This Week

Washington Watch

Nigh Stakes For Sharon

AIPAC set for annual extravaganza; Headliners talk to Jews;
Faith-based breakdown.

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

rime Minister Ariel Sharon is due in
Washington next week for a diplomatic
mission expected to be short on details
but potentially momentous in terms of
U.S.-Israeli atmospherics.
Sharon is scheduled to meet with Secretary of
State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld on Monday. That evening, he will address
the annual policy conference of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Also on the schedule: U.S. National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice and CIA Director George Tenet.
On Tuesday, Sharon will go to the White House
for extended meetings and a working lunch with
President George W. Bush, followed by meetings
with congressional leaders.
If all goes according to plan, he will then travel to
New York for an Israel Bonds event.
But Israeli sources warn that his plans are all tentative
— subject to quick revision if the situation in Gaza or
the West Bank takes a dramatic turn for the worse.
The Sharon visit comes after a week of strong inter-
national pressure on Israel to loosen the blockade on
Palestinian communities in Gaza and the West Bank.
On Monday, a State Department spokesman said
Washington is "clearly against any measures that make
it impossible for ordinary Palestinians to survive eco-
nomically, and we think some of these security steps
and restrictions of movement, in fact, do that."
Sharon got the message. On Tuesday, he announced
an easing of the blockade on four West Bank cities.
Sharon plans to offer reassurance that there will be
no abrupt shifts in Israeli policy, but he's likely to give
few specifics about his plans for ending Palestinian
violence and restarting peace talks, analysts say.
"It's more broad brush strokes than detail," said
David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank.
Sharon's goals for the visit are limited, he said, in
part because both governments are new, with their
foreign policy teams not fully in place.
The prime minister scored some early points in his
recent meetings with Powell that could smooth the
way for next week's visit, Makovsky said.
"He succeeded in getting Powell on board for the
idea that negotiations should be preceded by a reduc-
tion in Palestinian violence," he said. "That was a big
achievement." Sharon will lay out his incremental
approach for dealing with the Palestinians, and seek to
reassure U.S. officials that he will not try to reoccupy
territory previously given to the Palestinian Authority.
But Israeli sources say Sharon will also spell out
his red lines if the violence does not let up.
Sharon also plans to urge Congress to act quickly

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2001

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from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "without delay."
AIPAC leaders are also expected to approve a resolu-
tion opposing "any further relaxation of U.S. policy
toward Iran until there is credible evidence of a change
in Iran." The need for continuing sanctions on Iran
and Iraq will be at the top of the agenda when dele-
gates fan out across Capitol Hill on Tuesday. But that
could conflict with the Bush administration's plan to
selectively ease sanctions on Iraq.
Also on the schedule is Secretary of State Colin
Powell, who will address delegates at a Monday
breakfast.
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel will open the confer-
ence with a speech on "Israel and the Jewish People";
Richard Perle, an advisor to the George W. Bush
campaign last year, will talk about Saddam Hussein's
reemergence.
A live satellite feed will bring participants to several
hotspots for Israeli forces.
And Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), will give participants tips on
how to pitch the pro-Israel cause on Capitol Hill.
AIPAC officials claim it will be the biggest policy
conference ever, with 1,000 full participants and
more than 650 students.

NCJW Lobbies

Ariel Sharon speaks at the Knesset in Jerusalem on
March 6

on a supplemental aid package to help Israel pay for
last year's withdrawal from Lebanon and for upgrad-
ed missile defenses. The extra aid was proposed in the
final days of the last Congress but not passed.
In an interview with CNN over the weekend,
Sharon said he will also ask Bush to pardon convict-
ed spy Jonathan Pollard.

AIPAC Session

Sharon will get a chance to present himself to American
Jews on Monday night, when he will keynote the ban-
quet at the annual policy conference of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby.
Sharon is the biggest draw at an AIPAC conference
that lacks the political conflict and drama of recent years,
thanks to the resumed violence in the region.
In particular, recent policy conferences have
seen intense wrangling between pro-Israel hawks
and doves over the annual AIPAC "action agen-
da," a document that ostensibly guides its lobby-
ing activities for the coming year.
This year, the slimmed-down document seems •
headed to an easy and noncontroversial passage.
"AIPAC will do what it always does best — rally
behind an Israeli government during a crisis," said
one longtime AIPACer. "But unity is a lot easier this
year, given the Palestinian violence and the feeling
that Israel is once again under siege."
A draft of the agenda includes calls for Jerusalem
to remain "united as the capital of Israel" and for
the State Department to move the U.S. embassy

AIPAC isn't the only Jewish group that can attract
Washington's movers and shakers.
This week, the National Council of Jewish Women
(NCJW) held its Washington Institute which featured
the usual speeches but also some more direct action.
On Tuesday, the NCJW activists staged a large
rally on Capitol Hill calling for better child care, a
longtime priority of the group.
The group gave its "Faith and Humanity Award"
to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who
praised the 600-plus delegates for their ongoing
commitment to social justice and civil rights.
Also this week, the Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism held its biennial "Consultation on
Conscience" conference featuring John DiIulio, the
head of the new White House office of community
and faith-based initiatives, Cardinal Theodore
McCarrick and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Speaking to the Reform delegates, Clinton prom-
ised to work for the inclusion of Magen David
Adorn, Israel's humanitarian aid society, as a full vot-
ing member in the International Red Cross.
"The decision of the International Red Cross to
deny membership to Israel's society is an issue of
social justice that has put Israel at a disadvantage
and has sent a strong, unfortunate message to the
world suggesting that Israel should be treated as a
second-class nation," she said.

Charitable Choice

The Bush administration's "charitable choice" pro-
posals, intended to make it easier for religious
groups to get government money to provide health
and social services, took another beating this week.
First, there was the growing chorus of opposition
from the groups that were expected to provide the
strongest support: Christian conservatives.
The latest to take up the refrain was Moral

