WASHINGTON — When Benjamin Netanyahu came to the White House this summer, U.S. officials predicted that it was only a matter of time before the Likud government would face American pressure over its peace policies.
At the same time, the Clinton administration sought to minimize the risks of a confrontation by extracting a pledge from the Israeli leader there would be no surprises.
Netanyahu broke the pledge when he ordered the opening of an entrance to an archeological tunnel in Jerusalem last week without advance notice, U.S. officials said.
The move incensed Clinton and sent the U.S. diplomatic corps into a tailspin as they tried to stop the violence and salvage a peace process once thought irreversible.
As Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat and Jordan’s King Hussein gathered here this week for a hastily convened summit, Clinton walked a politically risky fine line a month before Election Day.
Riding a commanding lead in national polls and an electoral map heavily in its favor, the last thing his campaign needed was a foreign policy crisis like the one now unfolding.
Political activists predict that the crisis will affect American ballot boxes in November, based largely on the implementation of agreements brokered here, on whether the peace lasts and on whether Clinton is seen as pressuring Israel.
For their part, Republicans are using the crisis to attack Clinton’s foreign policies.
“The violence is a painful reminder that too many differences have been glossed over in earlier stages of the peace process,” said Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole.
“Neither the United States nor any other party can impose a solution,” Dole said. “Our friend Israel must not be asked to make concessions as a means of restoring order.”
The Netanyahu government deserves the “full support of the United States at this moment of crisis,” said Dole.
Clinton, meanwhile, denied that he has pressured Israel in any way. “What the United States has done since I have been president is not to pressure anyone, but to get the parties together and to explore alternatives and to see what can be done to find common interest and shared values,” Clinton said in the Oval Office Tuesday as he began his meeting with Netanyahu, Hussein and Arafat.
“Our role is to try to help bring people together” in order to find solutions, he said.
Apparently, the summit ended with mixed results for the Mideast leaders and Clinton: Netanyahu and Arafat agreed on little more than negotiating more upon returning.
Aware of the political stakes inside and outside the Jewish community, the Clinton-Gore campaign’s foreign policy spokesman shot back at Dole.
Dole “is on thin ice when talking about pressuring Israel,” James Rubin, said in an interview.
“Sen. Dole has a checkered past when it comes to Israel,” he said, citing the GOP candidate’s 1990 call for a cut in aid to Israel.
Eager to undercut the support Democrats usually get from U.S. Jewish voters and to paint Clinton as ineffective, Republican leadership asked the White House to avoid isolating Israel.
“We believe it would be counterproductive to the long-term pros-pects for peace in the Middle East” if the meeting “is used as an opportunity to pressure Israel to make unilateral concessions in the face of violence aimed at its people,” Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Majority Trent Lott (R-Miss.) wrote in a letter to Clinton.
Gingrich went on the offensive, initiating a conference call Tuesday with Jewish media to attack U.S. policy in the Mideast.
Denying that the recent outreach was politically motivated, Gingrich said the “abject American failure to deal with [Syrian President Hafez] Assad” was the root cause of the current crisis.
Democratic leaders in Congress also joined the fray. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) sent a letter to the president, supporting his policies, especially his decision to hold the summit.
“Clearly the parties themselves must determine the steps necessary to achieve such a peace. However, the leadership and support of our government can facilitate their efforts and help them find a brighter and more secure future,” they wrote.