Washington Watch

Red-Carpet Visit

Bush administration going all-out for Ariel Sharon's visit.

who agree with him; there won't be any
public appearances where he could be
confronted. The administration is clearly
not looking for a fight; the conversations
he Bush administration's
will be largely private and low-key.
game plan for Israeli Prime
The White House has gone out of its
Minister Ariel Sharon's
way,
Israeli officials say, to send favor-
Washington visit next week
able
diplomatic
signals in advance of
can be summed up in three words:
the
meeting.
Among
them: the invita-
Stroking, not poking.
tion for Sharon to stay at Blair House,
President George W Bush will per-
sonally take on the job of reassuring the the presidential guest house across
Lafayette Square from the White
Israeli leader of continued strong U.S.
support for Israel. Any poking on issues House, and the fact that the two lead-
ers will sit down for a "working lunch"
such as settlements and Israeli incur-
after their initial meeting on Monday.
sions into Palestinian territory will be
Sharon is also expected to meet with
left to Gen. Anthony Zinni, the admin-
National
Security Adviser Condoleezza
istration's new special envoy, who
Rice, Defense Secretary Donald
arrived in Israel on Monday to try to
Rumsfeld and Powell — who will leave
broker an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire.
In fact, Zinni's new boss, Secretary of later in the day for a Eurasian mission.
Less certain is a possible meeting
State Colin Powell, gave the best
with
Vice President Dick Cheney, who
description of the envoy's role in a ses-
remains
in a "remote, secure location"
sion with reporters after his Mideast
in
response
to the ongoing terrorism
vision speech.
threat.
"You'll see what pushing and prod-
Sharon will also spend considerable
ding is when Tony Zinni gets on the
time on Capitol Hill, where support for
ground," he said.
Israel is stronger than ever, and where
In Washington next week, any pres-
Yasser Arafat's popularity is at an his-
sure on Sharon will be
toric low.
applied gingerly and well
Zinni is expected to put some pres-
out of public view,
sure
on Israel to offer a freeze on set-
sources say. The Bush
tlements activity as a gesture to the
administration is not
Palestinians, but Bush is unlikely to
interested in backing
push the subject during Sharon's visit,
Sharon into any corners
Washington
sources say.
—or letting Palestinian
One
potential
source of friction —
leader Yasser Arafat think
the
presence
of
Israeli
troops in several
Abe
Foxman
there might be growing
West
Bank
towns,
which
began in
daylight between the two
retaliation
for
the
assassination
of one
allies.
of his cabinet ministers — could be
Arafat's stock, already low, plunged
moot. This week, Israeli troops pulled
even lower this week when his Fatah
out of Jenin, the last of those towns,
wing of the PLO took credit for the
murder of two Israelis and the wounding although the Afula killings could
prompt renewed Israeli military activity
of more than two dozen others in Afula.
in the area.
"The administration knows it won't
U.S. objections to the incursions, and
get anywhere embarrassing (Sharon),"
fears about a diplomatic blowup,
said Abraham Foxman, national direc-
caused Sharon to postpone a planned
tor of the Anti-Defamation League,
trip early in the month.
who met with key administration offi-
cials. "And the prime minister, on his
side, has a strong interest in showing
Holocaust Debate
the world, and the Arab world in par-
Action is heating up on the always-con-
ticular, that the relationship is strong."
troversial question of who should lead
Judith Kipper, director of the
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
Mideast program at the Center for
Early this year, some members of the
Strategic and International Studies, said
Council — which oversees the success-
it will be a "very stage-managed trip."
Sharon will meet primarily with people ful U.S. Holocaust Museum on

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

7

already considerable backlog.
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
(HIAS) is trying to find out exactly
what new rules being developed by the
administration will mean to potential
refugees.
Leonard Glickman, the HIAS presi-
dent and chief operating officer, said
the good news is last week's official
White House determination authoriz-
ing the admission of 70,000 refugees in
Fiscal Year 2002, the first step in
reopening the pipeline.
And this week, the State Department
issued new security procedures, also a
necessary step in resuming the refugee
flow. That came as a result of an agree-
ment between State, the National
Security Council and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS).
"That means the doors may be open-
ing," Glickman said. "But we're still
scrambling to find out exactly what
these new procedures will mean in
terms of our own caseload, and for the
world wide refugee program. There
WILL be new hurdles."
An example: under the new proce-
dures, photographs of potential
refugees must be taken by official INS
overseas processing entities"; previous-
ly, applicants could submit pictures
taken by friends and relatives.
"We understand the reasons for the
change," Glickman said. "But now we
could be in a situation where refugees
in the former Soviet Union may have
to go to Moscow just to get a picture
taken."
The overall refugee numbers were
expected to be down even before Sept.
11, he said; the new security procedures
could drag the totals even lower.
Also on the HIAS watch list: long-
awaited proposals to restructure the
INS. Last week, Attorney General John
D. Ashcroft announced plans to split
the troubled agency's enforcement and
service functions.
"The Justice Department has
changed priorities from domestic
criminal investigations to fighting ter-
rorism, and INS has been instructed
to reorganize itself accordingly,"
Refugees Allowed
Glickman said. "Everything has to be
The flow of Jewish and other refugees
cleared through the Office of
to the United States, abruptly shut
Homeland Security. That's a huge
down after the Sept. 11 terror attacks,
may be about to reopen with new secu- wild card, and we don't know how it
will play out." O
rity procedures that could add to an

Washington's Mall — attempted to
depose their chairman, Rabbi Irving
"Yitz" Greenberg, because of what they
said were problems with his manage-
ment style and his conflicts with muse-
•
um director Sara Bloomfield.
Rabbi Greenberg supporters pointed
the finger back at museum staffers, and
said that he was just trying to reinforce
the Jewish character of the museum.
The coup was unsuccessful. But
Rabbi Greenberg — associated with
leading Democrats — is almost certain
not to be reappointed
by the Republican
president when his
term expires in January.
In recent weeks, sup-
porters of various can-
didates for the job have
been trooping to the
White House to make
Rabbi
their pitch.
Greenberg
Rabbi Greenberg's
backers are also press-
ing the White House to reappoint the
rabbi to a council seat, where he would
continue to wield influence as member
of the executive committee.
A number of current council mem
bers are urging the White House to
appoint Nobel laureate Ellie Wiesel.
Wiesel, who served as the first chair
of the council, would be a noncontro-
versial choice for an administration
eager to make a smooth transition, but
some council members are quietly argu-
ing to their friends in the Executive
Branch that Wiesel, despite his stature,
was not an effective leader during the
council's formative years.
Also in the running: Fred Zeidman, a
Houston businessman and Jewish
activist who is a longtime friend of the
only person whose opinion really
counts: George W. Bush.
But some observers say Zeidman, a
leader of the Republican Jewish
Coalition, is likelier to get the nod as
vice-chair — a position that would pre-
pare him for the chairmanship.

"

ITN

11/30

2001
29