Leahy, Welch, on overseas trip, say Iraq war skewing Mideast priorities

06/01/2007

By Daniel Barlow
Rutland Herald

The Iraq war has shifted the United States' focus away from what is a larger crisis in the Middle East: The continuing violence and unrest between Israel and Palestine, two members of Vermont's Washington delegation said.

Calling from a school in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch said Middle East leaders told them this week the ongoing dispute is the main roadblock to increasing the overall stability of the region.

The two Vermont Democrats met with King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and were scheduled to meet later this week with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but the meeting was cancelled due to violence in that region.

"If this goes on much longer, people lose hope," Leahy said of the long conflict over who controls the land there. "And when people lose hope, despair sets in."

Welch, Vermont's freshman congressman, told reporters that Abdullah told the six-member congressional delegation this week that his main concern is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his second is the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The four-year-old battle in Iraq came in third, Welch said.

"He told us that this was an urgent time and if there was no progress in the next 18 months it would descend into a much, much worse situation than it is now," said Welch, during what is his second trip to the region since taking office this year.

Earlier this week, Leahy and Welch toured a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, where they said they met with "bright" children between the ages of 8 and 15, some of whom were studying English and excited to meet Americans.

Seeing the camps where upwards of 850,000 Palestinians now live was "sobering," according to Welch. Meeting with the refugees was one of the "most moving parts of the trip," Leahy said.

"There were young girls wearing baseball caps over their head scarves," Welch said.

Leahy and Welch each said Wednesday that the trip, which ends this weekend, shows that the United States now has its priorities backwards in the Middle East.

"Iraq dominates the talk in Washington," Welch said. "In the Middle East, it's the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

When asked about a recent comment by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate, that the "world will breathe a sigh of relief" when President Bush leaves office in early 2009, Leahy said the "next president will need to reintroduce America to the rest of the world."

"And I say that as a proud American," Leahy said.

He added he will look closely at the United States' foreign aid budget to determine what the most effective way of assisting the Middle East might be.

"Our foreign aid shouldn't just be on autopilot," the senator said.

The congressional trip received some coverage in Middle East media over the past few days, focusing mostly on Leahy, who as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on state and foreign operations is well-known in the region, and his meetings with high-ranking officials.

The Jordan News Agency reported that Abdullah told the congressional leaders that relaunching the peace process and finding a "just and comprehensive solution will be the basis for moving forward to address the Arab-Israeli conflict in all its aspects."

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release detailing Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni's meeting with the delegation, during which he noted that, "We must not allow the Hamas to exploit the calm in order to rearm."

The Palestinian News Agency reported that Saeb Ereikat, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Negotiation Department, briefed the congressmen on the "situation in the Palestinian territory under international siege and the Israeli escalation."

Other members of the congressional delegation are Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.

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