7/10/00 4:00 p.m.
Payback Time For Bill
Most likely, Ehud Barak will soon join a long list of Clinton play-things.

By Seth Gitell, political writer for the Boston Phoenix & former national editor of Forward

ow President Bill Clinton extracts his payback. Many questions were raised in the Spring of 1999 about the help Clinton and his cronies gave to Israel's Labor Party candidate for prime minister, Ehud Barak. With Barak scurrying to Camp David for last minute discussions with Clinton and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, it appears we now know what all that assistance was about.

In the last vain act of a lame-duck president, Clinton is going to use all of his famous political skill and charm to convince Barak to agree to a deal that his people don't want and that the Palestinians have rejected in all but name only. Most likely, Barak will soon join a long list that began with Jim McDougal, extended to Vince Foster, and has spanned numerous other Clinton play-things who thought they could get something out of the president and ended up getting used by him instead.

To most observers of keen judgment, the "peace process" between the Israelis and Palestinians died long ago. For more sanguine spirits — including Natan Sharansky — the end came when Barak promised to hand the Jerusalem suburbs of Abu Dis, Azaria and Suwahara to the Palestinians as a "down payment." That move was greeted by organized riots backed by Arafat. Clinton was not dismayed. In his relentless search for a legitimate legacy, Clinton has fastened upon achieving a final agreement between the two. No matter if the deal lasts. No matter if it is good. No matter if it leads to violence. As long as Clinton can arrange one last glorious signing ceremony — enough to provide a boost to his wife in New York and his footman Al Gore in their respective quests for elective office — that is all that matters.

How did it come to pass that the latest instance of Clinton's meddling could imperil a state founded just over a half-century ago as a homeland for the Jewish people?

Part of it was dumb luck. Clinton had no part in the historic secret discussions in Oslo between the Israelis and Palestinians. Indeed, the Israelis took the administration by surprise when they made news of the agreement public in 1993. But never being one to miss a political opportunity, Clinton got political mileage out of first one, then another White House signing ceremony between Israel and the Palestinians.

As the prospects for Middle East peace began to falter, Clinton remained no less committed to a policy of pushing as hard as possible for an agreement. A spate of suicide bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the Spring of 1996 left Clinton undaunted: he used his political chips to gather leaders from around the world — including Russia's Boris Yeltsin — in Sharm-el-Sheikh to put forward a united front against terrorism. The real objective: insulating Clinton's candidate in the Israeli election — Shimon Peres — from charges of being soft on terrorism. His ambassador to Israel at the time, Martin Indyk, went out of his way to promote the Peres candidacy. One month before the election, Clinton hosted Peres at the White House and vowed to provide more financial aid and assistance with anti-terrorism.

It didn't work. That spring led to the election of the man Clinton had worked against — Benjamin Netanyahu — and the relations between the two were frosty. Netanyahu, to be sure, rushed to the Gingrich-led Congress whenever things got hot — in turn, angering the president. Clinton was never satisfied with the uncompliant Netanyahu. Nevertheless, he had Indyk and Dennis Ross, both of the State Department, convince Netanyahu to agree to a give-over in what became known as the Hebron Agreement. Not satisfied, Clinton convinced both Arafat and Netanyahu to come to the Wye River Plantation — more recently the home of Elian Gonzales. He kept them isolated for days and even recruited a dying King Hussein of Jordan to convince them to make a deal. The result was another White House signing ceremony that made for a great photo op.

It soon became evident that Clinton couldn't squeeze any more out of Netanyahu. New Israeli elections were approaching. Clinton found a tough Israeli general, one very much in the image of Rabin, who would follow a line closer to that of the White House. Instead of relying on an ambassador who would promote the Labor Party candidate, Indyk — this time with three close allies of Clinton in Robert Shrum (now influential in Gore's campaign), James Carville and Stan Greenberg — traveled to Israel to run Barak's campaign. In addition, in the classic Clinton tactic of divide and conquer, the president invited another former general and former Netanyahu ally, Yitzhak Mordechai, to the White House. The invitation seemed to be aimed at building up Mordechai as a more hawkish alternative to Netanyahu and helping Barak.

Finally, there was the matter of the two mysterious break-ins at Greenberg's Capitol Hill offices. The Washington Jewish Week received an anonymous tip alerting them to the break-in. At the time, the incident garnered a great amount of attention resulting in, among other stories, a front page article in the Washington Post. The implication was that there had been another Watergate. Neither the FBI nor the Washington police have announced any arrest in connection with the event, and it remains unsolved.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu was a deeply flawed candidate who would have been defeated in any event. Barak became the new prime minister. Still, all the help from Washington left the impression that Barak was Clinton's man. The Netanyahu camp certainly believed this. Before taking ill, Netanyahu's spokesman, David Bar-Illan, put forward his brief in the pages of National Review. At the time, Bar-Illan told me about the alleged burglaries: "Immediately the suspicion was cast on Likud. I would like to know why the case isn't being investigated."

Since that time, progress between both sides has slowed. Barak has made one generous offer after another. Arafat's position has hardened. Arafat has seen the success of Hezbollah in Lebanon and thinks more can be accomplished through the threat of violence rather than negotiation. The May outbursts demonstrated this. The Palestinians are now clamoring for Jerusalem as their capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Keep in mind that many of these are individuals who fled cities from within the pre-1967 border of Israel, and want to go back to their original homes. (Such would mean the destruction of Israel.)

Tuesday is Clinton's big chance. Last month, Dennis Ross began lobbying Israel's cabinet for the deal. Officially, the Clinton administration denies that it took sides in any Israeli election and ever pressured Israeli leaders to make concessions. But the facts tell a different story. Even Ross's visit to the cabinet suggests that.

If the president is able to procure a new Camp David deal, he will solemnly invoke his commitment to the legacy of the slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Clinton will get his photo op. Remember, though, the Middle East, unlike North America, is a dangerous neighborhood. The margin of error is slim. What costs Clinton polling points in America can cost lives in Israel. But if the agreement explodes into violence, the outgoing Clinton, like Rabin, will not be in office to deal with its consequences.