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New Year's Tidings...

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The US is trying to make progress in the Mid-East peace process by sending US envoy Dennis Ross to the region in advance of meetings between President Clinton, Prime Minister Netenyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasir Arafat. These meetings are expected to result in a commitment to restoring confidence in the peace process and the announcement of the transfer of additional territory on the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority.

This modest goal is going to be extremely difficult as Israel is currently in the midst of a government crisis. Prime Minister Netenyahu's ruling coalition has suffered from a defection of eight members who were members of former Foreign Minister David Levy's faction, which wanted greater benefits to Israeli citizens in the budget that was just narrowly passed on Monday, Jan. 5, 1998. Although the budget was passed, rough times are predicted for Netenyahu as he tries to hold together a coalition that has both right- and left-wing elements demanding action on the peace process. Right-wing coalition members have hinted they would leave Netenyahu's government should Israel give double digit percentages of land to the Palestinians. Meanwhile, left-wing coalition members have suggested they would leave the government should the Israeli government not give a substantial percentage of land to the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Netenyahu is definitely in between a rock and a hard place, but if there is one thing to be learned about the Prime Minister, he has a knack for getting out of tough scrapes and coming back stronger than before. That being said, this crisis looks like the toughest he has ever faced and there are strong indications that elections could be held before the end of the year to elect a new government. The ruling Likud bloc has only a one-vote majority in the Knesset.

Elsewhere in the region, the US awaits word on whether Iran will begin the long process of restoring relations with each other. The US has not had normal relations with Iran since 1979 when fundamentalist groups overran the US Embassy in Tehran and held 53 hostages for over a year. Since then the Iranian government, led by fundamentalist clerics, has strongly denounced the US at every turn, calling the US the "Great Satan." However, the election of a moderate religious cleric, Mohammad Khatami, has opened up the possibility of normalized relations. A cautious approach is likely to develop.

His interview on CNN was found by many to be a combination of the cautious overture of renewed relations and the continued attack on US policy in the region and towards the Third World in general. In my next essay, I will further examine the President Khatami interview and the US reaction.

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