Ned Walker's Wrong Turn

Ned Walker's Wrong Turn
From American ambassador to Arab apologist.

BY SETH LIPSKY
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 12:01 a.m.

One of the things reporters covering the Mideast peace process have learned to pay attention to is what the Palestinian Arab leadership says to its own people. It's one thing to fetch up on the White House lawn and make nice. The real clue to the intentions of the Palestinian leaders turns out to be what they have been saying to their own "street," where they have been telegraphing for years that they have no desire for peace with Israel. Now comes a kind of obverse test: What are American activists saying to the Arabs?

I was put in mind of this matter by a wire from the Zionist Organization of America containing a recent report of an interview given to the Jerusalem Times, an Arab newspaper, by a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, Edward "Ned" Walker Jr. Mr. Walker was President Clinton's ambassador to both Egypt and Israel, where he had a successful tour and maintained relatively good relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet according to the Nov. 9 Jerusalem Times, he has some things to say that when considered against the backdrop of our war on terrorism are nothing short of amazing.

At one point in the interview, the ambassador concedes that "we" do not like Hamas and its ways, a reference to the extremists who have been sending suicide bombers to attack Israeli civilians. "We do not oppose resisting occupation, but we do oppose killing innocent civilians," he says. "If you are a fighter, you should be willing to fight only soldiers; this is what Hezbollah did. Hezbollah did not attack civilians; they fought the Israeli army and forced it to retreat."

"So," asks the interviewer, "fighting soldiers in occupied territories is legitimate?"

"Yes it is," says Mr. Walker. "I do not think anyone considers the fights between the Israeli army and Palestinian fighters in occupied territories terrorism."

"What about the settlers?" the interviewer asks.

"I believe women and children are not appropriate targets," Mr. Walker responds, leaving the Zionist Organization to point out that he seems to suggest that adult male settlers are appropriate targets, a horrifying thought on its face but even more so when one remembers, as the ZOA points out, that Palestinian Arab officials refer to every Jewish resident of areas beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders as settlers.

Then there is the matter of Hezbollah and the canard that it doesn't attack civilians. In fact it has been rocketing civilian areas of northern Israel for years but there's also the matter of its attacks on Americans. It was Hezbollah that sent the sapper into the barracks of Marines in Lebanon in 1983, killing 241 American servicemen. It was Hezbollah that tortured and killed the CIA's station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, in 1984. And it was Hezbollah that, in 1985, killed navy diver Robert Dean Stethem and dumped his body from an airliner on the tarmac at Beirut.

If we are in a war against Islamic extremist terrorists, then Ambassador Walker's comments have to be the most irresponsible utterances from an American diplomat since April Glaspie, our envoy to Baghdad, met with Saddam Hussein days before he overran Kuwait. Indeed, one could argue Mr. Walker's remarks are even worse than Ms. Glaspie's. Of course, Mr. Walker is no longer on active duty in the foreign service, and he is, presumably, free to say whatever he wants, even if he appears to give a green light to terrorists. And some who know him are reacting less in anger than in sorrow that a man with as distinguished a diplomatic career as Mr. Walker seems to have run off the rails. Others simply wonder what is going on.

It turns out that Mr. Walker has taken on the presidency of the Middle East Institute, a pro-Arab think tank in Washington that has been, over the years, home to a series of retired Foggy Bottom types. And it seems that Mr. Walker is intent on shaking the institute up and giving it a more activist role. Its Web site says now says it serves as a "media and congressional outreach," and a few weeks ago, Mr. Walker made a swing through the Middle East in which he gave a sense of what he has in mind.

There was, for example, an interview published in the Oct. 31 Jordan Times under the headline "Arab Gov'ts Should Do More to Counter Jewish Lobby in US." The paper said that for too long, U.S. congressmen have heard only one voice--"the voice of the very committed supporters of the Israeli right." He reportedly complained about the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, two institutions built by American citizens. The paper said he asserted that politicians affiliated with the Jewish lobby are working fast and furious in the wake of the terror attacks to discredit Secretary of State Colin Powell and his policies based on multilateralism and coalition building. "These people believe that we should not only be attacking Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, but also Saddam Hussein in Baghdad." He said that as if it were a scandal.

In Egypt on Oct. 25, Mr. Walker gave a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in which he offered some fine phrases about the need to learn the truth about one another. According to a text posted on the Web site of the American Embassy in Cairo, he said that this was the part of the war on terror that the Middle East Institute wants to help lead. He complained that its "opponents" are "powerful with great financial and human resources." But he said his institute has one advantage--truth.

"We can challenge the Liebermans and McCains when they suggest that Egypt is lacking in its support for the United States in this difficult time," he said. "And if we are given adequate financial and human resources and the cooperation and commitment of countries in the region, we can make a difference. I am asking for support in this common effort. Yes we need financial support. But we also need participation both in the written word and in face to face diplomacy."

Mr. Walker did not return a phone call to his office yesterday inquiring about his remarks. If the reports circulating on the Internet are accurate, he did say some constructive things on his tour, particularly about the importance of thinking about the nature of a prospective Palestinian state. In a reprise of his various appearances published by the Middle East Media Research Institute, he was quoted as saying that the content--the democratic bona fides--of a Palestinian Arab state is more important than its borders. But overall, his tour suggests that a once-distinguished diplomat is veering off on a tragic trajectory at the end of his career.

Mr. Lipsky is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal. His column appears Wednesdays.