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Islam Online
DEARBORN, Michigan, Nov 6 (AFP) - US Vice President Al Gore underlined his commitment to the Middle East peace process in a speech here Saturday aimed at rallying support among Arab Americans ahead of the 2000 election. Gore pledged his support to a "comprehensive peace that benefits all the people of the Middle East," and said he thought the deadline for a deal on final status issues could be met. The September 2000 deadline for a final deal between Israelis and Palestinians, hammered out at meetings in Oslo this week, was "an ambitious goal," he told delegates to the Arab American Institute's National Leadership Conference. "But having met with Prime Minister (Ehud) Barak and Chairman (Yasser) Arafat myself on so many occasions, I believe it is a realistic goal," he told the 200-odd delegates. On Iraq, the vice president and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2000 avoiding the thorny question of UN sanctions against Baghdad, but stressed that the United States "had always supported the Iraqi people and their humanitarian needs." "We are willing to look at ways to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian programs in Iraq," he added in his satellite address to the Institute's gathering, entitled Campaign 2000, Empowering Arab Americans. "I look forward to the day we have peace with the United States and Iraq," he continued, although making it clear that was unlikely to happen until Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was removed from power. In promising to continue the Clinton administration's openness to the Arab world, Gore took the chance to point out his own foreign policy credentials. "I very much have been a part of the peace making efforts of this administration. I have visited with Chairman Arafat, with his leadership, with the people of Jordan, Egypt, with Arabs throughout the region," he told the conference.
The two-day gathering, drawing Arab American leaders from across the country, is aimed at thrashing out strategies for the 2000 presidential and congressional elections.
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