Bill Clinton: I'll back Obama on new Mideast peace plan
Former US president tells ABC administration 'must do something to deprive Israel, PA of any excuse not to engage in serious negotiations'
WASHINGTON - Former US President Bill Clinton said he would "strongly support" an effort by President Barack Obama to issue his own Middle East peace plan that will be based on the model he presented at the Camp David negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority a decade ago.
"If he decides to do it, I will support it. And I think if he decides to do it, he should acknowledge that they (Israel and the Palestinians) may come up with a deal that's slightly different than the one he proposes, but we need to do something to deprive both sides of any excuse not to engage in serious negotiations," Clinton said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
"If this is the tactic he decides to adopt, I will strongly support it," he said.
However, Clinton added that there was a strong argument against presenting a new peace initiative. "The current Israeli government, with its current coalition, almost certainly would reject it. And the argument is that that makes us look weak," he said. "They may decide it's more important to have clarity and to do something that will be an action- forcing event to put them back to the table."
Clinton told ABC that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would hurt the terror group's fundraising capabilities. "Look at the ramifications of this. Half of the energy coming out of all this organization and money-raising for terror comes out of the allegations around the unresolved Palestinian issue," he said.
"If there were a Palestinian state working in partnership ... it would be a whole different world. All the Arabs would identify with Israel. They'd have a political and economic partnership. The whole economic basis in the Middle East would shift from oil to ideas."
"Look at what the Saudi Arabians are doing -- building six new towns. The UAE wins the international competition for the clean energy agency, and they're going to build a carbon-neutral city in the UAE. And nobody thinks about this. Dubai is the only country, with huge amounts of imported workers, that's actually passed legislation to give these immigrant workers a better deal in the Middle East. And they've got women in the government; they have a joint public-private decision-making process. Nobody knows anything about it. Why? Because of the Palestinian-Israeli thing," said the former president.
According to Clinton, an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would also end the conflict with Syria. "How could the Syrians stay out there alone -- cooperating with the Iranians, and letting Hezbollah people travel through Syria, and doing all the things they do?
"If there were a peace for the Palestinians, they would have to come along with the rest of the Arab states. There would be a peace between Israel and Syria. This is a huge deal," he said, adding, "So the fact that the president's putting new energy into this, taking personal responsibility for it and trying to get them back to the table, that's the most important thing. If this is the tactic he decides to adopt, I will strongly support it."
