Bush's approach to the peace process is incremental
Palestine-USA, Politics, 3/1/2002

US White House spokesman Ari Fleischer hinted yesterday that the approach taken by the Clinton administration to solve the Israeli- Palestinian question has led to the violence seen between the two sides.

Fleischer said "there's no question the violence really began on September 29th after the Camp David Accords broke down. That's an historical point."

He added however that "The President's approach is to learn the lessons of all previous Presidents, and that's something I think that all previous Presidents, including President Clinton, tried valiantly to achieve peace in the Middle East. No United States President is to blame for violence in the Middle East. The only people who are to blame are the terrorists who carry out the violence."

He added "President Bush is intent to learn the lessons of all previous Presidents and focus on what he thinks can be successful, which is an incremental approach based on the Mitchell Accords, and not an attempt to have an immediate comprehensive solution, because he thinks that will raise expectations too high and, therefore, meet with unmet expectations and, therefore, create more trouble."

Asked "it sounds like you're back-pedaling from that statement this morning, 'shooting for the moon and coming up with nothing', because the Clinton administration is saying that that sounds like passing the buck."

Fleischer said "No, there's no question that the President's focus is on making an agreement that the parties themselves can agree to, and not pushing beyond that."

Asked "The Clinton administration's approach rejects what you just said. Their approach was -- and they learned their own lessons; at least, they would say they learned their own lessons at Oslo and the follow-ups here at the White House -- that the incremental approach was not getting them anywhere. That they wanted to bring the parties to Camp David and shoot for the moon, to get the comprehensive agreement, because every time they got an incremental agreement, on the way to the next incremental agreement there was backsliding. You say the lesson of Camp David is that that's wrong?"

Fleischer said "The President has clearly said, and he said throughout the campaign, that the best way to achieve a comprehensive agreement is through the series that Senator Mitchell, a Democrat, has recommended, of interim steps that begin with security talks, that lead to political discussions about borders and boundaries, et cetera, finally getting to settlement issues. And that's how you build confidence to achieve a comprehensive solution. It is a different approach. But the point is that for decades American Presidents have wrestled with how to bring peace to the Middle East. President Clinton tried valiantly to do so. Nobody should be surprised if President Bush has a different approach."

The Israeli-Palestinan raproachement made great progress during the Clinton administration. Clinton had invited Yasser Arafat to the White House several times, which Bush has refused to do so far having views on the approach to the conflict that are similar to Sharon.

It is worth noting Clinton's approach towards solving international problems where he also took similar and unique steps towards the Northern Ireland problem that also lead to great progress. Clinton invited to the White House IRA officials considered then by some as terrorists.

Bush's "incremental" approach clearly is different from Clinton's who saw his approach as "bold." Clinton said about his foreign policy "If the history of this American century has taught us anything, it is that we will either work to shape events, or we will be shaped by them. We cannot be partly in the world. We cannot lead in fits and starts or only when we believe it suits our short-term interests. We must lead boldly, consistently, without reservation ... Our security and prosperity depend upon our willingness to be involved in the world."

Bush on the other hand had defined previously his approach saying "I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. We can help. And maybe it's just our difference in government, the way we view government."

Previous Stories:
  Israeli assassination crimes are provocations   (2/26/2002)
  Arafat gets a telephone call from Powell   (2/25/2002)
  Israeli - Palestinian security meeting   (2/23/2002)
  Israeli government refuses an international investigation and Sahron denounces U.S criticism   (10/4/2000)
  PNA angry at Israel's deferral of third phase pullout   (1/17/2000)

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