WASHINGTON, 10 September 2003 — Howard Dean came under heavy fire Monday from two rivals for the Democratic nomination for saying the United States should not “take sides” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Five days after Dean told supporters in New Mexico “it’s not out place to take sides” in the conflict, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) accused him of advocating a “major break” from the US’s longstanding policy of explicitly siding with Israel in the Middle East.
“If this is a well thought out position, it’s a mistake, and a major break from a half a century of American foreign policy,” Lieberman said in a statement Monday. “If it’s not, it’s very important for Howard Dean, as a candidate for president, to think before he talks.”
Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) said: “It is either because he lacks the foreign policy experience or simply because he is wrong that Governor Dean has proposed a radical shift in United States policy towards the Middle East. If the president were to make a remark such as this it would throw an already volatile region into even more turmoil.”
In an interview, Dean sought to clarify his statement but didn’t back down from his belief that the United State can’t negotiate peace unless it’s seen as a neutral party in the region. “Israel has always been a longtime ally with a special relationship with the United States, but if we are going to bargain by being in the middle of the negotiations then we are going to have to take an even-handed role,” Dean said.
For more than 50 years, the United States has backed Israel as its closest ally in the region, providing the Jewish state with billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid. Dean does not advocate breaking the US-Israel alliance, but believes the only way to bring peace to the Middle East is for the president to broker a deal without playing favorites. A top Dean adviser said the former Vermont governor is doing nothing different than former President Clinton did when he reached out to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians as a path to peace.
Several Democrats predicted Dean would pay a political price for his remarks. Democrats get a significant amount of their money and support from the Jewish community. It would he hard for any Democratic candidate considered soft on Israel by Jewish leaders to win the nomination, according to several party strategists.
Dean believes his rivals are trying to slow his surge by manufacturing a “divisive issue.” He specifically struck back at Lieberman, who’s emerging as Dean’s harshest critic on the campaign trail. “For Joe to raise this issue as divisive issue in the Democratic Party is a major error on his part,” said Dean. “I am deeply disappointed in him.”
