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Are Peace Process
Supporters Invisible?

Old habits of being pro-Israel are giving foes of
Rabin's master plan the upper hand in Washington.

JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

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Alicia R. Nelson

mong groups that support
the Mideast peace process,
there is a feeling of new op-
portunities and projects
that can help flesh out agreements
now being worked out in the re-
gion. But those activities also may
be causing pro-peace groups to
abandon the important arena of
Capitol Hill to their opponents.
As a result, say some observers,
a small group of hard-liners, in-
cluding American groups and rep-
resentatives of the Likud party in
Israel, have convinced some leg-
islators that the American Jewish
community is deeply divided over
the policies of the Rabin govern-
ment, when most polls show ex-
actly the opposite.
Evidence of this Capitol Hill
vacuum is abundant. Earlier this
year, almost 40 legislators — gal-
vanized by the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America—formed a "Peace
Accords Monitoring Group" to
keep a skeptical eye on the Pales-
tine Liberation Organization's
compliance with the promises
made as part of the peace process.
This was a goal few could oppose.
In fact, mainstream Jewish
groups quickly signaled support
— or, at least, a lack of opposition.
But that effort also seemed cal-
culated to demonstrate to Con-
gress that American Jews are
deeply skeptical about the PLO
and therefore, deeply divided on
the Rabin government's decision
to stake Israel's future on negoti-
ations with the once-demonized
Yassir Arafat.
That undertone also has been
apparent in the continuing effort
by some Jewish conservatives to
erect congressional barriers to us-
ing American troops as monitors
on the Golan Heights, a deploy-
ment that many expect to be part
of a Israeli-Syrian deal.
Several months ago, for in-
stance, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-
Miss., introduced an amendment
requiring an exhaustive study be-
fore American troops could be
committed as peacekeepers. But
the amendment was withdrawn
after the Israeli Embassy in
Washington argued that such leg-
islative action was really intend-
ed to pre-empt any new territorial
concessions.
In an unusual statement, Sen.
Cochran said he was "under the
false impression that the amend-
ment had the support of the Jew-
ish community and the Israeli
government."

That "false impression" came
from Likud politicians and their
supporters in this country, who
— without effective action by pro-
peace process activists — made
the case that the Jewish com-
munity is not solidly behind
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's
efforts. Yet polling data tell a dif-
ferent story. A survey released
last May by the Israel Policy Fo-
rum showed that 88 percent of
American Jews support the gen-
eral concept of the peace negoti-
ations. Only 5 percent stated
either strong or moderate oppo-
sition.

The fact is that
opponents of the
peace process do
have a significant
ability to erect
roadblocks to the
peace process on
Capitol Hill.

Those numbers dropped when
people were asked about details
of the negotiations. But still,
84 percent of respondents said
they had "favorable" or "some-
what favorable" impressions of
Mr. Rabin. And despite clear
signs of skepticism, 65 percent
supported Mr. Rabin's stated will-
ingness to trade territory on the
Golan Heights in pursuit of
peace.
But those findings have not
been aggressively pushed on
Capitol Hill. Only now, five
months after the poll, is IPF,
which was formed to bolster sup-
port for the Rabin government's
policies, preparing to aggressive-
ly disseminate the information to
legislators.
In part, the pro-peace process
vacuum on Capitol Hill seems to
reflect the fact that those groups
most committed to the Rabin gov-
ernment's policies are too busy
and too understaffed for the se-
rious investment required of
Capitol Hill lobbying.
"The large multi-issue organi-
zations have tended to ignore or
shrug off the efforts of pro-Likud
forces on the Hill," said Tom
Smerling, executive director of
Project Nishma, which puts