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Telephone (313) 356-5810 FAX (313) 356-7650 1-800-321-8860 rninny RA AN/ 4 4AAA ongress is back in town, and high on its agenda is a foreign aid bill for the upcoming fiscal year. The impending fight may offer pro-Israel forces some difficult choices as they seek to pass a foreign aid bill that protects Israel's $3.2 billion annual allotment, without cuts or new conditions. The first stage in this has already come with public hearings on the foreign aid bill before the foreign opera- tions subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, the domain of Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. But the real question is whether Mr. Obey will try to get a foreign aid bill through Congress at this time — or, instead, opt for a continuing resolution to keep the for- eign aid program operating until next March, safely past the November elections. And legislators will have to decide whether to work with the president's foreign aid proposal. This lacks the "earmarks" that protect Israel's foreign aid allot- ment that pro-Israel forces crave. It also lacks expanded aid for Africa, which many Jewish groups groups. One alternative is to try to push through an substitute measure, a risky strategy in today's political climate. Or to approve the administra- tion's package in committee, and then, on the House floor, offer a less expensive substitute bill that would contain the earmarks and the expanded African aid. "The problem is to work out something that can get through the House — and then, that can get through the Senate, which is even more problematic," said a House staffer involved in the Byzantine maneuvering. "The key," he said, "is to find a way past the political problems that incumbents will face in voting for foreign spending. But the alter- native — putting it off with a continuing resolution — is also risky, because nobody knows how the next Con- gress will shape up." In normal political times, postponement can effec- tively get legislators off the foreign-aid hook. But this time, with up to 150 new members entering the House in January, Israel's friends on Capitol Hill are very wary about throwing them- selves on the mercy of a reconvened Congress. Commence The Platform Battles! The Democratic party is starting the arduous process of hammering out a platform that will satisfy its disparate troops — an issue of no small concern to Jewish activists here. Currently, there is a strong, but quiet effort to af- firm the "special relation- ship" between Washington and Jerusalem, and to avert the kind of divisive battles over statements critical of Israel that characterized the 1988 platform process. But Jewish groups do not entirely agree about exactly what the platform should say on the Middle East peace process. Americans for Peace Now, which backs the Israeli peace movement, is pressing for strong support of Israel. But it also seeks strong language committing the Democrats to continue the current peace talks. The National Jewish Democratic. Council, a group of Jewish party activists, ex- pects to testify at the open- ing round of hearings in Cleveland on May 18. It will emphasize such domestic issues as education and church-state separation, as well as urge a strong reaf- firmation of the party's commitment to Israel's security. But like Americans for Peace Now, it will attempt to keep the platform from ad- dressing moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. Recently, pro-Israel Democrats received an unexpected boost when Rep. Mary Rose Oakar, D-Ohio, resigned as platform co- chair. Ms. Oakar, a persistent critic of Israel who supports the Palestinian cause, is one of dozens of legislators fen- ding off charges resulting from the House banking scandal. She quit the plat- form position to concentrate on her political problems.