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Washington Watch

Statehood
Legislation

Diplomatic holdup; long shot on hate crimes;
remembering Yates; Iranian victims.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

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he new violence gripping
Israel, Gaza and the West
Bank has, oddly enough,
stalled a measure before
Congress aimed at keeping Yasser
Arafat from lobbing more bombs
along the cratered road to peace.
The proposal to cut off U.S. aid to
the Palestinians if Arafat makes good
on his threat to issue a unilateral dec-
laration of independence before the
end of the year, passed the House
recently, and quick action had been
expected in the Senate.
But the White House has fought the
measure from the beginning; with the
onset of new violence in the region,
administration officials seem to have
won at least a temporary victory.
Last week, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright told senators that
any new congressional action would
add to the instability of an already
dangerous situation.
Several key lawmakers, including
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Sen.
Carl Levin (D-Mich.), have reportedly
agreed to hold back for now, despite
fierce lobbying by pro-Israel activists,
who say the bill is more vital in the
wake of the new violence.
"We remain committed to seeing this
legislation through," Howard Kohr,
executive director of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby, who
added that the messages Congress and
the administration send to Arafat and
other Middle Eastern leaders in the
coming days will play a major role in
determining whether an effective peace
process can be continued.
Peace process supporters who origi-
nally objected to the harsh terms of
the legislation expressed satisfaction
that the final version includes exemp-
tions for humanitarian and anti-terror
aid and broad presidential waiver
authority.

Hate Crimes

American Heart
Association..

Fighting Heart Disease
and Stroke

A number of Jewish activists are work-

ing furiously to counter last week's
maneuver by the Republican congres-
sional leadership axing a long-sought
hate crimes bill.
But with time running out for the
106th Congress and with
Republican leaders and the Clinton
administration deadlocked over the
budget, the legislative rescue effort
represents a long shot, Jewish
activists concede.
The hate crimes language, which
would expand existing hate crimes
statutes to cover crimes based on the
victim's gender, sexual orientation or
disability and make it easier for federal
authorities to
enter local hate
crimes cases, was
attached to a big
defense authori-
zation measure.
The Senate
approved the
package, includ-
ing the hate
crimes compo-
nent, in June,

Above:
Carl Levin

Righ:
Joseph Biden

despite opposition by Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to what
the Republicans termed a gay-rights
law. The House then voted to instruct
conferees trying to hammer out a final
bill to accept the Senate language.
But last week, under strong pressure
from the GOP leadership, the confer-
ees stripped the hate crimes language
from the bill.
Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.),
the Democratic leader in the House,
called the action "an affront not only
to the American people, but to a
clear majority in the Congress."

