Senator Hagel Blamed Israelis For A Lack Of Progress In Middle East Rather Than Palestinians

Discussing The Mideast Peace Process, Senator Hagel Said “Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Has ‘Essentially Stopped The Process’” And “The Israeli Government Continues To Play Games.” “Hagel, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States must do what it can to re-energize the Mideast peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ‘essentially stopped the process,’ Hagel said. ‘The Israeli government essentially continues to play games,’ stonewalling implementation of the Oslo peace accords. ‘What I fear more today is that desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away,’ Hagel said. ‘And that’s where the Palestinians are today.’ The Israeli government needs to understand that implementation of the peace agreement is in its own interests, he said. Hagel said Arabs generally believe America ‘has tilted toward Israel’ in its Mideast relations and there will be no lasting peace in the region without relationships with Iran.” [The Associated Press, 8/27/98]

Senator Chuck Hagel Said The “Israeli Government Should ‘Come Clean’ About A Key Element In The ‘Frozen’ Middle East Peace Process.” “After meeting with Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian leaders this week, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the Israeli government should ‘come clean’ about a key element in the ‘frozen’ Middle East Peace process. ‘There is a very dangerous sense of uncertainty about what happens next,’ Hagel, R-Neb., said in a telephone interview from Egypt.” [Omaha World-Herald, 8/21/98]

• Senator Hagel “Faulted Israel” For Not Ceding “40 Percent Of The West Bank To The Palestinians” As “A Key Element Of Peace Accords Worked Out In Oslo.” “‘I am very concerned that some of the Israeli government do[es] not understand the consequences of this peace process drifting as it has,’ Hagel said. Hagel faulted Israel over a key element of peace accords worked out in Oslo several years ago. They called for Israel to cede 40 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has favored ceding just 9 percent, causing frustration throughout the Arab world, Hagel said.” [Omaha World-Herald, 8/21/98]