Follow a bipartisan policy toward the peace process. It’s all-important to recognize that American foreign policy in the Middle East has been a bipartisari exercise. In order to break the impasse on loan guarantees to Israel, the Bush administration worked arm in arm with the congressional Democrats like David Obey and Patrick Leahy. There has been no daylight between the Bush and Clinton administrations on peace in the Middle East. The peace process should never be politicized.
Take a principled stand where principle is critical to keeping the process on track. We took a lot of heat on demanding commitments regarding settlements before we’d sign on to new loan guarantees, but we stood firm. And we were right. It caused us some short-term problems with Israel’s Likud government, but it helped us in the long run by building trust with the Arabs. That trust was critical in helping us bring Arabs to the table with Israel–an Israeli goal for more than 40 years.
Remember that in the Middle East, all relationships are personal. Trust is key. President Carter had the trust of Sadat and Begin, and that trust made Camp David possible. George Bush said Saddam Hussein’s invasion would not stand–and it didn’t. After Desert Storm, everyone in the Middle East knew that when America spoke, we meant it. Even when we were having troubles with the Likud government, I felt a relationship of trust with Prime Minister Shamir. He never betrayed a confidence or leaked what we were doing.
Don’t forget that the souk is always open. Everything in the Middle East is subject to haggling and bargaining. It can be frustrating to think that you have a deal only to find out that the parties want to start all over again. Nothing is ever simple and straightforward.
Don’t forget that the Middle East sits at the center of three continents and three civilizations. Almost any event anywhere affects the peace process. If we hadn’t formed a new partnership with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, we never would have gotten the Soviets to go along with Desert Storm. The coalition’s success in Desert Storm defeated Arab radicalism and laid the groundwork for the Madrid conference. By breaking the taboo on face-to-face talks between Arabs and Israelis, Madrid helped make this week’s agreement between the PLO and Israel possible. And this agreement would not have been possible if it weren’t for the personal and political courage of Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasir Arafat.
Don’t be short on stamina. You’ve got to be prepared for physically grueling work. Saudi King Fahd’s custom is to begin meetings late at night. I never met with Syria’s President Assad for less than five hours. One time we met for nine and a half hours with only one break to go to the bathroom. Bladder diplomacy!
Be prepared to walk away if there is no deal to be done. Negotiations are about points of leverage–and one thing an American negotiator can do is walk away. I’ve always said that America can’t want peace more than the parties themselves. That means you’ve got to be willing to shut your notebook and mean it. You’ve got to be willing to say, yes, symbols are important, but substance is more so. You have to listen, but you also have to be willing to bang up the phone. One thing that gets their attention is the possibility that the United States will disengage.
There was a time in the Bush administration when we thought the Likud government was not serious. That’s why I said, “When you’re serious about peace, here’s our phone number.” In Madrid the whole conference almost got bogged down over a small symbolic matter for the Palestinians. I finally got tired of the haggling and hung up. It got their attention. They knew we were serious–and the conference got back on track. Now both sides are serious.
