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Albright mostly will be assessing the
status of Israeli-Palestinian talks, not
serving as an intermediary.
"I wouldn't read this trip as having
a specific goal, or agenda, in the sense
that the secretary would involve her-
self in the kinds of negotiations that
the parties themselves are undertaking
right now," said deputy State
Department spokesman James Foley
on Monday. "She'll be going there to
take stock, to try to encourage the
peace process to go forward."
Albright was expected to give that
message to top Palestinian negotiators
due in town late this week. They were
expected to press for a more direct
American role in breaking through
the Wye impasse, a role rejected even
before their arrival.
Administration officials agree that
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat was playing the brinkmanship
game to force Albright into more direct
intervention. The fact that officials here
were resisting that pressure, they say,
may have spurred this week's diplomat-
ic developments, including a "safe pas-
sage' agreement and the agreement
that will allow construction of a
Palestinian seaport to begin in October.

Crunching Israel Aid

Jewish groups are closely eyeing the
upcoming negotiations over the sup-
plemental aid package for Israel and
Palestinians promised by President
Bill Clinton as part of last year's Wye
Agreement.
Last month, Congress passed a for-
eign aid bill containing Israel's $2.8
billion in regular aid; as expected,
lawmakers decided to hold off on the
extra Wye package until September.
Contrary to statements by right-of-
center Jewish groups, that decision
was a function of domestic budget
politics, not a slap at the government
of Israeli Prime 'Minister Ehud Barak.
The problem? Republican leaders,
who have already slashed the overall
foreign aid budget to levels that could
produce a presidential veto, are insist-
ing that any additional money be
offset" by cuts in other programs.
"The issue is 99 percent bud-
getary," said an administration source.
Most members support the purpos-
es of the funds, but the budget process
is a mess, and it's going to be hard to
get past the fact that there are stringent
budget caps that make it very hard to
come up with the extra money."
Still, he added, at least some of the
money is likely to be appropriated
when the pro-Israel lobby begins crank-

"

ing up the pressure — and when law-
makers begin seeing progress in the
implementation of the Wye Agreement.
Washington has pledged $1.2 billion
to Israel, $400 million to the Palestini-
ans, and $300 million to Jordan.

Israel Or Bust

As Congress's late summer recess went
into high gear, at least three delega-
tions put Jerusalem on their itineraries.
Former Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-
Ga.) traveled to Jerusalem with a
small group sponsored by the Aish
HaTorah group; also aboard was Rep.
Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.).
The American Israel Education
Foundation, an arm of the pro-Israel
lobby, took a record 31 House mem-
bers to Israel last week — 11
Republicans and 20 Democrats, head-
ed by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and
Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.), members
of their parties' leadership teams.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's
message to the lawmakers was that
"he needs them to be partners in the
peace process," said Howard Kohr,
executive director of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Barak also met twice with top
AIPAC leaders; that represented anoth-
er step toward reconciliation with the
pro-Israel group that some Labor lead-
ers had charged with being insufficient-
ly supportive of the peace process.
Barak "made it very clear that he is
serious about moving forward on
both tracks of the peace process —
and that AIPAC and the Jewish com-
munity here are important to achiev-
ing that," Kohr said.
Also, the American Jewish
Committee's Project Interchange
brought a number of first-time congres-
sional visitors to Israel.
In several meetings, Barak contin-
ued to walk a fine line with lawmakers
over the congressional push to force
the administration to move the U.S.
embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Contrary . to some reports, he did
not explicitly ask the visiting legisla-
tors to hold off on new Jerusalem leg-
islation. But he sent unmistakable sig-
nals that he was worried about the
impact of an immediate move on the
intensifying negotiations with the
Palestinians, several sources said.
Barak told the AJC delegation that
"Jerusalem should be kept undivided
and our capital forever," but added
his hope that final-status negotiations
could produce "some creative ideas
(on Jerusalem)... that will not corn-
promise our positions in any way."

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