Bill Clinton

A thaw in the frozen Mideast peace talks may be in the works as Ehud Barak puts the finishing touches on his new government, but it apparently hasn’t touched Egypt. That was apparent on Monday when a group of Jewish leaders held a chilly session with President Hosni Mubarak, here for a round of top-level meetings including a Thursday session with President Bill Clinton.
Several participants described the meeting as contentious, combative and frustrating.

Allegations in an upcoming book that Israel’s secret intelligence agency taped sultry phone sex between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky are “too contrived” to be true, the director of the Anti-Defamation League says.

Washington Nudging, Not Squeezing

The Clinton administration’s ire over the de facto freeze in implementation of the Wye River agreement — anger directed primarily at the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — was kept at a low simmer this week as officials here tried hard to express their displeasure without getting entangled in the political melee taking place in Israel.

With Washington and Jerusalem reeling from internal political crises, the Mideast peace process is likely to be the first casualty. Neither President Clinton, facing an impeachment trial in the Senate, nor Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was forced to call for new elections this week, appear to have the focus, or clout, to address the stymied Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Mostly Mum On Impeachment

Jewish leaders have been almost invisible as the House this week moved toward the second vote of impeachment in the nation’s history and as talk about a presidential resignation mounted. “We support orderly process in government, but we aren’t taking a position because the impeachment issue has become so partisan,” said Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress.

‘He Frittered It Away’

‘It’s so obvious, it’s almost comical,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “We know exactly what Saddam’s doing, but we continue to play his game.”

For Now, U.S. Nudging Israel

Urgent but quiet pleas, not strong-arming, were on the diplomatic menu at the State Department this week as the target date to begin implementation of the Wye River Memorandum came and went without much action on the ground.
But observers warned that U.S. pressure is likely to resume if what is seen by administration officials as Israeli foot-dragging continues.

Aid Hinges On Congress
As a sweetener to last week’s Wye River agreement, the Clinton administration is offering new aid to the Palestinians and Israelis. But on Capitol Hill, already sour on foreign aid and not a hotbed of support for Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, the aid package could be a hard sell.

Summit Scrambling

The announcement that Israeli and Palestinian leaders will gather in the Washington area this week for a hastily arranged summit sent administration officials scrambling to prepare for the descending diplomatic hordes.

Sex, Lies And Saddam

The possibility that the preoccupation with sex, lies and grand jury testimony is crippling the nation’s foreign apolicy apparatus has Jewish activists in Washington worried.
That concern mushroomed this week in the wake of President Bill Clinton’s dramatic confession of a “not appropriate” relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and with the latest eruption by Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.