The disappointing news came from the first lady’s office on the 10th of this month. Due to her postponement of her visit to Israel, Mrs. Hillary Clinton canceled her visit to Yemen to participate in the Emerging Democracies Forum scheduled to be held in Sanaa during 27-29 June 99. “Because Israel is still in the process of forming a government, a visit at this time would be inappropriate. A new date will be set as soon as possible,” said her Washington-based office. It is worth mentioning that the visit of the first lady was in fact the last stop in a series of visits to other countries. Mrs. Clinton, who is leaning toward running in New York state for a seat in the Senate, had been scheduled to visit Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Yemen in late June after accompanying her husband, President Clinton, on a European tour.
In a conversation with media reporters, a senior State Department official said “the fact that this is not a good time for somebody with such a high profile, as wife of the president of the United States, to be turning up in Israel at a time when they’re preoccupied with forming a new government.”
However, NDI representatives in Yemen stated that a high ranking official -possible a senate member- will be replacing Mrs. Clinton in the participation in the Emerging Democracies Forum at the end of this month.
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