Clinton Says U.S. Must Not ‘Give Up’ on Mideast Peace

From: www.nytimes.com

By DAVID STOUT

Published: January 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled on Tuesday that the United States would try to increase its diplomatic contacts with Iran and Syria, and she declared that the vision of Israelis and Palestinians co-existing in peace and prosperity must not be abandoned.
The latest on the presidential transition and other news from Washington and around the nation. Despite the “seemingly intractable problems” in the Middle East, “we cannot give up on peace,” Senator Clinton said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering whether to confirm her selection as President-elect Barack Obama’s top diplomat.

Mrs. Clinton said America must recognize Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas rockets but cannot ignore the suffering of Palestinians citizens, as well as Israelis. “Real security for Israel, normal and positive relations with its neighbors” as well as genuine security for Palestinians must continue to be America’s ideal, she said.

The 61-year-old senator, who was warmly received notwithstanding pointed remarks from the committee’s leading Republican about her husband’s fund-raising activities, acknowledged that lasting peace in the Middle East, and the idea of Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side, are dreams that have been elusive.

Noting that “many presidents, including my husband,” have spent years trying to achieve peace in the Middle East, Mrs. Clinton said: “We cannot give up on peace. The president-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel’s desire to defend itself under the current conditions and to be free of shelling by Hamas rockets.

“However,” she went on, “we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East and paid by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians. This must only increase our determination to seek a just and lasting peace agreement that brings real security to Israel, normal and positive relations with its neighbors; independence, economic progress and security to the Palestinians in their own state.”

As for Iran and Syria, Mrs. Clinton said the United States must continue to press them to “abandon their irresponsible behavior” in the region. When the committee chairman, Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, observed that he thought it “counterproductive and almost incomprehensible” that Washington was not more engaged with Iran and Syria, Mrs. Clinton said — as President-elect Obama has repeatedly done — that the United States has “one president at a time.”

“We are not taking any option off the table at all,” Mrs. Clinton said of Iran. But she said the Barack administration would follow “a new, perhaps different approach,” especially to keep Iran from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.

“We have no illusions,” the senator said of the difficulties of dealing with Tehran’s leaders. “It is going to be United States policy to pursue diplomacy with all its multitudinous tools” to thwart Iran’s nuclear aspirations, she said.

Asked whether she would engage in “personal diplomacy” with Iranian leaders, Mrs. Clinton said she would wait until her confirmation — which seemed all but certain, given the friendly reception she received before the committee — to comment further. The United States has “one president at a time,” she repeated, adding that she is “very respectful of the ongoing work of the Bush administration.”

But she implicitly criticized the Bush administration when she said, “I believe that American leadership has been wanting but is still wanted. We must use what has been called ‘smart power,’ the full range of tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural, picking the right tool or combination of tools for each situation.”

As Mrs. Clinton put it: “Foreign policy must be based on a marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology, on facts and evidence, not emotion or prejudice.”
She offered other veiled criticisms of the Bush administration, such as when she declared in her opening remarks that she would try to “get America back in the business” of engaging other nations to curb the nuclear ambitions of Iran, North Korea and other countries.

The United States has only limited, third-party contact, through Swiss diplomats, with Iran, and Washington’s relations with Syria have been frosty for decades. The United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus several years ago and today has a limited diplomatic presence in Damascus.

Mrs. Clinton also said that the United States should work closely with China and Russsia, which has been increasingly at odds with the West in recent months, noting that the Obama administration would seek ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty.

Early in the question-answer session, Mr. Kerry asked Mrs. Clinton if the new administration would regard it as “unacceptable” or simple “not desirable” for Iran to have a nuclear arsenal.
After saying that America would exhaustively pursue diplomacy in dealing with Iran, and that “no option is off the table,” Mrs. Clinton said the Obama administration would indeed hold it “unacceptable” for Iran to join the ranks of those countries with nuclear arms. “That is our premise,” she said.

And she said she would work to improve the plight of women around the world. “If half the world’s population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal and social marginalization,” she said, “our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity will remain in serious jeopardy.

Despite the embrace of her Senate colleagues, Ms. Clinton was almost immediately put on notice by the ranking Republican on the committee, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, that a number of steps should be taken to insure transparency for former President Bill Clinton’s fund-raising activities as head of the Clinton Foundation.

“I share the President-elect’s view that the activities of the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton himself should not be a barrier to Senator Clinton’s service,” Mr. Lugar said. “But I also share the view implicitly recognized by the memorandum of understanding that the work of the Clinton Foundation is a unique complication that will have to be managed with great care and transparency.”

He said that if the “slightest doubt” arises about a foreign donation, “the foundation should not take it.”
But Mr. Lugar saw no obstacle to Mrs. Clinton’s confirmation. “I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with her in the Senate, and I look forward to the prospect of much more frequent collaboration when she is secretary of State,” he said.
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