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Washington (JTA) — Jewish
groups and members of Congress
are seeking to squelch the pos-
sibility that U.S. aid to Pales-
tinians could be dispersed from
eastern Jerusalem.
The United States will decide
in the coming weeks where to
open an Agency for Internation-
al Development office that will be
responsible for dispersing up to
$78 million for infrastructure and
other developmental assistance
to the newly autonomous Gaza
Strip and Jericho district.
Widespread rumors continue
to circulate around Washington
that the State Department is con-
sidering an eastern Jerusalem lo-
cation for this effort, perhaps at
the U.S. Consulate there.
Officials have refused to con-
firm or deny such reports. The of-
ficial word is that State
Department personnel are "still
working on the administrative
arrangements for an AID mis-
sion" and "hope to finalize some
details in the very near future,"
according to a spokesperson.
But some members of Con-
gress and many Jewish leaders
fear that an MD office in eastern
Jerusalem would buttress Pales-
tinian claims to Jerusalem as the
capital of a future Palestinian
state. They are consequently try-
ing to nip in the bud any notion
of a Jerusalem site for the AID
office.
Israeli Embassy officials re-
fused to comment on the AID con-
troversy but privately have said
all countries wanting to deal with
the Palestinian authority were
being told they would have to do
so in Jericho and Gaza.
The American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee issued a state-
ment concerning the flap about
the AID office saying, "AIPAC is
unequivocally opposed to any ac-
tion that would have a negative
impact on or erode Jerusalem's
status as Israel's undivided cap-
ital."
In a letter to President Clin-
ton, Seymour Reich, president of
the American Zionist Movement,
expressed his opposition to an
AID office in Jerusalem: "The
idea of an office in East
Jerusalem for aid to Jericho rais-
es serious questions and deep dis-
quiet about American policy in
the region."
Gail Pressberg, co-director of
the Washington office of Ameri-
cans for Peace Now, disagreed
with the assertion that an AID
office in eastern Jerusalem would
affect final-status talks.
"The location in and of itself
does not set precedent. Where the
office is says nothing about U.S.
policy on Jerusalem. The policy
is set in the White House and in
Congress," she said.
Under the declaration of prin-
ciples signed by Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion last fall, the fate of Jerusalem
Israeli Embassy
officials refused to
comment on the AID
controversy.
is reserved for final-status nego-
tiations that are at least two
years away.
But the highly sensitive issue
has come to the fore recently, es-
pecially since a speech given last
month by PLO Chairman Yassir
Arafat in which he called for a 'ji-
had" for Jerusalem.
Golan Settlers
Show Defiance
Jerusalem (JTA) — Demon-
strating their determination not
to yield an inch of the Golan
Heights as part of any eventual
Israeli-Syrian peace agreement,
settlers drove 45 tractors from
the Golan to Jerusalem last
week.
After setting off over the week-
end from the Golan, the settlers
ended their four-day trek at the
Rose Garden opposite
Jerusalem's Knesset building.
Labor Knesset member Avigdor
Kahalani led the flag-bedecked
tractor caravan, which was met
by Jerusalem Mayor Ehud
Olmert and Likud leader Ben-
jamin Netanyahu, who gathered
at the arrival point along with
other Israelis opposed to any
land-for-peace deals with Dam-
ascus.
At about the same time that the
caravan arrived, Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin was addressing
the leaders of the World Zionist
Organization at another
Jerusalem location.
He firmly told the group that any-
one who insisted that there be no
territorial compromise on the
Golan "doesn't know what he's
talking about."
"It is tanks and tanks alone, that
will ensure the security of the
Golan," he added.
Among those on hand to greet the
arriving caravan were a few hun-
dred settlers from the West Bank,
many of whom had already set
up tent camps opposite the Prime
Minister's Office to protest the Is-
raeli-Palestinian peace initiative.
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