Editorials
Saturday, December 12, 1998

Clinton’s Mideast trip
is a dangerous gamble

PRESIDENTS sometimes use foreign trips to seek relief from troubles at home. President Clinton, with the threat of impeachment hovering over him, will find no relief on his visit to the Middle East. The purpose of his visit is to urge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to fulfill the pledges they made in the Wye River peace accords in October. It is a formidable task.

Hostility between the two sides has mounted again after briefly subsiding. The spirit of cooperation that blossomed on Maryland's Eastern Shore, far from the scenes of conflict, evaporated when the leaders returned to their homelands.

Renewed attacks by Palestinians on Israelis and lethal responses by Israeli soldiers to Palestinian rioters have stiffened resistance to implementation of the agreement. Despite all the diplomatic arm-twisting, the policy of trading land for peace has yet to bring peace to Israel. Many Israelis are deeply skeptical of Palestinian promises.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting to keep his job against attempts from both the left and right to unseat him. He has refused to proceed with implementation of the Wye accords unless Yasser Arafat meets his terms.

On the Palestinian side, Arafat is still trying to get his supporters to unequivocally renounce the PLO charter's pledge to destroy the state of Israel.

Although a group of Palestinian leaders voted to declare those clauses of the charter void, Israel demands a vote by the full Palestinian National Council. Even if that happens, it is obvious that many Palestinians do not accept Israel's existence and give the agreements only lip service. The level of distrust on both sides remains high.

One sore point with Israelis is Clinton's scheduled visit to Gaza, which some interpret as supporting establishment of a Palestinian state. The United States has refrained from taking a position on that issue, maintaining that it should be left to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Mrs. Clinton made that stand less credible by openly advocating statehood.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Clinton did not intend his visit to Gaza to constitute an endorsement of statehood, but such assurances are given little weight in the Middle East. In a spectacular understatement, Albright commented, "We know that there are problems here." But she also voiced confidence, adding,"I believe we can and will overcome the challenges we face."

Brave words, but nothing is assured. Faced with the threat of impeachment at home, Clinton is in a weaker position to pressure Netanyahu and Arafat. Moreover, his life could be in danger in this volatile situation. The trip is a gamble, but the White House evidently felt that Clinton had to go through with it.

Guam election

A runoff has been ordered in the election of the governor of Guam, nullifying the certification of incumbent Gov. Carl Gutierrez as the winner. The order by a federal district judge said Gutierrez had not received a majority of the votes cast in last month's vote, as required for election under Guam's Organic Act. Although the ruling has been appealed, it is welcome as a step toward protecting the integrity of the election process.

Judge John Unpingco said blank ballots should be counted toward the vote total, which means Gutierrez did not receive the required 50 percent plus one of the votes cast for election. His opponent, former two-term Republican Gov. Joseph Ada, has filed suit accusing Gutierrez of "wholesale ballot fraud."

Nine days after the election, the Guam Election Commission certified Democrat Gutierrez as the winner after excluding blank ballots, which made it possible for Gutierrez to achieve 50 percent of the vote. But the commission made its ruling at a meeting that was controversial because its date was changed without notifying its Republican chairman or the public, apparently violating the open meeting law.

Earlier the commission staff had issued a statement that Gutierrez had received 49.8 percent of the vote. Gutierrez had about 3,000 more votes than Ada. There also were 1,291 write-in votes and 1,312 ballots without any votes for governor. Some ballots were spoiled.

The commission ruling was highly questionable. Coupled with the accusations of fraud, which the FBI is investigating, the ruling created doubts that only a runoff election can dispel.

Coach’s testimonial

HAWAII was paid a splendid compliment by June Jones, the newly appointed football coach of the University of Hawaii. He decided to accept the job -- taking a big pay cut and an opportunity to be a head coach in the National Football League in exchange for the challenge of the team with the worst record in Division I-A collegiate football this year -- because he loves Hawaii.

Describing how he came to his decision during his interview with UH Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida, Jones said, "I knew three minutes into the interview that this is what I wanted to do. I started digging into my pockets for the notes I had from interviewing three years ago.

"Unless you've lived in Hawaii, unless you know the people there, it's different than anything else. It's just a passion that I've had and that's what I wanted to do."

Of course, a lot of people on the mainland feel that way about Hawaii. Many yearn to come back if they can find the right opportunity. But it's nice to have the new UH football coach say so, particularly because he had attractive alternatives that he turned down. Perhaps he can use himself as an example in recruiting players for the Rainbows.

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John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

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Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor