solution, announced by the State Department, involved
the return home of just 100 of the deportees in "a
timely fashion;" half of the rest were to return in
September, and the remainder in 1994.
In March 1993, Rabin declared "emergency measures,"
including the closure of the border between Israel and
the Occupied Territories.  This policy of closure has
remained in effect since then, although in varying
degrees of intensity, severely damaging the
Palestinian economy and in other ways injuriously
affecting Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. 
Clinton, however, never condemned the closure.        

    Six months after the "emergency measures" went
into effect, on September 13, Clinton presided over
the signing of the Declaration of Principles.  Clinton
thereafter acted as Israel's handmaiden in the endless
negotiations that followed, while simultaneously
beguiling the Palestinian leadership with pledges of
U.S. neutrality and evenhandedness as an "honest
broker."

Camp David:  Nearing the end of his presidential
tenure and concerned that history credit him with some
genuine success, Clinton convened a summit in July
2000 at Camp David in the hopes of concluding a final
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. Yet, adhering to
previous efforts to broker such a deal, the U.S.
presented the Israeli agenda to the Palestinians as a
fait accompli.  When, for the first time, the
Palestinians did not accede to the U.S.-fronted
Israeli proposals, Clinton and his aides harshly
blamed Arafat for the failure of the summit.  Shortly
thereafter, Clinton appeared on Israeli television in
a strong show of support for the Jewish State,
repeating his guarantees of military aid, an upgrading
of the strategic relationship, and consideration of
moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Support of Israel During the Intifada:  This ongoing
demonstration of Washington's partisanship, combined
with former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's
arrogant visit to the Haram al-Sharif on September 28,
were the sparks that ignited a tinder box built upon
seven empty years of negotiations and broken
commitments.  For the Palestinians, these were years
of growing frustration, hopelessness, and despair at
the worsening situation.  Palestinians have faced
tremendous unemployment, poverty, continued land
confiscation, and house demolition.  Due to the
closure, most could no longer access employment,
education, medical care, and holy sites in Jerusalem.

    Israel's response to the resulting intifada was
swift, brutal, and lethal.  Within three months, over
350 Palestinians were dead and more than 10,000
injured, many severely.  Using tanks, helicopter
gunships, assassinations, and starvation, Israel has
laid siege to the Occupied Territories. 

    While the rest of the world denounces Israel's
draconian measures, the United States maintains its
unswerving support.  At the outset of the violence,
France and Germany both initiated an undeclared
embargo on Israel of military equipment and materials.
 In stark contrast to French and German policies, U.S.
arms deliveries to Israel increased.   Amnon Barzilai
reported in the October 3 issue of Ha'aretz on "the
largest purchase of military helicopters by the
Israeli Air Force in a decade."  The report cited "an
agreement with the U.S. to provide Israel with 35
Blackhawk military helicopters and spare parts, . . .
along with jet fuel, following the purchase, shortly
before, of patrol aircraft and Apache attack
helicopters." 

    On November 14, Clinton asked Congress to grant
$450 million in extra aid to Israel in addition to the
astronomical amounts it already receives annually. 
For example, in fiscal year 1997, Israel received $3
billion from the foreign aid budget; $525 million from
other U.S. budgets; and $2 billion in federal loan
guarantees.  Under the new request, the U.S. would
give Israel $250 million to defray the cost of the
Lebanon withdrawal, and $200 million to develop new
weapons such as the Arrow anti-missile shield.  The
request also included a suggestion that Israel's
military aid next year include an extra $350 million. 
The U.S. Congress declined to approve Clinton's
request.

Support at Sharm el-Sheikh:  Under the October 17
Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, the president provided
cover for Israel's desire to return to the status quo
ante and revitalize the Oslo process, while also
exerting heavy handed pressure on Arafat to "stop the
violence." 

    Moreover, Clinton oversaw a secret agreement at
Sharm el-Sheikh between Palestinian Preventive
Security head Jibril Rajoub and Israel's General
Security Services head Avi Dichter for resumption of
their cooperation in "counter-terrorist" activities.
These included the re-arrest of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad activists, disarming the Tanzim militias, joint
operations to preempt the creation of "terror cells,"
and other shared actions.  (By the end of December, a
special Israeli military unit had assassinated eight
senior Fatah leaders.)  Implementation of the deal
would be overseen by CIA chief George Tenet and the
CIA representative in Tel Aviv.  It is worth recalling
that a major aspect of the Oslo Accords involved the
CIA training Palestinian policemen to become Israeli
surrogates-informants and enforcers of "order" in the
West Bank and Gaza. 

The U.S.-Israeli Partnership:  It is the "full
partnership" of the U.S. and Israel in the sham of
Oslo that is responsible for the inevitable uprising
of the Palestinians against the new, and more onerous,
form of occupation that the so-called "peace process"
has attempted to impose. The real purpose of the Oslo
Accords was to provide the Palestinians limited
autonomy.  Their areas of control would be segregated
into non-contiguous enclaves and would be surrounded
by Israeli-controlled borders, with settlements and
settlement roads punctuating and essentially violating
the territories' integrity.  During the past seven
years, land expropriations, bypass roads, and new
settlements (three official and 42 unofficial) have
mushroomed, while the demolition of Palestinian homes
has risen dramatically to over 2,000.  These
developments have occurred amidst ever increasing U.S.
economic and military support, and barely a word of
objection from Washington.



Cheryl A. Rubenberg is Associate Professor of
Political Science at Florida International University.
 The above text may be used without permission but
with proper attribution to the author and to the
Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine.  This
Information Brief does not necessarily reflect the
views of CPAP or The Jerusalem Fund.



"The Functions of U.S. Aid to Israel" a luncheon
briefing with Stephen Zunes will be held on Friday,
January 26th from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. at the Center for
Policy Analysis on Palestine. RSVP to (202) 338-1325
by 5 p.m. on January 25th. 





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