BACKGROUND
Artwork from the Los Angeles limes by Catherine Kanner. Copyright. 1991, Catherine Kanner. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Walking A Fine Line
U.S. Jewish groups are seeking ways to urge
Israel to stop expanding settlements — without
appearing to abandon Mr. Shamir.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
I
n public, Jewish leaders
are generally holding to
the unified front that
characterized the battle for
$10 billion in loan guar-
antees to Israel — a battle
lost when President George
Bush turned his case for a
delay in the guarantees into
a personal crusade.
But in private, some top
pro-Israel officials are star-
ting to grapple with a deli-
cate issue: how can they do
more to convince Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir to stop expanding
Jewish settlements —
without giving aid and com-
fort to the Israel bashers
who have been given a new
lease on life by Mr.Bush?
"It's a very tricky pro-
cess," said an official with a
major Jewish organization.
"There's a real concern that
we could legitimize linkage
by focusing attention on it.
There's a gut feeling that
the president's outrageous
comments demand solidarity
from the organized Jewish
world — and yet when it
comes to the settlements
question, that solidarity
may be sending exactly the
wrong signal to the Israelis.
Somehow we have to find a
middle way."
The Jewish community
continues to be remarkably
unified on the need for the
postponed loan guarantees.
Even after the crushing
defeat at the hands of an
aroused president, there is
little debate that the loan
guarantees are a form of
humanitarian aid that
should remain independent
of diplomatic factors.
At the same time, some
polls show that a strong
majority of American Jews
believe that the Shamir set-
tlements policies are a clear
threat to the peace process
and an obstacle to good rela-
tions between Washington
and Jerusalem.
"There is a paradox," said
Alfred Moses, president of
the American Jewish Com-
mittee. "What you have is a
strong majority of American
Jews in favor of trading ter-
ritory for peace, and who
have strong concern about
settlements — but who are
opposed to linkage."
Mr. Moses maintained
that Israel's settlement ac-
tivity is, in fact, legal — and
that the expansion of set-
tlements, along with the in-
flux of Soviet Jews to Israel,
may have been a factor in
convincing some Arab
government to participate in
the upcoming Middle East
peace conference.
Still, he suggested, recent
events will spur Jewish
groups here to press the
Israeli leadership a little
harder.
"Publicly, we are united,"
he said._ "Privately, we con-
vey the best advice we can to
the Israeli government.
More mainline groups will
be more likely to tell the
Israelis that settlements are
a problem; unless a set-
tlement is reached with the
A number of Jewish
groups are taking a
close look at their
position on
settlements.
administration, you can
forget about the loan guar-
antees."
One group making that
argument with growing
vigor is Project Nishma.
Nishma's co-chairs include
Ted Mann, a former chair-
man of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations,
and Earl Raab, director-
emeritus of the San Fran-
cisco Jewish Community Re-
lations Council.
Last week, Nishma issued
a strongly worded statement
calling for a three-month
settlements freeze as the
first step in rebuilding trust
between the two govern-
ments.
Choosing settlements over
loan guarantees, Nishma's
leaders argued, could result
in a "historic tragedy."
The group was scheduled
to meet with Israel's ambas-
sador in Washington this
week as the first step in get-
ting this message across to
the Israeli leadership — the
same message Zalman
Shoval gave to his own
government in June.
Nishma has sounded a
note that resonates with
more and more mainstream
Jewish groups: Resettlement
loan guarantees are essen-
tial for Israel, but they will
continue to be jeopardized by
Israel's aggressive set-
tlements policies.
And more than loan guar-
antees will be at stake; the
president's "obsession" with
settlements means that
every program providing
military and economic aid to
the Jewish state could be re-
examined through the
linkage filter.
That message, in par-
ticular, has sent chills
throughout the pro-Israel
community and is prompting
a number of Jewish groups
to look closely at their posi-
tions on the settlements
question.
• Ted Mann:
Policy vs. country.
.
The Union of American
Hebrew Congregations is
expected to take up the set-
tlements question at its up-
coming biennial in
Baltimore.
The executive committee
of the National Jewish
Community Relations Ad-
visory Council met this week
in preparation for a mission
to Israel — and debated the
best way to approach Mr.
Shamir.
NJCRAC, too, opted for a
firm but balanced approach;
the group's leaders will try
to explain the new realities
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 31