Newt Gingrich Slams Madeleine Albright As "An Agent for the Palestinians."
Dumb, or smart as a Washington fox?
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27th 1998 -- New York (APJP) -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright nearly lost her temper when she heard Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich remark, "I think it's wrong for the American secretary of state to become the agent for the Palestinians," - this just after Albright addressed Congress on the importance of the Middle-East Peace Talks. State Department Spokesperson James Rubin said yesterday that he found it "particularly appalling and outrageous" that Gingrich would say such a thing.
With a chance for peace at hand, Gingrich remains in Israel today beating the flames of a fire he and some Republican cohorts have started over the Clinton Administration's request for Israel to cede an additional 13% instead of 9% of territory to the Palestinians toward a lasting peace accord.
Gingrich is now engaging in an unheard - of set of actions designed to keep the parties apart and to entice Israelis into supporting him and the GOP and even some Democrats to allow Israel to decide its own fate, as if this was not the Clinton position as well. The Administration has been placed in a box, with American Jewish citizens overwhelmingly supporting Israeli determination of Palestinian territorial demands. Invited by both parties to intervene, the White House thought it had settled the matter with the Palestinians agreeing to 13% rather than as much as 30% of territory they had demanded over the course of negotiations.
Now, any chance to move Israel toward the 13% may be gone. They've found a strange ally in New Gingrich.
What's Newt's game? -- An attempt to drive a wedge between Israel and the United States, and in doing so, drive the same wedge between American Jews and the Democrats they traditionally support -- including Clinton and Gore. This is particularly important since the November elections are tighter than Republicans thought and any shifting loyalties from American Jews could affect the outcome of some congressional races. Democrats need only a dozen seats to re-take the majority of the House of Representatives.
Gingrich claims his remarks were taken out of context and that he merely meant that America should not inject itself between the two sides, but let the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate directly. Of course, this is hogwash, in that the two sides were never able to come to the table, let alone agree on much of anything before the United States stepped in at their mutual request.
Gingrich, who must get his diplomacy lessons from Howard Stern, has now created a tumultuous situation in Israel. Yesterday, he addressed the Israeli Parliament. Palestinians are outraged by his comments and are protesting his visits on the streets. Signs in Arabic telling Gingrich to "Go Home!" and "Mind Your Own Business" were evident in Arab quarters. When the Speaker rose to address the Knesset (Parliament) Arab legislators rose and stormed out of the assembly room shouting "You are anti - Arab."
Gingrich was reportedly busy provoking Israelis to openly attack the White House plan -- a plan that is, under law, the position of the United States. Mr. Gingrich has no moral or legal authority under our laws to attack the foreign policy of a sitting President and to engage openly in advancing such attacks from negotiating parties from either side.
Rubin said about the Speaker's remarks, "If true, those would be rather stunning comments that would undermine the efforts we're trying to make to advance America's national interests."
When the Arabs rose from the floor of Parliament, the Speaker appeared to be smirking at them. The floor of the assembly seemed half empty during Gingrich's remarks which were a declaration of Congressional support for Israel's claim to all of Jerusalem.
Gingrich did not repeat his remarks made Sunday when he said that Palestinians were systematically inciting violence among their followers.
Gingrich in these moves is acting the fox, but a rabid fox who has lost his sight. Certainly Israel should and will , in the end, determine the fate of Palestinians and Israelis. The White House knows this and has said the same. What the Secretary of State and the President have been doing is trying to find a compromise between the two sides. They have, in general, done a fine job.
But now Newt Gingrich is posing as a stronger supporter of Israel than is Bill Clinton - and merely for his own political advantage. By doing so he has put the lives of Israelis and Palestinians in great jeopardy and has upset the precarious balance that existed before his unseemly remarks and holier-than-thou presence did what could be irreparable damage to a Middle East peace process.
While we agree with Mr. Gingrich and the White House that it is up to Israel to determine her future and that some Palestinians do engage in unspeakable terrors against Jews, we think that the Speaker's actions are despicable and show, once again, he is unfit for the high constitutional office he now occupies and certainly has little understanding of American law, diplomacy and common graciousness.
We ask, where has Speaker Gingrich been during the years of Middle East peace negotiations?
Is it not convenient now that he raises his ugly tongue just in time to divert from the goal and delay yet another Clinton triumph?
Keep this in mind: A hypocrite never intends to be what he pretends to be.
- The Editors
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