Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Touring Mideast, Dean Praises Sharon

While traveling in the Middle East this week, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean offered President Bush some diplomatic advice.

“If President Bush wants to accelerate the peace process, he has to watch out for the stability of Jordan,” Dean said during a telephone interview from Israel. “The Jordanians are under pressure because of rising fuel costs. He ought to be on the phone with his friends, the Saudis, to get them to help the Jordanians with their fuel bill.”

Dean was visiting Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories for meetings with officials and dignitaries during a trip sponsored by both the National Jewish Democratic Council and the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange program. He traveled to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Palestinian city of Ramallah on the West Bank, the ancient Nabatean city of Petra in Jordan and the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Dean, who toured southern Israel in a Black Hawk helicopter, praised Prime Minister Sharon for taking “extraordinary” risks to pursue peace during the recent disengagement from Gaza. Dean called the recent Gaza pullout a historic move that “will put [Sharon] in the same category as Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin,” a reference to two Israeli premiers who undertook peace initiatives. He also pronounced himself “impressed” with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, but said there remained the question of whether Abbas had the power to stop terrorism emanating from Palestinian territories. Even so, “the atmosphere is positive,” Dean said.

Dean traveled with Steven Grossman, a pro-Israel activist and former DNC chairman, and with the Democratic state chairs of Arizona, Florida and Ohio. The travelers recorded their impressions on a blog at www.njdc.org.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.