The recent peace agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel will help the United States secure its interests in the Middle East, according to a State Department official who spoke here yesterday.
Marc Sievers, who works for the State Department's Bureau of Near-Eastern Affairs and the office of Arab and Israeli Affairs, said the accord "can be a win-win situation -- both sides can benefit in real ways."
The treaty between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, known as the Declaration of Principles, will help extinguish internal conflicts and will help find regional solutions for conflicts, Sievers said.
Sievers said the State Department views the Declaration of Principles as an instrument to implement change between Arabs and Israel.
American interests in the Middle East include access to oil, insuring Israeli security and securing stability for the existing governments in the region, he said.
The American role in peace negotiations is crucial since it is a dominant extra-regional power, Sievers said.
American duties include slowing the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons, doling out economic assistance and establishing more regional cooperation among countries, Sievers said.
But he said not all reviews of the new accord have been positive.
Arabs and Israelis have opposing views of what the agreement means and how it should be implemented. And both nations must deal with the opinions of minority groups that have reservations about the agreement.
Some minority groups on the Palestinian side view the agreement as a sell-out, claiming it does not address Arab needs.
The right-wing Israeli parliament opposes the agreement because it wants important security guarantees, Sievers said.
Sievers' speech was the fifth of six lectures in the series "The Search for Peace in the Middle East," which is sponsored by the Dickey Endowment for International Understanding.
