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Palestinian leader's visit to U.S. met with a ghrug.

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JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

Washington
he most remarkable aspect
of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat's visit to Washington
this week is how little inter-
est it has generated.
Arafat was due to arrive in
Washington on Thursday; he will also
travel to New York for the United
Nations General Assembly session.
On his schedule: a dinner under the
auspices of the Center for Middle East
Peace and Economic Cooperation and
the Peres Center and a session with the
United States Chamber of Commerce,
at which he is expected to renew his
pitch for accelerated private-sector
investment in his nascent state.
Like some pro-Israel lawmakers, he is
expected to ask questions about the

T

International Studies. "He's welcome,
he can come and chat, and every
time he comes he doesn't have to
produce headlines.
Israeli sources say Prime Minister
Ehud Barak is also planning a White
House one-on-one when he swings
through town on his way to the United
Jewish Communities General Assembly
in Atlanta in mid-November.

'VRItri1W4MIZEIMI

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0/Petting Interests

Everyone seems excited about the
recently signed Sharm el-Sheikh agree-
ment between the Israelis and the
Palestinians — except for those who
have to make the case for its $1.9 billion
package of promised Congressional aid
to make it all happen.
According to several Capitol Hill
sources, administration officials have not
forwarded a plan for appropriating the
money or briefed key congressional
officials on why the additional aid
I is necessary to help Israel pay the
high costs of additional West Bank
pullouts.
u
But administration officials say
they're merely trying to avoid
traps set by Republican leaders
- who are perfectly willing to pass
the aid package, but only if they
cut other programs favored by the
administration by a corresponding
amount.
The problem of "offsets" has
plagued the Wye aid debate
from the beginning; the admin-
istration, sources here say, wants
to avoid being forced to swallow
big, politically unpalatable cuts as
the price of the extra jolt of aid.
But White House officials say the
Wye spending package is just one of
a handful of budget priorities they
hope to work out with Republican
leaders, and that they're not willing
to win the Mideast money at the
expense of other priorities.
Pro-Israel lobbyists generally agree
that quiet negotiations when last-
minute budget deals are concocted is
the best strategy, but worry that the
administration is missing an impor-
tant opportunity by not pressing its
case for the money now, while the
memory of the Sharm el-Sheikh
agreement is fresh and while Israel
and the Palestinians seem to be back
on the road to peace.

o

Yasser Arafat: Low profile visit.
apparent lack of action on the supple-
mental aid promised in the Wye River
agreement; the White House promised
the Palestinians $400 million, although
Congress is likely to pare that down or
add new conditions.
Administration officials expect to
spend some time this week educating
Arafat about the realities of the current
budget battle between Congress and the
White House.
Arafat will also reportedly press for
repeal of the law keeping a tight lid on
the PLO office in Washington — some-
thing the administration is not likely to
support at this time.
"What's good about the visit is
that it's a normal working visit, with-
out a lot of drama," said Judith
Kipper, director of the Mideast pro-
gram at the Center for Strategic and

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Detroit Jewish News

9/24
1999

29