Speech Introducing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Honorable Senator Hillary Clinton;

President Lawrence Bacow;

Dr. Leila Fawaz;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is with deep pleasure that I share the podium with a person of exceptional qualities, of personal courage, and of dedication to public service – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. After years in the White House as First Lady, she blazed a trail on her own, and now she serves as the United States Senator from New York. As she stood by her husband, President Bill Clinton, he now stands by her, in her new career. Rarely has America witnessed a political pair of such passion and distinction as the Clintons.

As I look at Dr. Lawrence Bacow by me on the podium, I thank the good Lord for his full recovery, and wish the best for him, his family, and this great university which he heads. Dr. Bacow came with a vision to ensure academic excellence at Tufts and to expand its international impact. He has succeeded in both, and for that he has earned our respect and admiration.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge Dr. Leila Fawaz for her leadership in making this Lecture Series the foremost forum on the Middle East. She has conducted programs, organized conferences, and published papers with the view of furthering understanding between the Unites States and our part of the world and particularly between Lebanon and the United States. Dr. Fawaz has certainly contributed to Tufts international standing.

Wherever I go, I encounter graduates of Tufts, and always in high positions. The current American Ambassador to Lebanon, Jefferey Feltman is a case in point. Not only he is a Tufts graduate, he is also a Tufts ambassador.

It is fitting, a week after a heated Presidential campaign, to congratulate President George W. Bush for his re-election and wish him a successful second term. The second term is an opportunity to reconsider the Middle East and to give it top priority.

In the past four years Arab-American relations have worsened. The Palestine Problem has festered and gone out of control. Iraq too became a major problem. Ties that once were strong between the United States and some Arab countries are now very much in doubt.

It is our duty therefore in this Forum to sound the alarm, to urge action, and to emphasize the approach which we think is in the highest interests of the United States and of the Arab World. We want to do what is right, not what is convenient.

The Middle East is a very special region. It is special for three reasons. First, it is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Second, it is the only region where two wars are raging at the same time in an uncontrollable manner. Third, it is the world’s largest depository of oil. Properly understood and wisely handled, these three issues should bring about distinctive relations between the United States and the Arab World. Poorly understood, and poorly handled, they are likely to explode in a most dangerous and devastating manner and on world scale.

First: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originate from the same background. They believe in one God; they attribute a moral goal to history; they uphold pretty much similar ethical principles.

Yet, in the context of Middle East politics, the three religions have gone separate and dangerous ways. They were taken over by extremists –

Second: The raging wars in the Middle East are inseparable from the religious dimension. Indeed, nothing in the Middle East can be understood apart from the religious element. This is certainly true of Palestine and of Iraq. In both cases religious passions have added fuel to the fire, and have engendered a suicidal spirit now spreading fear and terror in the region and in the world. Throughout the Presidential Debates the argument on how to protect America from terrorism centered mostly on sending troops.

This attitude after 9-11 is understandable, but insufficient and incomplete.

You do not protect America by sending more troops, or by allowing the strong to suppress the weak, you protect America best by applying the principles that America itself holds as its best.

Let’s, after half a century of evasion, and off–and–on tactics resolve to settle the Middle East problem. The problem could be solved. President Clinton almost succeeded at Camp David at the end of his Administration. Our Speaker knows that. The elements of success are there for all objective parties to see. They were clearly and daringly spelled out in the Arab Summit held in Beirut under the chairmanship, of President Emile Lahoud in March 2002. Then, the Arabs took a brave and strategic decision offering to normalize relations with Israel in return for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, for the withdrawal of Israel from Arab territories occupied in 1967, and for the return of Palestinian refugees in compliance with UN resolutions. The decision was unanimous. It got timid response from the West and indirect rejection from Prime Mnister Sharon.

As for Iraq, there is no choice now but to empower the Iraqi people, to strengthen their institutions, and to give them all the help they need. The United Nations, Europe, and the Arab countries, must join the United States in a massive building effort. The effort should be as much political and psychological as it is material. The challenge will ultimately be for the Iraqi people to unite their efforts, and to agree on the fundamentals of the Iraq they want. Only when they help themselves will the external powers be able to help them.

Third: Oil, like political goals and religions beliefs is part of the formula of conflict between Arabs and Americans. Oil wealth is both a blessing and a curse. As blessing

it brings in huge capital. As curse, it brings in external competition, it invites external interventions; it arouses appetites; it leads to corruption; it creates a huge difference between rich and poor.

The more hopeless the masses are, the more alienated they become and the more they turn to popular religions, and to highly politicized religious leaders.

The challenge here is to direct oil wealth for the good of the people. Arab regimes on their own cannot do that. They have a different agenda emerging from the conflicts in the region. Only a just and comprehensive peace, and a new coalition between the United States and the Arab states to develop the region, will make a difference in this regard.

And only in a deeper spirit of understanding between Arabs and Americans will just and enduring solutions in the region take place.

Lebanon is committed to working for good relations between the United States and the Arabs. It is Lebanon’s mission to conciliate conflicts, and to bridge the widening gap between the United States and the Arab World.

I am pleased to address these issues in the spirit that Lebanon ordains, and I am grateful to Tufts for providing this Forum for world leaders to share their perspectives with us. It certainly is a privilege for us to have Senator Clinton addresses Middle Eastern issues from her exceptional experience in both the executive and the legislative branches. I thank her for her participation, and I thank all of you for sharing in this major event and contributing to it.