Leahy, Welch, on overseas trip, say Iraq war skewing Mideast priorities

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http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/NEWS03/706010326/1004/NEWS03

Leahy, Welch, on overseas trip, say Iraq war skewing Mideast priorities

June 1, 2007

By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau

The Iraq war has shifted the United States' focus away from what is a larger crisis in the Middle East: The continuing violence and unrest between Israel and Palestine, two members of Vermont's Washington delegation said.

Calling from a school in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch said Middle East leaders told them this week the ongoing dispute is the main roadblock to increasing the overall stability of the region.

The two Vermont Democrats met with King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and were scheduled to meet later this week with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but the meeting was cancelled due to violence in that region.

"If this goes on much longer, people lose hope," Leahy said of the long conflict over who controls the land there. "And when people lose hope, despair sets in."

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Other members of the congressional delegation are Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.