US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk warned Sunday that Israel could soon be engulfed in a regional war with its Arab neighbors, reported the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
"Prospects for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in the near future are slim because of the amount of distrust amassed between the sides," he said.
Indyk emphasized that the US is the only nation with the clout to persuade Israel "to take risks for peace," but that Washington should remain on the sidelines of negotiations for now.
"The next step is for the parties, not the United States," Indyk told The Jerusalem Post.
According to an Israeli official in Washington, President Clinton told Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Friday that he needed to devote "just three days to the conflict in Northern Ireland" and during the remainder of his 48 days in office he would be free to work on the Middle East peace process.
Barak, in response, said the sides would aim to end the violence on their own, according to the paper.
The Israeli call for less US engagement parallels the White House's efforts to freeze out the State Department from the process in the waning days of the administration.
Indyk said the US is deeply concerned about war rumblings from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Syria's apparent "green light" to Hizbollah movement to violate UN Resolution 425 and attack Israeli soldiers.
"It would be a big mistake to underestimate Israel's willingness to defend its interests. There is a real danger (of a military confrontation) if Hizbollah is not restrained," he told The Jerusalem Post.
Indyk, meanwhile, acknowledged that deterioration in America's relations with Arab nations "has put a strain on (America's) relations with Israel." But he said the US needed to "to reaffirm its strong relationship with Israel and not weaken it," because only a strong Israel "confident in its relationship with the US" will be "willing to take risks for peace."
"It's because we are close to Israel...that we can be influential in the process," Indyk said, answering Arab critics who have charged the US with being too aligned with Israel to be an honest broker.
The ambassador called on Congress to approve a supplemental aid package including $450 million in assistance to Israel, the bulk of which will help pay for costs associated with Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon, and which will send a strong signal about America's solidarity with Israel, said the paper - Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
