Albright’s perilous debut
America’s secretary of state has arrived in the Middle East at a time when Arab-Israeli affairs are at their least propitious
FOR the best part of her first year as secretary of state, Madeleine Albright has given the Middle East a wide berth. With reason: Arab-Israeli quicksands have sucked in several of her predecessors. Bill Clinton and, even more, Vice-President Al Gore, his would-be successor, were said to be reluctant to re-involve themselves in a process that was bound to lead to friction with American Jewry. The official explanation of American officials was that the situation needed to ripen.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Albright’s perilous debut”
From the September 13th 1997 edition
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