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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Fracas of the first ladies
By Lola KeilaniIn a bid to reach Jewish-American voters, American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running for one of the New York seats in the US Senate, last week began a three-leg tour to the Middle East that took her to Israel, the Palestinian Self-Rule area and Jordan.
Although Mrs Clinton stated prior to her departure that she had been officially invited last spring as first lady and that the trip should not be viewed in the context of her campaign, observers say her trip to Israel in particular reflected a personal agenda.
"Hillary's concern is the election in New York," said Faysal Husseini, a highly placed Palestinian Authority (PA) official.
During her visit, several Jewish-American leaders had criticised Mrs Clinton for initially pulling a visit to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem off her scheduled trip to Israel. But last week the first lady "acted wisely" by visiting the Wall and complying with an age-old tradition by placing a prayer between its stones.
"If she is to secure the New York Jewish vote, she has to have a photo session visiting the Wailing Wall," said one Jordanian political columnist.
Mrs Clinton's visit to Ramallah, however, which was added at the last minute, caused the US First Lady some discomfort when Suha Arafat, the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accused Israel of endangering Palestinian lives and the environment.
Mrs Arafat said that the Israeli army had caused an increased incidence of cancer among Palestinians by its use of poison gases, and that 80 per cent of Palestinian water and aquifers had been contaminated by Israeli chemicals, statements which generated a furious reaction among American Zionist organisations, which felt that Mrs Clinton should have responded to Mrs Arafat's allegations.
In the event, President Clinton himself attempted to rectify the situation by asking Arafat for a public apology. The apology, which was announced last Sunday, said that "The Palestinian National Authority offers its apology for the embarrassment caused to Mrs Clinton as a result of what Mrs Suha Arafat had uttered."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was reportedly also angered by Mrs Arafat's statement and raised the issue in a meeting with Arafat on Sunday night, reportedly admonishing the PA leader. The PA also received an official Israeli letter of protest, while Israeli newspapers launched a campaign of criticism against Mrs Arafat.
Suha Arafat's "statements were scandalous, since she used stereotypical anti-Semitic images of Jews poisoning the wells. It is a reminder of the use of poison gas during the Holocaust, which generates special sensitivity for Israelis, and if Arafat was behind the remarks he must find a way to retract them, since this is an attempt to disrupt the Oslo process," said the Israeli newspaper Hatzofeh.
Mrs Arafat had said that "Eighty per cent of water resources are contaminated, and the daily use of toxic gases by Israeli soldiers over the past years has increased cases of cancer in the Palestinian territories." Her comments came while Mrs Arafat was accompanying the US First Lady at the opening of an American-funded health centre in Ramallah.
Later Mrs Clinton described Suha Arafat's statements as "inflammatory rhetoric."
Although not directly naming the wife of the Palestinian leader, she told reporters in Petra in Jordan that she did "not believe any kind of inflammatory rhetoric or baseless charges [to be] good for the peace process."
Mrs Clinton however also declined to reiterate her earlier comments concerning Palestinian demands for statehood, saying that "I do not think it is useful to comment on any of the issues that are part of the Final Status talks."
Last July, the First Lady had infuriated Palestinians by saying that she looked forward to the day when Jerusalem would become Israel's uncontested capital. The status of the Holy City is one of the most controversial issues in the detailed talks on a final peace accord opened by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators last Monday.
During her two-day visit to Jordan, the First Lady and an Israeli government representative Shai Ben Eliahu joined King Abdullah II and Queen Rania in launching the "Bridge the Rift Foundation," the first joint economic development organisation between an Arab country and Israel.
The fruit of a series of discrete meetings over the past 16 months between officials and private citizens from the United States, Jordan and Israel, the development organisation aims to develop the Jordan Valley border region and to consolidate the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
"The foundation will encourage interaction on both sides of the border" and will serve as a "model for peace and cooperation," said Stephen Roos, an official from the New York-based foundation. A number of projects are expected to begin next month in the Wadi Araba desert region between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, including agriculture, camel husbandry and educational programmes.
Meanwhile King Abdullah has said that such cooperation can only be sustained through the activities of non-governmental groups and organisations. In thanking Mrs Clinton for a $5 million donation, he said, "[This] will contribute to solidifying a framework of peaceful cooperation between neighbours intent on utilising resources in the most efficient manner."
It was noted by observers that despite Mrs Clinton's refusal to speak on the subject of Palestinian sovereignty during her tour, she also refrained from supporting Israeli calls for Jerusalem to become Israel's "united and eternal capital."
